SK Hynix priced its American depositary receipts at $149 each ahead of a Friday Nasdaq debut that will raise $26.51 billion, marking the largest U.S. share sale by a non-U.S. company on record. The offering surpasses Alibaba's $25 billion 2014 listing and ranks second only to SpaceX's $75 billion private placement last month.

The South Korean memory-chip leader plans to issue 177.9 million ADRs, with ten receipts representing one common share. At the offer price, ten ADRs cost $1,490, a roughly 3% premium to the Seoul-listed shares that closed Friday at 2,180,000 won ($1,450 equivalent). Proceeds will fund factory expansion and advanced equipment purchases.

Hynix's Seoul shares have more than tripled this year, propelled by insatiable demand for high-bandwidth memory essential to AI accelerators. Douglas Kim of Douglas Research Advisory estimates the ADRs could initially trade at a 12%-17% premium to the local listing before that gap narrows to about 10% in coming months.

The listing gives U.S. investors direct access to the primary beneficiary of the AI memory boom, though the sizable premium at launch suggests much of the near-term enthusiasm is already priced in.