Sold Out Through 2030: Inside the $26.5 Billion Bet That the Semiconductor Memory Shortage Isn't Ending

A record listing puts a number on the AI memory story: On July 10, 2026, SK Hynix listed American depositary receipts on the Nasdaq, raising $26.5 billion  the largest U.S. share sale ever completed by a foreign company, surpassing Alibaba's $25 billion debut in 2014. The 177.9 million ADRs were priced at $149 each, the offering was oversubscribed more than sevenfold, and shares opened as much as 15% above the offer price before closing their first session at $168.01. SK Hynix says proceeds will fund manufacturing expansion in South Korea and equipment purchases, including EUV lithography scanners. The company's market capitalization stood at roughly $1.25 trillion after the debut.
The timing wasn't incidental. Speaking to Reuters on the day of the listing, SK Hynix CEO Kwak Noh-jung said the global memory industry is heading toward its worst-ever supply shortage in 2027: "We forecast that next year will be the worst year in the industry's history from the supply perspective... We still forecast that customer demand will remain higher than our supply capacity even beyond 2030." Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has separately said AI memory shortages will persist for years, and UBS expects the global DRAM market to stay undersupplied at least until mid-2028.

Why manufacturers say this shortage is structural, not seasonal:

The scarcity is concentr...