SK Hynix Scraps Solidigm US IPO Once Eyed at $150 Billion

SK Hynix said it halted its review of a US listing for NAND unit Solidigm, a deal reported at a valuation of up to $150 billion and a raise of as much as $15 billion. Seoul regulators had said the listing fell under Korea's split-listing rules.

SK Hynix has pulled the plug on a US initial public offering of Solidigm, its NAND flash unit, in a deal that reporting had put at a valuation of up to $150 billion. The company disclosed the halt in a South Korean regulatory filing on Friday, citing recent capital market conditions, Bloomberg reported on October 22nd, 2026 (October 23rd, 2026 Seoul time).

Reuters reported from Seoul on October 23rd, 2026 that SK Hynix had decided not to pursue the listing, first reported by the Korea Economic Daily citing unnamed industry sources. A later Reuters version said the company put the listing on hold because of market volatility and after South Korean authorities raised concerns the deal could undermine shareholder interests.

What happened

SK Hynix said Solidigm had been reviewing various funding options to expand production capacity and strengthen competitiveness, but had decided to stop its review of both a pre-IPO and an IPO after weighing capital market conditions and other factors, in wording quoted by Seoul Economic Daily on October 23rd, 2026.

The scale is what made it travel. Reuters had earlier reported that Solidigm ran a bank bake-off for a listing as early as 2027 that could value the unit at up to $150 billion and raise as much as $15 billion, which would have been the largest US semiconductor listing on record, as relayed by Benzinga (via TradingView) and the Korea JoongAng Daily. Seoul Economic Daily reported on October 8th, 2026 that Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley had been picked as lead underwriters, with JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and UBS also joining.

Why Seoul balked

Financial Supervisory Service Governor Lee Chan-jin told a National Assembly audit on October 19th, 2026 that both the FSC and the FSS had concluded the planned Solidigm listing breached South Korea's rules against duplicate listings, according to Financial News and MoneyToday.

Three days later, Financial Services Commission Chairman Lee Eog-weon told a comprehensive parliamentary audit that a US listing of Solidigm falls under Korea's split-listing guidelines, and that SK hynix and SK Square, which sit above Solidigm in the group's ownership structure, would incur shareholder-protection obligations, the Korea JoongAng Daily reported.

The valuation figures differ by outlet, and it is worth being precise about that. Seoul Economic Daily, citing Bloomberg, reported a target of $100 billion to $150 billion (roughly 134 trillion to 200 trillion won) with about $10 billion to be raised. Bloomberg's own headline on the cancellation called it a $10 billion IPO. Invezz reported a raise of roughly $10 billion at a valuation near $100 billion, while investingLive and The Korea Herald used the up-to-$150 billion figure.

What the record shows

SK Hynix shares in Seoul closed 4.4% higher on Friday, October 23rd, 2026 after falling as much as 3% earlier in the session, CNBC reported, quoting eToro APAC lead analyst Josh Gilbert as saying SK Hynix shareholders had got the outcome they were pushing for. investingLive reported that the stock had fallen about 30% since late September to near six-month lows before the decision, and said the withdrawal removes a dilution overhang for the parent's shareholders.

On our side of the ledger there is nothing to add: no US Securities and Exchange Commission registration statement for a Solidigm IPO has been reported as publicly filed, and the disclosure of the halt came through a South Korean filing rather than a US one. The reporting describes a pre-IPO and IPO review only, so there is no US insider or offering record here to read against the headline.

What to watch

The Korea Herald reported on October 23rd, 2026 that the review ended 79 days after the plan first surfaced on August 5th, 2026, and that Solidigm posted first-half revenue of 12.25 trillion won ($9.2 billion), up 3.7-fold year on year, with net income up 44.2-fold to 5.84 trillion won.

The funding need has not gone away. SK hynix said it will keep weighing other routes for Solidigm's planned new US fab, including direct investment and a capital injection through its AI Company entity, noting that a single fab currently requires tens of trillions of won, according to Seoul Economic Daily and Reuters. Solidigm, based in Rancho Cordova, California, was built from Intel's NAND flash memory and SSD business, which SK hynix agreed to buy for about $9 billion in 2020 and launched as a standalone subsidiary in 2021, per Reuters and the Korea JoongAng Daily.

Reporting on October 22nd and 23rd, 2026 from Bloomberg, Reuters, CNBC, Seoul Economic Daily, The Korea Herald, Korea JoongAng Daily, Financial News, investingLive and Invezz.

Informational only, not investment advice.