SKHX Holds an 8% Discount to SK hynix's ADR Reference as the Record $28B Nasdaq Raise Prices This Week

Pricing Week for a Record Raise

SK hynix formally launched its U.S. share sale on July 6, seeking to raise about 43 trillion won ($28 billion) through American depositary receipts on the Nasdaq — the second-largest equity sale on record behind last month's SpaceX IPO, ahead of Saudi Aramco and Alibaba. SK hynix is issuing 17.79 million new shares, about 2.5% of its stock, with 10 ADRs representing one common share. A July 6 filing set a reference price of ₩242,500 per ADR off the July 3 Seoul close of ₩2.42 million — roughly $1,580 per underlying share.

Demand isn't the problem. Baillie Gifford, Coatue Management and Situational Awareness Partners separately flagged interest for up to a combined $7 billion of ADRs, and the final price is due Thursday with trading starting Friday. What SKHX is discounting is the supply overhang and the 2.5% dilution, landing into a tape that has been selling chips hard.

The Oracle Carries Seoul's Slide

SKHX is a synthetic that tracks one SK hynix common share, converting the Seoul price from won to dollars at the live USD/KRW rate. The perp doesn't have a life of its own here — it inherits whatever the KOSPI-listed stock does, and the KOSPI-listed stock has been ugly. On July 2, Samsung and SK Hynix tumbled as much as 9% as an AI-driven chip rout spread from Wall Street, and Korean stocks dropped about 6% on AI jitters. By July 6 the KOSPI was back below 8,000 with SK hynix turning negative intraday.

That's why the perp sits roughly 8% under the ~$1,580 per-share level implied by the ADR reference: the reference is frozen at the July 3 close, and Seoul has kept sliding since. This is not the ADR trading at a discount — the ADR hasn't listed yet — it's spot drifting below the benchmark the deal was struck against, and the oracle passing that straight through to SKHX.

What to Watch

Thursday's final price is the number that matters. Set it near ₩242,500 into a soft tape and the book still clears on that $7 billion of anchor interest; set it lower and the perp likely follows the reset benchmark down. Friday's Nasdaq open then delivers the first two-way, U.S.-hours print on a name that has only ever traded in Seoul — a genuine stress test for how American investors mark the AI-memory trade.

Keep the move in proportion. Even after this leg, SK hynix is up more than 260% year to date; SKHX is repricing a record equity raise and a chip-sector drawdown, not a break in the HBM demand story. The near-term tell is whether SKHX holds above the earlier low near $1,393 or lets the discount to the reference widen back out into pricing day.