Report: SK Hynix plans to go public in the US via ADR, issuing new shares to raise 10-15 trillion won, fully betting on HBM expansion.
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SK Hynix is advancing plans for a US listing, intending to raise funds in the American capital markets through the issuance of new shares in the form of American Depositary Receipts (ADR), with all proceeds to be invested in expanding High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) production capacity and building AI infrastructure.
According to Korea Economic Daily on March 23, the new share issuance will account for approximately 2.4% of total shares, with the expected fundraising amount ranging from 10 trillion to 15 trillion won. SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won publicly stated at NVIDIA’s annual developer conference GTC 2026 on March 16 that the company is considering pursuing an ADR listing.
The market significance of this listing plan extends beyond fundraising itself. Industry observers note that an ADR listing may provide SK Hynix the opportunity to re-evaluate its valuation—currently its P/E ratio is about 5.7 times, only half of Micron Technology’s 12.1 times.
If SK Hynix is included in major global indices such as the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX), it could attract large-scale passive capital inflows.
Cancellation of Treasury Shares Comes First, New Share Issuance Follows
SK Hynix opted to issue new shares instead of using treasury stock due to specific reasons. The company had previously considered promoting an ADR listing using about 2.4% of its treasury shares, but this sparked market skepticism, suggesting the company might use this to circumvent mandatory treasury stock cancellations.
To address these concerns, the company voluntarily cancelled approximately 2.1% of treasury shares last month on the 9th—equal to about 12.24 trillion won—and currently has no available treasury shares.
Against this backdrop, the company switched to issuing new shares to advance the listing, with the issuance scale roughly equivalent to 2.4% of total shares, similar to the proportion of previously cancelled treasury shares. Reportedly, SK Hynix is expected to soon select underwriters and formally start the ADR listing process.
Funds Target AI Infrastructure, Accelerate Capacity Expansion
SK Hynix clearly positions this fundraising as a key initiative to strengthen its leading position in the global AI semiconductor market.
Reports state that the raised 10 trillion to 15 trillion won (in dollar equivalent) will mainly be invested in AI infrastructure projects centered on building the Yongin Semiconductor Cluster, which plans a total investment of around 600 trillion won.
Industry insiders note that when finalizing the issuance scale, the company is still weighing shareholder reaction and market opinion, and may further expand the fundraising scale in the future.
ADR Structure May Aid Valuation Reassessment
In terms of structure, the newly issued shares are expected not to circulate in the Korean domestic market, but will be deposited directly in Korea’s securities depository, and then US local banks will issue ADR certificates using these shares as collateral, enabling trading in the US market.
The potential value of this structure is that if SK Hynix’s ADR meets the criteria to be included in major global indices like the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, it could trigger passive allocations from index-tracking funds, further boosting SK Hynix’s influence among international institutional investors.
The roughly one-fold P/E ratio gap between SK Hynix and Micron Technology also provides room for valuation adjustment.
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