Meet SK Hynix, the trillion-dollar South Korean chipmaker debuting on U.S. markets - CNBC

SK Hynix, South Korea's second-largest company by market cap, is set to debut on the Nasdaq amid a surge in demand for memory chips driven by artificial intelligence. As a leading supplier of high-per... Read original →

SK Hynix’s Nasdaq debut marks a strategic realignment, not just a capital raise. Its aggressive HBM expansion hinges on ASML’s EUV tools—now tightly controlled under U.S. export rules—accelerating a bifurcation in global memory tech tiers. CHIPS Act funding comes with strings: non-U.S. firms building stateside face rising compliance and forced localization costs. Samsung and Micron will likely fast-track HBM4 development and lobby NVIDIA to diversify supply, countering SK’s entrenched position. Crucially, SK’s long-term contracts with NVIDIA are transforming DRAM from a cyclical commodity into an AI infrastructure utility. Within 12–24 months, this shift will normalize elevated capex across the sector and redefine pricing power, locking memory into the AI stack as a recurring revenue stream rather than a volatile component.