South Korea subjects Solidigm IPO to listing rules, imposes 5 duties on parent companies
Key Facts
South Korea's Financial Services Commission Chairman Lee Eog-weon confirmed on 22 October 2026 that Solidigm's potential U.S. listing falls under dual-listing guidelines, according to SBS Biz. He said both SK Hynix and SK Square were responsible for protecting shareholders as Solidigm's parent companies. He said they must fulfill 5 obligations based on their duty of loyalty to shareholders when listing the subsidiary. The commission's position thus encompasses both parent companies' responsibilities to their shareholders, even though Solidigm's planned listing would be in the U.S. market. Clarifying the scope of regulatory scrutiny, a Financial Supervisory Service official said, according to Aju Press, that "being subject to a dual-listing review does not necessarily mean a breach of the rules has occurred."
The regulatory stance comes as published reports on the potential transaction offer differing estimates of the size of the offering and Solidigm's valuation. On 8 October 2026, Chosun Biz, citing Bloomberg, reported a scenario in which the initial public offering would raise up to $10 billion. It added that the company's valuation could reach $100 billion under that scenario. Reuters had cited sources familiar with the matter in a report dated 25 September 2026 as saying the potential valuation could reach $150 billion. The earlier report put potential IPO proceeds at up to $15 billion, compared with lower ceilings for both proceeds and valuation in the more recent coverage. SK Hynix, for its part, said in a clarification on Solidigm's plans that "matters have not been finalized."
On preparations for the transaction, Reuters reported in September that Solidigm held meetings during the week of publication to hear pitches from investment banks competing for roles in the offering. Chosun Biz's 8 October coverage, citing Bloomberg, subsequently reported that Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley had been selected to lead the transaction. The underwriting group also included JPMorgan, Citigroup and UBS, according to the same coverage. IPO reports had already affected trading in the parent company's shares, with Investing reporting that SK Hynix fell as much as 5.1% during the 28 September 2026 session. That decline followed reports of a Solidigm IPO and preceded the Financial Services Commission chairman's confirmation in October that the potential listing was subject to the guidelines.
Solidigm's business focuses on high-capacity enterprise solid-state drives used in artificial intelligence data centers, according to SK Hynix's clarification. Part of the background to that business lies in the acquisition of Intel's NAND memory and storage operations. In its announcement of the completion of the acquisition's first phase, dated 30 December 2021, SK Hynix put the total transaction value at $9 billion. On resource allocation, the company said it balances investment needs across high-bandwidth memory, server dynamic random-access memory and enterprise solid-state drives. The storage products at the core of Solidigm's business thus fall within the investment areas among which the parent company allocates its resources.
As for the timing Solidigm was considering, Reuters' September 2026 report said the offering could take place as early as the year following publication. On the regulatory front, the Financial Services Commission chairman did not specify in his 22 October remarks a date for resolving the scope of the guidelines' application and the obligation to file a securities registration statement domestically, according to YTN. He noted in his response that Solidigm had neither officially announced a listing nor provided specific details. SK Hynix had pledged in a disclosure dated 4 September 2026 to make a further disclosure when specific details were confirmed. In the same filing, it set an alternative deadline of 3 months from that date, keeping that deadline tied to the September disclosure.