SK Hynix falls in Seoul after strong Nasdaq opening

SK Hynix shares fell more than 10% in Seoul on Monday, reversing part of a sharp run-up after the South Korean memory-chip maker’s U.S.-listed shares rose 13% in their Nasdaq debut on Friday. The move put a spotlight on how investors are pricing AI-linked semiconductor exposure across local and U.S. markets.

The decline followed strong demand from U.S. investors for the company’s American listing, which gave global investors another way to gain exposure to SK Hynix. CNBC reported that analysts linked Monday’s fall in the Korean shares to profit-taking after the rally and to questions over the relative valuation of the U.S.-listed stock and the domestic shares.

SK Hynix has become one of the central suppliers in the artificial-intelligence hardware chain because demand for advanced memory chips has risen alongside investment in AI servers and data centers. The stock’s latest move shows how quickly expectations for that demand can feed through to equity pricing, particularly when a new listing creates a second public reference point for the same company.

Valuation gap draws attention

Daniel Yoo, global strategist at Yuanta Securities, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” that investors were trying to determine a fair valuation for the shares against an uncertain backdrop for memory demand and supply. “Everybody’s really confused about what’s going to happen to the memory demand and where the fair price is,” Yoo said.

Yoo said the debate centered on demand for memory chips, future supply and the valuation multiple investors would be willing to assign to the company. He also compared SK Hynix’s cross-market pricing with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., whose U.S.-listed ADRs trade at about a 13% to 14% premium to its domestic shares, according to Yoo.

In SK Hynix’s case, Yoo said the sharp move around the U.S. listing had created a discount of more than 20% between its U.S. and Korean shares. Such gaps can emerge when investor bases differ across markets, when liquidity conditions vary, or when a new listing changes the supply and demand balance for a company’s equity.

Yoo also pointed to the structure of the transaction, describing it as additional share issuance that increased the amount of stock available to investors. He said the Korean market was treating the move as a correction phase for SK Hynix domestically.

Analysts point to positioning, not a demand break

Yoo said he expected the pullback to be temporary because structural AI demand still exceeded supply. He added that the shares were likely to move “in the right direction” over the next six to 12 months, while noting near-term volatility.

Phillip Wool, chief research officer at Rayliant Global Advisors, also told CNBC that recent weakness in Asian AI hardware shares looked more like portfolio adjustment than a change in the sector’s prospects. “I think it’s mostly risk management,” Wool said.

Wool said many investors had built large positions in South Korean and Taiwanese AI chipmakers after strong gains, making some reduction in exposure consistent with risk controls. He added that the selling “doesn’t really speak to any sort of reduction in the excitement about AI hardware.”

According to Wool, AI-related investment was spreading beyond semiconductors, but memory suppliers such as SK Hynix could still benefit from that broader spending cycle. The comments underscored the tension facing investors after the Nasdaq debut: near-term valuation discipline against continuing demand for chips used in AI infrastructure.

This story draws on original reporting from CNBC.