South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix is taking its AI-fueled growth story to Wall Street with a massive $28 billion US listing, according to regulatory filings. The sale would rank among the largest equity offerings globally in 2026, underscoring how memory chips have become the backbone of artificial intelligence infrastructure.
SK Hynix supplies high-bandwidth memory (HBM) to the world’s most demanding AI customers, including Nvidia and Google. Its stock has surged throughout 2026 as demand for AI training hardware continues to outstrip supply. The company’s HBM3E and HBM4 chips are critical components in data centers powering large language models and AI inference at scale.
The Nasdaq listing will give US investors direct access to a company that was previously difficult to purchase from overseas markets. It also represents a test case for how investors value AI-related semiconductor companies amid the current market boom. Analysts suggest the listing could value SK Hynix at over $150 billion, potentially making it one of the world’s most valuable chipmakers.
“This listing reflects the strategic importance of memory architecture in the AI era,” said a senior semiconductor analyst at a major Seoul-based brokerage. “SK Hynix isn’t just a component supplier anymore—it’s become infrastructure for the AI industry.”
The timing is notable: US-China tensions over semiconductor technology have intensified, with export controls limiting Chinese access to advanced AI chips. SK Hynix has positioned itself as a non-Chinese alternative for AI memory, winning contracts from major US tech companies seeking to diversify their supply chains.
The company reportedly plans to list shares in the coming weeks, with the offering potentially exceeding $28 billion depending on final pricing. Proceeds are expected to fund expanded manufacturing capacity in Korea and the United States, as SK Hynix races to build more HBM production lines.
The listing adds to a wave of semiconductor IPOs in 2026, following similar moves by other AI-related chip companies. As AI workloads increasingly demand specialized memory solutions, SK Hynix’s public market debut signals investor confidence that the AI boom will continue driving memory chip demand for years to come.