The artificial intelligence chip boom has just delivered its most significant moment on Wall Street yet. SK Hynix, the South Korean memory chip heavyweight, announced on Friday that it has raised $26.5 billion (KRW 40 trillion) through its market debut in the United States. The company sold 177.9 million American depositary shares (ADRs) at $149 each, structured so that U.S. investors can purchase them at roughly one-tenth the price of a full share in Seoul. This deal marks the largest-ever U.S. debut by a non-American company, surpassing Alibaba’s $25 billion IPO back in 2014.

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SK Hynix began trading on the Nasdaq today, Friday, July 10th, under the temporary ticker symbol SKHYV. Regular trading will commence on Monday, July 13th, when the ticker officially becomes SKHY. So far, American investors are eagerly buying in. The stock opened at 14% above its IPO price, and the price continued to climb during early trading on Friday. This performance is particularly notable because the U.S. shares were priced at a 2.7% premium compared to the company’s own three-day average in Seoul, according to its filing with the Korea Stock Exchange. Despite that premium, demand for the offering reportedly exceeded available shares by more than seven times, based on media reports.

That level of enthusiasm is especially striking given that Korean companies have historically traded at a discount relative to their global counterparts. This valuation gap is commonly known as the Korea Discount. Investors often point to factors such as complex corporate governance structures, low shareholder returns, regulatory uncertainty, and geopolitical risks tied to North Korea as reasons why companies from the country don’t command higher share prices. However, SK Hynix is clearly immune to the Korea Discount, and the reason lies in its product lineup: the company manufactures memory chips, including high-bandwidth memory (HBM). HBM is a critical component for AI GPU processors, and Nvidia currently relies on SK Hynix as one of its primary suppliers.

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According to its regulatory filing, the funds raised from eager U.S. investors will be allocated to three key areas: a new fabrication plant in South Korea, which is currently under construction to address the global memory shortage driven by AI; a new packaging facility in the same country; and EUV scanners, the advanced machines required to produce next-generation chips. Meanwhile, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick made a stop at a Micron event on Thursday, delivering a message that extends beyond the American memory maker, which is one of SK Hynix’s biggest competitors. Lutnick reportedly stated that he is already in discussions with Samsung, the third major memory manufacturer worldwide, and SK Hynix about building new factories in the United States. The underlying goal is to prevent South Korea from continuing to dominate this critical technology sector.

Micron, naturally, is on board. The company announced plans to invest $250 billion in new U.S. manufacturing, a commitment that the American memory chip firm says will create more than 90,000 jobs and ensure that cutting-edge chip production stays on U.S. soil. The timing of Lutnick’s request is particularly notable beyond SK Hynix’s U.S. IPO: both Korean chipmakers have just pledged more than $550 billion for new manufacturing investments in South Korea.