Ahn Cheol-soo, a lawmaker of the People Power Party, said the withdrawal of SK hynix's plan to list its U.S. subsidiary Solidigm was "a result created by the voices of ordinary individual investors."
In a Facebook post on the 23rd, Ahn said he hoped the episode would "serve as an occasion for SK hynix to recognize that this is now an era in which shareholders and companies must grow together." Turning to the Lee Jae-myung administration, he asked, "What on earth did it do?" and said, "While shouting about value-up, it stayed silent for months without a clear position on parent-subsidiary dual listings. It did nothing while shareholder concerns boiled over and half the share price was carved away."
He added that "the public finds it painful even to look at their stock balances," asking, "Do we have to monitor the stock market every single day and post manifestos?"
SK hynix said in a regulatory filing the same day that it would halt the pre-IPO and IPO processes for Solidigm, which had been preparing to list in the United States, citing capital market conditions. Solidigm was launched after SK hynix acquired Intel's NAND flash and solid-state drive (SSD) business in 2021. Talk of a U.S. listing surfaced in securities circles from the year after its launch, and IPO preparations were understood to have taken concrete shape this year.
The listing had initially been considered as a way to secure funding for Solidigm's growth while expanding SK hynix's capacity for shareholder returns. But conditions changed as financial market volatility widened recently and semiconductor shares came under pressure. Controversy in the domestic stock market over parent-subsidiary dual listings also emerged as a variable, putting the brakes on the plan.
SK hynix said it plans to review the timing and scale of investment and its funding methods again, taking into account the need to expand Solidigm's production capacity and strengthen its competitiveness, and to look for ways to boost both growth and the interests of existing shareholders.
Investor sentiment partly recovered after SK hynix announced it was halting its review of a U.S. initial public offering for Solidigm. The stock, which had plunged more than 4% in early trading, rebounded to close the regular session up 4.42% at 1.277 million won. The KOSPI ended at 5,550.30, up 16.53 points, or 0.30%, from the previous session.