SK Hynix: The South Korean chip giant raised $26.5 billion in a US stock sale

South Korean computer chip maker SK Hynix has raised $26.5bn (£19.8bn) in a stock offering in New York, the largest ever by a foreign company to list in the US.

The company, the main supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) chip giant Nvidia, said on Thursday that it had sold 177.9 million American depositary shares at $149 each. The shares are set to begin trading on Nasdaq on Friday.

In May, SK saw Hynix. Its market value in its home country is the highest $1tnIt was raised by the boom in the demand for AI chips.

South Korean stock prices have more than tripled this year, along with Samsung Electronics, helping the Kospi index rise more than 70 percent over the same period.

Each US depositary share is equal to one-tenth of a common share traded in Seoul, SK Hynix said.

SK Hynix is ​​one of the world’s largest manufacturers of advanced memory chips used in AI infrastructure as data centers.

Demand for the offering is more than seven times the number of shares available, highlighting strong investor interest in a key company in the AI ​​supply chain.

The offering gives US investors a way to buy SK Hynix shares without trading on foreign stock exchanges.

It makes it easier for the company to easily access large amounts of investments from the world’s largest economy.

The company said it will invest in developing South Korea’s chip manufacturing and AI capabilities in the coming years.

In June, the country’s government announced plans to invest more than $880 billion in cooperation with SK Hynix and Samsung.

Both SK Hynix and Samsung have a stock market value of more than $1 trillion, joining a growing group of companies including tech giant Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft and Google owner Alphabet.