SK Hynix raises $26.5B in the biggest foreign IPO in US history, is urged to build new US fabs

SK Hynix 筹集 265 亿美元，创下美国史上最大规模外国公司 IPO，并被敦促在美国建厂

The AI chip boom just produced its biggest Wall Street moment yet. SK Hynix, a South Korean memory chip giant, said Friday it has raised $26.5 billion (KRW 40 trillion) in its U.S. market debut. 人工智能芯片热潮刚刚在华尔街创造了迄今为止最重大的时刻。韩国存储芯片巨头 SK 海力士（SK Hynix）周五表示，其在美国市场首次公开募股（IPO）中筹集了 265 亿美元（约合 40 万亿韩元）。

SK Hynix sold 177.9 million American depositary shares (ADRs) at $149 each, structured so U.S. investors can buy in at roughly a tenth of what a full share costs in Seoul. This deal, the largest-ever U.S. debut by a non-American company, topped Alibaba’s $25 billion IPO in 2014. SK 海力士以每股 149 美元的价格出售了 1.779 亿股美国存托凭证（ADR），其结构设计使得美国投资者能够以大约首尔全股价格十分之一的成本进行投资。这笔交易是美国历史上非美国公司规模最大的首次亮相，超过了阿里巴巴 2014 年 250 亿美元的 IPO 纪录。

The company begins trading on the Nasdaq today, Friday, July 10, under the temporary ticker SKHYV. Regular trading opens Monday, July 13, when the ticker officially becomes SKHY. So far, U.S. investors are lapping it up. The stock opened at 14% over its IPO price, and the price was still rising in early trading on Friday. 该公司于 7 月 10 日周五在纳斯达克开始交易，临时股票代码为 SKHYV。常规交易将于 7 月 13 日周一开启，届时股票代码将正式变更为 SKHY。到目前为止，美国投资者反应热烈。该股开盘价较 IPO 价格上涨了 14%，且在周五早盘交易中价格仍在持续攀升。

This even as it priced its U.S. shares at a 2.7% premium to its own three-day average back home in Seoul, according to its Korea Stock Exchange filing. Yet, demand for the offering was reportedly more than seven times the available shares, per media reports. That’s especially amazing considering Korean companies have long traded at a discount to their global peers. 根据其向韩国证券交易所提交的文件，尽管其美国股票的定价较其在首尔的三日平均股价溢价了 2.7%，但据媒体报道，此次发行的需求量据称超过了可用股份的七倍。考虑到韩国公司长期以来相对于全球同行存在估值折价，这一表现尤为惊人。

That valuation gap is called the Korea Discount. Investors often cite factors such as complex corporate governance structures, low shareholder returns, regulatory uncertainty, and geopolitical risks related to North Korea to justify why companies from that country don’t command higher share prices. 这种估值差距被称为“韩国折价”（Korea Discount）。投资者常以复杂的公司治理结构、较低的股东回报、监管不确定性以及与朝鲜相关的地缘政治风险等因素，来解释为何韩国公司难以获得更高的股价。

But SK Hynix clearly isn’t suffering from the Korea Discount and that’s because it makes memory chips, including high-bandwidth memory (HBM). HBM is a key component of AI GPUs processors. And right now, Nvidia relies on SK Hynix as one of its primary suppliers. 但 SK 海力士显然并未受到“韩国折价”的影响，这是因为它生产存储芯片，包括高带宽内存（HBM）。HBM 是人工智能 GPU 处理器的关键组件。目前，英伟达（Nvidia）将 SK 海力士视为其主要供应商之一。

Per its filing, the money raised from eager U.S. investors will go to three places: a new fab in South Korea (being built now to address the worldwide shortage of memory cause by AI); a new packaging facility in that country; and EUV scanners, the machines that make next-generation chips possible. 根据其提交的文件，从热情的美国投资者那里筹集的资金将用于三个方面：在韩国建设一座新晶圆厂（目前正在建设中，以解决人工智能导致的全球存储芯片短缺问题）；在韩国建设一个新的封装设施；以及购买极紫外光（EUV）光刻机，这种机器是制造下一代芯片的关键设备。

Meanwhile, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick stopped by a Micron event Thursday with a message for the broader chip industry, not just for U.S. memory maker Micron (who is one of SK Hynix’s biggest competitors). Lutnick reportedly said he’s already in talks with Samsung (the third major memory maker, worldwide) and SK Hynix about building new factories in the U.S. 与此同时，美国商务部长霍华德·卢特尼克（Howard Lutnick）周四出席了美光科技（Micron）的活动，并向更广泛的芯片行业传达了信息，而不仅仅是针对美国存储芯片制造商美光（美光是 SK 海力士最大的竞争对手之一）。据报道，卢特尼克表示，他已经与三星（全球第三大存储芯片制造商）和 SK 海力士就赴美建厂事宜进行了商谈。

The idea being not to let South Korea continue to be the country that dominates this important tech. Micron, naturally, is in. It announced it plans to invest $250 billion in new U.S. manufacturing, a commitment the U.S. memory chip company says will create more than 90,000 jobs and keep leading-edge chip production on American soil. 其核心意图是不让韩国继续主导这一重要技术领域。美光自然表示支持。该公司宣布计划投资 2500 亿美元用于美国本土的新制造项目，美光称这一承诺将创造超过 9 万个就业岗位，并将尖端芯片的生产留在美国本土。

The timing of Lutnick’s request is notable beyond this U.S. IPO for SK Hynix: Both Korean chipmakers just pledged more than $550 billion for new manufacturing investment in South Korea. 卢特尼克提出这一要求的时机，除了 SK 海力士的美国 IPO 之外，还值得注意：这两家韩国芯片制造商刚刚承诺在韩国投入超过 5500 亿美元用于新的制造投资。