SK Hercules became the second largest stock issue in the history of the United States and one of the largest listings of foreign companies in the United States, after he was put up in NASDAQ. First-day stock prices rose by 12.8 per cent, allowing United States investors to directly configure this deep-seated Korean chip manufacturer, who benefited from the agitated AI.
$26.5 billion in fund-raising.
This time, $26.5 billion was raised after SpaceX's 86 billion IPO last month. HSBC analysts estimate that the SK Hercules valuation is expected to increase further, by up to 20 per cent, if United States certificates are traded.
On the same day, the Chairman of the SK Group, Choi Tae-jin, stated that the company was planning to double its capacity over the next five years, but that the customer still believed that the supply was inadequate, indicating that the demand for storage related to AI continued to expand.
HBM demand pushes performance
The company is market-driven and at its core is high bandwidth storage HBM. The chip has become an important part of the processor required for AI training, and is widely used in the AI chip for manufacturers such as Inverda. As large model training drives a rapid rise in demand, HBM supply continues to be tight and prices remain high.
SK Hercules developed a global first HBM chip with AMD in 2013 and continued to invest in this area. By income, companies currently account for about 60 per cent of the global HBM market. In 2025, the income amounted to 97.1 trillion won, with a net profit of 42.9 trillion won and a net interest rate of about 44 per cent.
Korea's stock market concentration is rising.
AI is also in the process of reshaping Korean capital markets. Over the past 12 months, the Korea Consolidated Equity Index (KOSPI) increased by 135 per cent, but the main increases were concentrated in SK Hercules and Samsung electronics, which together accounted for more than half of the total market value of the index.
Increased market concentration also led to greater volatility. Since the beginning of this year, the Korean Exchange has triggered the melting mechanism six times. In April this year, the Korean government approved the introduction of a single lever, ETF, in an attempt to leave the diaspora to local markets, but the regulatory community subsequently expressed concern about the risks associated with the products.
The chip shortage spills to the end market.
It was mentioned that stress on the storage of chips not only pushed up the price of AI-related products, but also began to spread to the wider electronics industry. Even medium- and low-end storage chips are increasing prices, and terminal manufacturers such as Apple, Sony and Nintendo face higher costs.
Chief Executive Officer KK Hercules Guolu is saying that, from a supply point of view, next year could be one of the most tense years in industry history. Last month, Samsung Electronics and SK Hercules announced that they would invest 800 trillion won with suppliers to build two new semiconductor manufacturing parks in south-west Korea.