SK Hynix has filed to raise around $29 billion through a Nasdaq listing of American depositary receipts, in one of the largest US share sales of its kind.
The South Korean memory chipmaker said in a regulatory filing on Wednesday that it would issue 17.79 million new shares, valued at 45.45 trillion won, with trading expected to begin on July 10.
Each common share will be represented by ten depositary receipts, which allow US investors to trade shares of foreign companies on American exchanges.
At the top of the indicated range, the offering would rank as the largest such sale on record, ahead of the $21.8 billion Alibaba raised in its 2014 New York debut.
The dates and pricing remain tentative and subject to a review by the US Securities and Exchange Commission in the coming weeks.
SK Hynix is already listed in Seoul, where it recently overtook Samsung Electronics to become South Korea's most valuable company, ending a 26-year run at the top.
Its shares have surged more than 300% this year, driven by frenzied demand for the hardware that powers artificial intelligence.
The company is the dominant supplier of high-bandwidth memory, the specialised form of DRAM that sits inside every major AI accelerator.
It holds around 60% of that market and is a key supplier to Nvidia, the world's most valuable company.
Massive demand has created a global shortage of memory chips, with capacity for this year sold out and shortages forecast to persist.
SK Hynix said the proceeds would be used to fund chip facilities rather than general purposes.
These include its first fabrication plant at the Yongin cluster in South Korea, due to begin coming online in 2027, and an advanced packaging plant in Cheongju.
The money will also fund chipmaking equipment, including extreme ultraviolet scanners.
None of the funded projects will produce memory in time to ease the current shortage.
The company framed the listing as a way to broaden its access to US capital markets and widen its investor base.
It said the move would ultimately allow its true corporate value to be properly evaluated.
A host of large banks are managing the offering, including BofA Securities, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan.
