Samsung explores ADR listing after SK Hynix's $26.5 billion Nasdaq debut

Samsung Electronics is in early-stage talks to list American Depositary Receipts on a U.S. exchange, Bloomberg News reported, sending Seoul shares up 3.3% as investors bet on a narrowing of the Korea Discount.

"The current technology fundraising cycle still has considerable runway," James Wang, head of Asia ex-Japan equity capital markets at Goldman Sachs, said. "We believe the structural drivers behind AI investment will continue to support healthy capital markets activity over the next two to three years."

The South Korean chipmaker has held preliminary discussions with banks but has not decided whether to proceed, according to people familiar with the matter. The exploration follows rival SK Hynix's blockbuster Nasdaq debut on July 10, when its ADRs surged 13% to close at $168 after pricing at $149 each in a $26.5 billion offering — the biggest-ever U.S. listing by a foreign company and the third-largest first-time listing in U.S. history. The offering was more than seven times oversubscribed, with nearly half the shares allocated to the 10 largest orders out of nearly $200 billion in total demand, Bloomberg data show.

A successful listing would give U.S. investors direct access to the world's largest memory chipmaker, which on July 6 flagged a 19-fold jump in second-quarter operating profit to an estimated 89.4 trillion won ($58.44 billion) — its third consecutive record quarterly profit. Asian tech equity funding for the year to July 10 has already tripled to a record $84 billion, according to LSEG data, as the AI investment cycle draws more international issuers to U.S. markets. Nasdaq President Nelson Griggs said SK Hynix's debut is already prompting other international companies to consider U.S. listings.

Samsung currently has no U.S.-listed ADR, limiting American investors to London Depositary Receipts or direct purchases on the Korea Exchange. Any offering would intensify competition with SK Hynix for U.S. investor allocation in the AI-memory space, where both companies dominate the market for high-bandwidth memory chips used alongside Nvidia processors to power artificial intelligence models.

SK Hynix CEO Kwak Noh Jung said he expects the memory deficit to stretch beyond 2030, with customers locking in multiyear supply agreements. Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan Chase led SK Hynix's offering, with nine other firms participating.

Samsung shares rose 3.3% to 263,000 won in Seoul on Tuesday on volume well above the three-month average, recovering some of the 10% drop that followed its earnings preview on July 6 amid concerns about the staying power of the AI investment cycle.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.