South Korean memory chipmaker SK Hynix just pulled off the largest public listing by a foreign company in U.S. market history. Shares soared 13% on their first day of trading.
Behind this historic debut is a simple bet: that the artificial intelligence boom has fundamentally reshaped the decadeslong boom-and-bust cycle that¡¯s defined the memory-chip business for good. SK Hynix raised $26.5 billion with its American depositary receipt offering, and much of that is going toward expanding chip manufacturing ¡ª a move the entire industry had for years resisted after being burned by past supply gluts.
¡°We¡¯ve always been a cyclical industry, so there had been prior ups and downs,¡± SK Hynix CEO Kwak Noh-Jung said. But ¡°things have clearly changed.¡± The ChatGPT era has brought about memory supply shortages so persistent that they¡¯re rippling across supply chains and raising the prices of everything from iPads to Xbox consoles.
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