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, while 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. 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 and that no specific plan had been confirmed. Korean market coverage separately raised concerns that a listing of Solidigm 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%. The company’s 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 5:21 a.m. ET U.S. premarket snapshot. 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. Foreign investors were net sellers of KRW 1.7275 trillion of SK hynix shares, making it the largest individual KOSPI stock by foreign net selling, while institutions sold another KRW 491 billion, according to Yonhap.
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 and are 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.