Wall Street AI bulls are more hyped than a teen who is about to see BTS perform live. Americans are getting the ability to invest in South Korea’s second-most-valuable company today as SK Hynix, a $1 trillion memory chipmaker, lists on the Nasdaq, seeking to amplify the windfall from its central role in the AI supply chain. Though memory chip stocks (including SK Hynix’s shares listed in Korea) have dipped in recent days, its stock is still up more than 600% in the past year. Bloomberg reported that preliminary orders for its shares exceeded supply by seven times, a sign that many US investors are bullish on its growth spurt. Memory mannaSK Hynix’s bread and butter is supplying advanced memory chips—a vital ingredient in AI data centers—to customers like Nvidia. Because the scramble for advanced memory chips has also pushed up prices for its more basic products used in smartphones and PCs, SK Hynix’s profits surged almost fivefold in the first quarter of 2026. While analysts say memory chip demand booms are prone to busts, they expect the memory crunch to persist until at least 2027. And access to the deep pockets of American investors will give SK Hynix financial fuel to keep growing supply: - The company is looking to raise around $28 billion for aggressive expansion in South Korea and the US, including the construction of a chip factory in Indiana.
- But analysts warn that it might take years for the new factories to start churning out chips.
The IPO gives Americans another option on the memory menu besides SK Hynix’s stateside competitor, Micron, and its biggest South Korean rival, Samsung. Some analysts note that SK Hynix’s initial stock price may be lower than Micron’s, given the different expected earnings of the two companies. Looking ahead...SK Hynix’s fortunes are expected to be a mirror for the AI boom overall. The listing will also gauge interest for other major upcoming IPOs, like those of Anthropic and OpenAI.—SK | 
