SK Hynix's U.S. listing drew seven times the demand it needed, even as its home market cracks
SK Hynix's U.S. listing is more than seven times oversubscribed, according to people familiar with the matter, with demand coming from global long-only funds, sovereign wealth funds and technology-focused investors.
The sale of nearly 178 million American depositary receipts would raise close to $25 billion, ranking second only to Alibaba's $25 billion debut among foreign listings in the U.S.
The appetite arrives while SK Hynix's home market is coming apart. Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix and the leveraged exchange-traded funds tracking them now account for more than 70% of trading value in South Korea's $4.3 trillion market.
Those funds, which aim to deliver twice the daily move of a single stock, launched in late May and have turned every AI supply-chain headline into a sharp swing. One opposition lawmaker has called for them to be delisted. SK Hynix fell nearly 11% on Thursday, Samsung close to 6%.
Strong order books have not guaranteed much lately. SpaceX drew more than $350 billion of demand for its June IPO and closed Wednesday at about $148, its lowest since the mid-June debut.
That listing pulled billions in risk capital out of crypto during the month U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs posted their worst outflows on record.
Bitcoin traded near $62,700 on Thursday, still range-bound, while the money chasing AI infrastructure keeps finding a bid.