SK Hynix’s $26.5 Billion Nasdaq Listing Poised to Inject Massive Dollar Liquidity into South Korean FX Market

SEOUL, July 12 (Yonhap) — SK hynix Inc. is preparing to channel a substantial volume of U.S. dollars into South Korea’s foreign exchange market following the completion of a massive American depositary receipt (ADR) offering on the Nasdaq stock exchange that raised approximately 40 trillion won (US$26.5 billion), industry sources indicated Sunday.

The proceeds from the U.S. listing are slated for delivery to the company on Monday. Since SK hynix intends to allocate the bulk of this capital toward domestic projects—most notably the Yongin semiconductor cluster—the dollar-denominated funds will largely be converted into Korean won. This conversion is anticipated to significantly boost the supply of dollars in the local foreign exchange market.

The influx is expected to alleviate downward pressure on the Korean won, which has struggled against a broadly strong dollar and rising outbound investment by South Korean corporations, according to market sources.

“The specific scale and timing of the foreign exchange transactions have not yet been finalized,” an SK hynix spokesperson stated.

Market analysts noted that the anticipated dollar inflow rivals the liquidity injected during the 2020 COVID-19 market crisis via the $60 billion currency swap arrangement between the Bank of Korea and the U.S. Federal Reserve. While that facility carried a $60 billion ceiling, actual drawdowns amounted to $19.87 billion.

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