SK hynix's U.S. subsidiary Solidigm is weighing a U.S. stock market listing as soon as 2027, Reuters reported on Sept. 25 (local time). Solidigm is a data-center storage company built from Intel's NAND flash and SSD business. The valuation being discussed is up to $150 billion (about KRW 205 trillion at the Sept. 23 reference rate of 1,366 won), and the IPO would raise $15 billion. If it goes ahead, it would be the largest semiconductor listing ever on the U.S. stock market.
A subsidiary worth KRW 205 trillion sounds like good news for the parent's shareholders. Yet when talk of a listing first surfaced in August, SK hynix shareholders pushed back first. The key is not the price tag but how much of that value stays with SK hynix shareholders.
- Solidigm is a company built by buying Intel's NAND business
In a deal announced in 2020, SK hynix bought Intel's NAND flash (memory that keeps data even when the power is off) and SSD business for about $9 billion. Solidigm is the company it set up separately in 2021 by bundling that business. Headquartered in California, it sells enterprise SSDs (data storage devices) used in data centers and cloud servers. It is focusing on high-capacity storage for AI.
Strictly speaking, Solidigm sits under an investment subsidiary SK hynix set up in the U.S. earlier this year. By ownership structure, it is a grandchild company. As reported in August, SK hynix owns 100% of this U.S. entity, and the U.S. entity owns 100% of Solidigm. In effect, all of Solidigm's business value sits inside SK hynix. Anyone who wants to invest in Solidigm has no choice but to buy SK hynix shares.
- The price tag has grown to 4 times the figure floated in August
This is not the first listing report. On Aug. 5, reports said Solidigm was seeking a pre-IPO round (raising money before a listing) of KRW 5 trillion to KRW 10 trillion, with a Nasdaq listing as the final goal. The valuation floated then was around KRW 50 trillion. This time's figure of up to KRW 205 trillion is more than 4 times that.
According to Reuters, Solidigm this week heard competing pitches from investment banks vying to run the IPO (a "bake-off"). $150 billion would far exceed the roughly $54 billion valuation of chip designer Arm at its 2023 debut and the roughly $56 billion of AI chipmaker Cerebras, which listed this year. The sources cautioned, however, that the deal size and timing are still at an early stage and could change with market conditions.
- Why a separate listing shrinks SK hynix shareholders' share
When a famous restaurant's signature dish opens its own shop across the street, diners have less reason to walk into the original. A Solidigm listing works the same way. Toss Securities said the value of a business that had been tied to SK hynix would be priced by a separately listed company, and that once outside investors take stakes, SK hynix's economic ownership falls.
SK hynix's share count doesn't grow. Instead, the share of Solidigm's future profits that returns to SK hynix shareholders shrinks by the stake outside investors take. If the $15 billion IPO were all new shares at a $150 billion valuation, outsiders would own about 10% (a simple BITPRESS calculation). Whether the offering would be new shares or a sale of existing stakes has not been reported. Cash also stays at Solidigm first and only moves up through steps such as dividends.
In the Korean stock market, the drop in a parent's share price when the parent and its subsidiary are both listed is called the dual-listing discount. SK Group already has a chain of listed companies running SK Inc. → SK Square → SK hynix. Extend it down through SK hynix's U.S. investment subsidiary to Solidigm, and it becomes five layers. The Korea Corporate Governance Forum called a possible Solidigm listing "an attempt at a five-layer dual listing unprecedented anywhere in the world."
- The day after the first report in August, SK hynix fell more than 10%
On Aug. 6, the day after the first listing report, SK hynix fell 10.37% to close at 1,495,000 won. Worries about a spin-off listing of a core business were cited as the reason. But Samsung Electronics also fell 6.30% that day, and some analysts pointed to weak U.S. chip stocks and profit-taking as well. Not all of the drop can be blamed on Solidigm.
In a disclosure at the time, SK hynix said, "Solidigm, an overseas subsidiary, is reviewing various measures to strengthen its competitiveness, but nothing has been confirmed so far." The Korean stock market is closed on Sept. 24 and 25 for the Chuseok holiday and reopens on Sept. 28. On Sept. 23, the last trading day before the holiday, SK hynix closed at 1,862,000 won.
- Seen the other way, it funds U.S. investment with other people's money
Some read it as good news. On Jan. 28 this year, SK hynix pledged to invest up to $10 billion (about KRW 14 trillion) in the U.S. entity that is Solidigm's parent. Mirae Asset Securities estimated that raising money by selling Solidigm stakes would create about $15 billion of capacity for investment in the U.S. That means U.S. investment could be paid for with outside investors' money instead of SK hynix's.
Ways to protect the parent's shareholders are also under discussion. In March, the Financial Services Commission said parent shareholders should not be given priority on more than 15% of new shares when a subsidiary lists, while a bill introduced on Sept. 9 would give parent shareholders priority on at least 50% of the offering. But that is a debate inside Korea. The Reuters report says nothing about offering IPO shares to SK hynix shareholders.
- BITPRESS Insight
The real paradox lies not in the price tag but in the direction of the money. The higher Solidigm is valued, the more money that bought SK hynix for the growth of AI storage can go straight to Solidigm without passing through SK hynix. That is why good news for a subsidiary can become a discount for the parent's stock.
That doesn't make a listing a loss no matter what. Being able to fund U.S. investment with other people's money is a clear plus. In the end, what matters to SK hynix shareholders is whether what SK hynix gets in return is bigger than the slice it hands to outside investors.
The rule fits in one line: in news about a subsidiary listing, the number to watch is not the subsidiary's price tag but the share of that value and cash that comes back to the parent's shareholders.
Sources
https://www.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/exclusivesk-hynixs-solidigm-weighs-ipo-that-could-value-theunit-at-up-to-150-billion-sources-say-4917883
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-09-25/sk-hynix-s-solidigm-is-said-to-weigh-us-ipo-as-soon-as-2027
https://www.newspim.com/news/view/20260926000031
https://biz.heraldcorp.com/article/10842190
https://supple.kr/news/cmsh6w5y000dr1202dfr3epxj
https://www.daishin.com/g.ds?p=2536&v=1875
Glossary
NAND flash — Memory that keeps data even when the power is off, used for smartphone storage and SSDs.
SSD — A storage device built from NAND flash chips that plays the role of a hard drive for data center servers.
Pre-IPO — Selling stakes to institutional investors to raise money before a company lists on the stock market.
Dual-listing discount — When a parent and its subsidiary are both listed, the subsidiary's value is not fully reflected in the parent's share price and gets marked down.
Priority allocation of IPO shares — When a subsidiary lists, part of the new shares is first offered to the parent's shareholders.
Chuseok — Korea's autumn harvest holiday, when the stock market closes for several days.
BITPRESS articles are information to help your investment decisions, not a recommendation to buy or sell any stock or coin. Investment decisions and their results are your own responsibility.
