SK hynix Inc. (NASDAQ: SKHY) American Depositary Shares were indicated at $183.57 at 6:13 a.m. ET Monday, down 4.17% in premarket trading, after the company’s Seoul-listed shares fell 5.05% amid a broader semiconductor selloff.
Investors were also weighing separate concerns over a possible U.S. listing of SK hynix subsidiary Solidigm. Separately, the Nasdaq-listed ADSs continued to trade at a substantial premium to the equivalent value of the Korean common shares.
SKHY had closed Friday’s regular U.S. session at $191.56, up 2.78%. The ADSs have traded on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the SKHY symbol on a regular-way basis since July.
Reuters reported Sept. 25 that Solidigm was considering an IPO as early as 2027 that could raise about $15 billion and value the business at as much as $150 billion. Bloomberg later reported a potential valuation of up to $100 billion, also citing people familiar with the matter. The unit had held pitch meetings with investment banks, although Reuters said the plans remained at an early stage and could change with market conditions.
SK hynix told Reuters that Solidigm was reviewing options to strengthen its competitiveness but said it had not confirmed any specific plans. Korean market coverage separately raised concerns that a Solidigm listing could create a duplicate-listing issue within the SK ownership structure and reduce benefits that might otherwise accrue to existing shareholders.
That stock-specific concern came alongside Monday’s broader weakness in Korean semiconductor shares rather than replacing it as the market backdrop.
Nasdaq ADSs Trade at About a 42% Premium to Seoul
SK hynix’s Korean shares closed Monday at KRW 1,768,000, down 5.05%. SK hynix final SEC prospectus states that each U.S. ADS represents one-tenth of one SK hynix common share.
Monday’s 3:30 p.m. Korean foreign-exchange reference rate was KRW 1,365.1 per U.S. dollar. At that rate, the Seoul closing price converts to about $1,295.14 for one Korean common share. Because one SKHY ADS represents 0.1 of a common share, the corresponding ADS-equivalent value is approximately $129.51.
Compared with the earlier $183.57 U.S. premarket quote, SKHY was trading at an approximately 41.7% premium to that Seoul-equivalent reference value.
The comparison uses the Korean closing price and 3:30 p.m. foreign-exchange reference rate, both established before the cited U.S. premarket quote. It therefore compares prices from different market timestamps rather than simultaneous executable quotes.
Foreign Selling and Broader Chip Weakness Pressure Seoul Shares
SK hynix opened at KRW 1,825,000 before weakening through Monday’s Seoul session. According to Yonhap, foreign investors sold a net KRW 1.7275 trillion worth of SK hynix shares, the largest foreign net selling total for any individual KOSPI stock. Meanwhile, institutions sold another KRW 491 billion worth of shares.
Across the KOSPI, foreign investors sold a net KRW 3.2403 trillion.
The broader Korean market also declined. The KOSPI finished 2.70% lower, while Samsung Electronics fell 5.43%, indicating that the weakness extended beyond SK hynix. Yonhap cited pressure on semiconductor shares from developments that accumulated during South Korea’s holiday break, including higher U.S. Treasury yields.
ADS Conversion Involves Procedures, Fees and Market Frictions
SK hynix’s deposit agreement provides for common shares to be deposited with the custodian for the issuance of ADSs and for ADS holders to surrender ADSs to withdraw the corresponding deposited securities.
Those processes are subject to documentation requirements, applicable laws, Korean clearing-system rules, fees, taxes, and other charges. The agreement also allows certain issuance or transfer processes to be temporarily suspended under specified circumstances.
These provisions govern the process for moving between the deposited Korean shares and the U.S.-listed ADS structure, separate from the cross-market price comparison calculated from the Seoul close and U.S. premarket quote.
As separate market context, a contemporaneous CoinMarketCap snapshot showed SK Hynix Tokenized bStocks (SKHYB) trading at $183.58, down 4.51% over the prior 24 hours. The tokenized-stock price is not part of the Seoul-versus-Nasdaq ADS parity calculation and does not establish a reference value for either listed security. CoinMarketCap identifies SKHYB as a separate tokenized-stock product.
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