NVIDIA AI Chip Supplier SK Hynix Plots $29 Billion US IPO In SpaceX's Wake
Hot on the heels of Elon Musk's SpaceX making history with a record-breaking initial public offering (IPO) on the NASDAQ stock exchange earlier this month, chip giant SK hynix is hoping to raise some major capital—billions of dollars—with its own IPO in the U.S., the company announced today. SK hynix is not likely to break SpaceX's record, but it could come in second with plans to raise up to $29.4 billion.
The South Korean chip maker is a major semiconductor player focused primarily on memory product, including high bandwidth memory (HBM) deployed by some of the most advanced AI accelerators. Notably, SK hynix is a major chip supplier to NVIDIA, which is leading the AI charge in the modern era, as well as other industry heavyweights such as Apple, Dell, HP, Microsoft, among others.
"We expect to elevate our status as a global company by broadening our touchpoints in the United States, the epicenter of AI technological innovation," SK hynix stated in its regulatory filing, according to CNBC.
SK hynix currently trades on the Korea Exchange (KRX) under the ticker 000660. It has been jostling with Samsung for the top spot in terms of market cap, with both firms worth in the neighborhood of 2 trillion South Korean won, equivalent to around $1.3 trillion in U.S. currency.
SpaceX launched its IPO at $135 per share and was able to raise in $85.7 billion. Should SK hynix meet or exceed its $29.4 billion IPO goal, it would surpass Alibaba Group's IPO, which raised $21.8 billion in 2014, to become the second-largest U.S. IPO in history.
Where it could go from there is anyone's guess. AI is red hot right now, and firms that are invested in solutions that stoke the AI fires are benefiting in a big way. Shares of Micron (NASDAQ:MU), for example, are up over 700% in the past year. Notably, Micron announced last December that it was pulling its Crucial brand from the consumer market "in order to improve supply and support our larger, strategic customers in faster-growing segments."
We don't give financial or stock advice around these parts, but we can say that memory and storage chip demand is at unprecedented levels during this period of AI-driven growth.
According to Reuters, SK hynix said it plans to apply the cash from its IPO to build out chip factories in South Korea and buy chipmaking equipment such as an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) scanner.
