SK Hynix, the second most valuable company in South Korea, is slated to begin trading on the Nasdaq on Friday under ticker symbol SKHY. The market debut comes as the chipmaker plans to raise around $29 billion by issuing American depositary receipts to fund new factories and equipment. The expansion follows a more than sevenfold increase in SK Hynix's stock price over the past year, lifting its market cap to about $1 trillion, driven by surging demand for AI memory chips. The company leads the high-bandwidth memory market used in Nvidia AI processors and is experiencing severe shortages that have sent chip prices to all-time highs. SK Hynix's U.S. debut coincides with its first American production facility under construction in Indiana and massive expansion plans in South Korea totaling up to $720 billion.
SK Hynix Leads High-Bandwidth Memory Market for AI Chips
SK Hynix is the leader in high-performance memory used in AI chips from Nvidia, the world's most valuable company. High-bandwidth memory (HBM) stacks many layers of traditional memory together, and SK Hynix was the first to produce it. Analysts project the company will capture more than half the HBM market this year. In June, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang visited SK Hynix on a trip to Seoul as the two companies announced a multiyear partnership. Nvidia is the biggest HBM buyer. "That advantage has positioned SK Hynix as one of the biggest beneficiaries of the rapid growth in AI infra," said TrendForce analyst Ellie Wang. Along with Micron and Samsung, SK Hynix is one of three primary makers of computer memory used in laptops and phones sold by companies such as Apple and Dell.
SK Hynix Plans $4 Billion Indiana Facility by 2028
SK Hynix is constructing its first production facility in the U.S., scheduled for completion in 2028. The $4 billion plant in West Lafayette, Indiana, will be used for advanced packaging, an essential part of the process for producing HBM that involves connecting and stacking individual chips into larger systems. SK Hynix expects to receive up to $458 million in funding from the U.S. CHIPS and Science Act, passed in 2022. The company could also receive up to $570 million of loans from the U.S. Commerce Department. In January, SK Hynix said it had set aside $10 billion for what it's calling AI Company, an effort to find new product lines and back U.S. businesses. AI Company's biggest component is Solidigm, a business that makes NAND flash memory and was purchased from Intel in 2021 for $9 billion. It's now headquartered in Rancho Cordova, California, near Sacramento, where it develops new products like solid state drives.
SK Hynix Revenue Reaches $65 Billion in 2025
SK Hynix's annual revenue almost tripled from 2023 to 2025, when sales reached about $65 billion. For 2026, analysts polled by LSEG expect that number to more than triple again to about $235 billion. More than three-quarters of SK Hynix's revenue comes from RAM, including HBM. The company also makes NAND flash, or hard drives, and is the market leader with 19% share in the first quarter, according to IDC. The whole memory industry is experiencing soaring prices due to the AI crunch, which means there's also a shortage for traditional memory needed for phones, tablets, PCs, cars, medical devices and other products. Profit margins are hitting record levels.
Memory Industry Experiences Boom-Bust Cycles
SK Hynix was founded in 1983 as Hyundai Electronics, a subsidiary of Korean conglomerate Hyundai. In 1997, during a financial crisis, it merged with LG Semicon as memory prices were slumping from a supply glut. Four years later, the company rebranded as Hynix Semiconductor, and then became SK Hynix when SK Telecom purchased a controlling stake in 2012. As of March 31, according to the SEC filing, SK Square, "which was demerged from SK Telecom in 2021, held a 20.5% interest in us." Big tech shifts like the dot-com frenzy, the growth of smartphones, or the transition from packaged software to the cloud have brought huge demand for memory, often leading to oversupply followed by a collapse in prices. SK Hynix, along with Micron and Samsung, are implementing long-term contracts for memory, using their market power to lock in prices and orders years into the future. "These agreements typically require customers to provide longer-term demand visibility," said TrendForce's Wang. Daniel Newman, an analyst at Futurum Group, said investors have to weigh the risks of buying in at these levels. "This is how memory always acts in any megacycle or supercycle," Newman said. "The problem is, it always crashes hard."
SK Hynix Expands South Korea Production Through 2033
In South Korea, SK Hynix is planning to spend up to $720 billion on expanding facilities to meet memory demand for AI, according to the company. One cluster of chip fabrication plants in Yongin, just south of Seoul, will cost $390 billion. The company is speeding up the timeline for the project by more than a decade, with four fabs now scheduled for completion by 2033. Elsewhere in South Korea, SK Hynix is expanding its production facilities in Cheongju and developing a new cluster of fabs in the southwestern region of the country. The factories require that SK Hynix shell out large amounts of capital for extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) machines, which are necessary for etching the advanced circuitry needed to make and stack advanced chips like HBM. They cost up to $400 million and are only made by ASML in the Netherlands. SK Hynix plans to spend around $7.8 billion on new EUV machines by the end of 2027, according to the company's filing with the SEC. "If you go to Korea they are building lots of fabs," said MS Hwang, research director at Counterpoint. "But it takes time. The earliest time frame that they can bring out manufactured wafers is end of 2027." Hwang said word on the street is that nearby hotels are "fully booked" as cloud companies and chipmakers "are all lining up to sign a long-term contract."
FAQ
What is SK Hynix doing on Friday?
SK Hynix is slated to begin trading on the Nasdaq on Friday under ticker symbol SKHY. The company plans to raise around $29 billion by issuing American depositary receipts to fund new factories and equipment.
Why has SK Hynix's stock price increased over the past year?
SK Hynix's stock price increased more than sevenfold over the past year, driven by surging demand for AI memory chips. The company leads the high-bandwidth memory market used in Nvidia AI processors, and severe shortages have sent chip prices to all-time highs, lifting its market cap to about $1 trillion.
When will SK Hynix's Indiana facility be completed?
SK Hynix's first U.S. production facility in West Lafayette, Indiana, is scheduled for completion in 2028. The $4 billion plant will be used for advanced packaging of high-bandwidth memory chips.
