SK Hynix Inc scrapped plans for a potential $10 billion US listing of its Solidigm unit after facing strong opposition from regulators and shareholders, becoming the latest firm to pull an IPO while markets gyrate on doubts about the AI boom.
Shares of South Korean chipmaker were down 3% in Seoul on Friday morning.
The retreat followed domestic regulatory scrutiny over concerns that a Solidigm listing could dilute minority investors and complicate SK Group’s ownership structure. The South Korean chipmaker also halted discussions around pre-IPO investment, SK Hynix said in a regulatory filing Friday. Solidigm also blamed “recent capital market conditions.”
Solidigm, one of the world’s largest makers of flash memory critical to storage in data centers, is the latest high-profile firm to suspend or cancel an initial public offering. It joins data center developers Firmus Grid Ltd. and Airtrunk in pulling back at a time fears of an AI bubble are roiling global markets.
In SK Hynix’s case, however, the withdrawal was driven largely by regulatory opposition in South Korea. The controversy over Solidigm had become a test of Seoul’s efforts to strengthen corporate governance and minority shareholder protections — addressing the country’s chronic equity undervaluation, known as the “Korea discount.”