The South Korean Sk Hynix, one of the princesses of the index Kospi, wants to ride the wave of artificial intelligence by all means. This morning the chip manufacturer ha launched a public offering of shares negli United States to raise 43 trillion won, equivalent to approximately 28,07 billions of dollars.
It is one of the largest emissions of new shares in the world after the record initial public offering of SpaceX from $85,7 billion last month, surpassing that of Saudi Aramco from $25,6 billion in 2019 and the similarly sized offering of Alibaba in 2014. The company will sell 17,79 million new shares through the Adr listing (Deposit Receipts) on the Nasdaq: ten ADRs will represent one ordinary share.
Il final price for the listing in New York it should be fixed Thursday, before the start of the negotiations of the title Friday, according to documents filed with regulators. Meanwhile, the company's management will meet with international investors in a roadshow this week.
SK Hynix shares closed down 3,4% today at 2.343.000 won, but the stock is still up about 260% since the beginning of the year. The Kospi index fell 0,5% today.
Sk Hynix is considering allocating about 0,5% of the proceeds from its U.S. listing to banks working on the deal, which would translate into more than $130 million in commissions overall for Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs Group and JPMorgan Chase & Co.
SK Hynix enters global AI memory chip arena
But it's not just about raising capital. For Sk Hynix it's also about compete in the most dynamic sector of the global stock market, that of memory chip used in artificial intelligence, as its most direct competitors are doing, micron Technology e SamsungFor years, the South Korean manufacturer has traded at a discount to its main U.S. rival, MicronNow, with the ADR listing, the company's investor base will expand and potentially narrow the valuation gap with its rival, analysts say. Over the past 12 months, SK Hynix shares listed in Korea and Micron Technology stocks in the US have gained about 700%, each company surpassing a market capitalization of $1.000 trillion.
Last week the South Korea presented abroad industrial strategy focused on semiconductors and artificial intelligence, which includes a investment program in $576 billion of chips in the Southwest to help spread the profits from the boom.
Sk Hynix said that the proceeds resulting from the listing of American Depositary Receipts will be used for build chip factories in South Korea and purchase chip manufacturing equipment, including an extreme ultraviolet scanner produced by Dutch equipment manufacturer Asml (down 2% today).
Sk Hynix is a key supplier of high-bandwidth memory chips used in artificial intelligence systems by customers such as Nvidia e Google Alphabet. Analysts expect SK Hynix to join the Philadelphia Stock Exchange's semiconductor index, which is heavily weighted toward the chip sector. Last month, HSBC said it would increase SK Hynix's valuation by applying a 20% premium to its previous price-to-book multiple of 2,8 times, implying a multiple of 3,4 times, "evidently reflecting more proactive shareholder initiatives and greater accessibility for global investors."
