SK Hynix, the world’s second-largest memory-chip maker, is coming to the NASDAQ on Friday with the largest stock sale anyone has priced in years, and the chip complex is already pricing it in. CNBC’s Kristina Partsinevelos reported Monday that “SK Hynix plans to raise roughly $28 billion through an American depositary receipts, or ADR, on the Nasdaq, and this target was down from earlier numbers.”
She added that “it’s still the second biggest share sale in history behind only SpaceX’s record IPO, which was just last month here at the Nasdaq as well.” The semiconductor index rose more than 4% on the news, and the chip trade retail has been crowded into for a year got another shot of adrenaline.
What the raise funds
Partsinevelos noted the proceeds “are going to go towards expanding chip facilities, specifically in South Korea, all to meet soaring AI demand. They’re going to be buying ASML EUV machines as well.” When a memory duopolist raises $28 billion and immediately hands a chunk of it to a single Dutch equipment vendor, the equipment vendor’s backlog stops being an abstraction.
ASML (NASDAQ:ASML | ASML Price Prediction) already reported $15.28 billion in Q4 2025 net bookings, a record, and CEO Christophe Fouquet said “demand for chips is outpacing supply” in Q1 2026 results. ASML is up 65.97% year to date and popped another 5.39% Monday.
The scaled-back size is the tell. Shares wobbled in Seoul, so bankers trimmed the deal. A memory maker still walked away with $28 billion of fresh cash to build fabs. That flow of cash from a memory duopolist to a Dutch lithography monopolist, mid-pullback in Seoul, is the AI capex cycle working as designed.
The equipment chain is the cleanest read
Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) CEO Gary Dickerson raised his outlook on the May 14 call, saying “we now expect our semiconductor equipment business to grow more than 30 percent in calendar 2026.” That was a bump from the 20%-plus he’d guided one quarter earlier.
Applied has EPIC Center partnerships with TSMC, SK hynix, Micron, and Samsung, meaning every memory expansion announced this quarter feeds directly into next year’s tool orders. AMAT is up 212% over the past year.
Memory, and whether SK Hynix’s raise is a threat to Micron
Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) just posted $41.46 billion in Q3 FY26 revenue, up 345.72% year over year, with GAAP gross margin at 84.6%. CEO Sanjay Mehrotra guided Q4 to $50 billion in revenue and roughly 86% gross margin (see the Q3 filing).
Retail is interpreting the SK Hynix news as validation rather than threat. The top r/stockmarket post Monday was titled “This isn’t a memory cycle anymore, and SK Hynix hitting US markets is the next leg,” and MU’s Reddit sentiment score sits at 63 (bullish). Micron rose 3.27% Monday to $1,007.49, up 241.97% YTD.
Where NVIDIA and Broadcom sit in all this
NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) is the customer buying HBM from Hynix and Micron, and it’s the reason the whole cycle exists. Q1 FY27 revenue was $81.61 billion, up 85.2%, with data center revenue at $75.25 billion.
Jensen Huang described the moment as “the buildout of AI factories, the largest infrastructure expansion in human history.” Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) guided Q3 AI semi revenue to $16.0 billion, up over 200% year over year, per CEO Hock Tan on the June 3 call. Broadcom ripped 3.71% Monday.
Is it frothy?
NVIDIA is down 6% over the past month and Broadcom is down 5%, so calling the group euphoric misses that the leaders have already coughed up gains. A top r/wallstreetbets post flagged that “leverage in South Korean chip stocks is out of control,” which is worth holding in mind. Goldman Sachs’ 2026 outlook notes concerns are rising over signs of froth, including some headline-grabbing deals and announcements of huge capex plans.
A $28 billion memory raise funding ASML tools that Applied Materials integrates, to feed HBM to NVIDIA and Broadcom, is exactly the kind of headline that makes both bulls and skeptics feel vindicated. Watch Friday’s open. What SK Hynix prices at, and whether the aftermarket holds, is the tell for how deep the capex conviction actually runs.
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