SK hynix files amended F-1 with SEC, as it begins US IPO process

SK hynix's headquarters in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, is shown in this file photo taken May 27. Yonhap

SK hynix has resubmitted an amended F-1 Form registration with the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) this week, which included potential litigation risks, as it proceeds with its bid to list on the U.S. market.

According to the filing submitted Tuesday (local time), SK hynix said a "putative antitrust class action suit" was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on Thursday (local time), brought by "indirect purchasers of conventional DRAM products."

The plaintiffs alleged SK hynix, its U.S. subsidiary and two other memory semiconductor makers "conspired to restrict the supply of and inflate prices for conventional DRAM beginning in approximately October 2022," the document read.

Also in the filing, the Korean chip giant said it has ranked first in the global High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) market, with 56.4 percent market share in the first quarter. It was also the second-largest supplier of NAND flash memory based on revenue during the period, citing data from IDC, a global market intelligence firm.

SK hynix said it plans to use the proceeds to pay for the construction of production facilities in Korea, as well as its acquisition of EUV scanners, expected to cost around 11.9 trillion won ($7.6 billion), and to be delivered by December of 2027.

The company did not state any details of the ADSs, including its offering price, as it did in its previous filing submitted last Wednesday.

Such details will be determined through negotiations with underwriters, and will be based on the last reported trading price of common shares, as well as prevailing market conditions and other factors, the chipmaker added.