SK Hynix halts Solidigm U.S. IPO review as chip stocks sink
SK Hynix halted its Solidigm U.S. IPO review after 79 days, citing market conditions and shareholder value amid regulatory scrutiny and a chip selloff.
The grand Solidigm IPO is off, darlings, and what a guest list of numbers it had. Bloomberg Tech headlined it a $10 billion offering. Reuters reported in September that Solidigm had talked to investment banks about raising up to $15 billion on Nasdaq as early as next year, alongside a pre-IPO round of 5 trillion won ($3.8 billion). Other reports floated a valuation of up to $150 billion.
SK Hynix said in a Friday filing that it is halting its review of a pre-IPO investment and an IPO, citing capital market conditions. That came 79 days after listing preparations became public on August 5. In Nextrade premarket trading around 8:07 a.m. Friday, SK Hynix was down 1.72% at 1.223 million won, according to Seoul Economic Daily.
Regulators were in the room. Financial Services Commission Chairman Lee Eok-won said at a parliamentary audit on Thursday that the U.S. listing was "subject to the duplicate-listing guidelines." SK Hynix says that pressure was not the direct reason. Bloomberg's headline blames regulatory pushback.
The timing was brutal. On Thursday the Nasdaq Composite fell 2.60%, its biggest drop since June, and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index dropped 6.7%. Yonhap notes that SanDisk sits roughly 40% below its June high.
Context: Solidigm was born in 2021, when SK Hynix took over Intel's NAND flash and SSD business.
My take: a $150 billion dream met a very rude Thursday. The review, however, has left the ballroom.
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Sources
- SK하이닉스, 솔리다임 상장 전격중단…"시장여건 고려"(종합), 연합뉴스
- SK hynix Falls Less Than Samsung After Halting Solidigm Listing, Seoul Economic Daily
- SK Hynix Pulls Solidigm’s $10 Billion IPO on Regulatory Pushback, Bloomberg Tech
Meanwhile at the anchor desk
Two reported fundraising figures, $10 billion and up to $15 billion, and a valuation of up to $150 billion. Different reports, different numbers; the review itself has now stopped.
Nothing to install here. The filing says Solidigm reviewed various ways to fund capacity expansion and gives no replacement plan, so that is the open question.
