[News] SK hynix is Reportedly Considering U.S. IPO for its NAND/SSD Subsidiary Solidigm

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South Korean memory giant SK hynix, after announcing soaring financial results in Q2 and its massive investment in Yongin Semiconductor Cluster last week, is now reportedly considering another move: US IPO for its Solidigm subsidiary.

According to the reports by Blocks & Files and Korea media outlet Hankyung, Solidigm has achieved its first profit after 12 consecutive quarters of losses. On July 25^th, SK hynix announced second-quarter revenue of 16.42 trillion Korean won, a 125% year-on-year increase, setting a historical record. At the same time, profits reached their highest level since 2018. This was mainly due to strong demand for AI memory, including HBM, and overall price increases for DRAM and NAND products.

The reports stated that the rumor regarding the U.S. IPO seems to be plausible, as SK hynix had previously planned to spin off Solidigm, and the company’s recent rebound makes such a move more feasible. In addition, an IPO for Solidigm would allow SK hynix to obtain cash for part of its stake in the company and assist in covering the planned capital expenditures, according to the reports.

The company had just announced an ambitious plan of expanding its memory manufacturing capacity with an approximately 9.4 trillion won (USD 6.8 billion) investment to build an HBM fabrication plant at the Yongin Semiconductor Cluster, Korea. Construction of the fab will begin in March 2025 and is expected to be completed by May 2027. Following this, SK Hynix intends to add three more plants to the cluster.

However, the reports also pointed out that SK hynix’s success in this venture will likely depend on how the new organization is structured—such as which assets are included in Solidigm versus those retained by SK hynix—and how both entities address future technology plans. This is particularly important considering that the current roadmap for the memory giant’s NAND business at Dalian, China, including the QLC components that have contributed to Solidigm’s recent success in high-capacity enterprise SSDs, appears to conclude at 196 layers.

In 2020, SK hynix acquired Intel’s NAND and SSD division through a two-phase deal. The first phase involved the former purchasing Intel’s SSD business and NAND fabrication plant in Dalian, China, for USD 7 billion. The second phase will see SK hynix pay Intel an additional USD 2 billion in 2025 for intellectual property related to NAND flash wafer manufacturing and design, as well as for R&D employees and the Dalian fab workforce. SK hynix named the acquired business Solidigm in December, 2021, and has since developed and launched a few successful products, including the D5-P5336 61.44 TB QLC (4 bits/cell) SSD, the reports noted.

Regarding the rumor, SK hynix clarifies that Solidigm is exploring various growth strategies, but no decision has been made at this time.

Read more

• [News] SK hynix Approves USD 6.8 Billion Investment for its First Fab in Yongin, Targeting Next-gen DRAMs
• [News] Battle between Memory Giants Heats up in 2H24 as Samsung and SK hynix Advance in HBM3/ HBM3e

(Photo credit: Solidigm)