Report: Solidigm, a subsidiary of SK Hynix, may launch its IPO in the US as early as next year with a possible valuation of up to 150 billions dollars

Solidigm, the U.S. subsidiary of SK Hynix, is evaluating an IPO plan with a potential valuation of up to $150 billion, which could make it the largest IPO in U.S. semiconductor history.

According to Reuters citing sources familiar with the matter, Solidigm held pitch meetings this week with several investment banks competing for IPO underwriting roles, marking a substantial step forward in the listing process.

The company plans to go public as early as next year, aiming to raise about $15 billion. Sources cautioned that related plans, including deal size and timeline, are still at an early stage and may be adjusted depending on market conditions.

According to Bloomberg, in August this year, Solidigm signed a multi-year agreement with CoreWeave to supply the latter with enterprise-grade solid-state drive (SSD) capacity. Solidigm's other clients include Vast Data, Dell, and Tencent.

If successful, the listing will provide this company, focused on NAND flash and enterprise-grade SSDs, with an independent valuation, while capitalizing on the AI infrastructure investment boom to attract market capital.

AI-related demand continues to drive semiconductor hardware stocks upward, and Solidigm's sector is at the core of this trend.

As of press time Friday, SK Hynix shares were up 2.8% on U.S. markets.

The potential $150 billion valuation would far exceed recent semiconductor IPO cases.

Arm Holdings was valued at about $54 billion at its 2023 IPO, while Cerebras Systems had a fully diluted valuation of about $56 billion at its 2026 IPO. If Solidigm completes its IPO at the target valuation, it will become the largest U.S. semiconductor IPO in history.

Headquartered in Rancho Cordova, California, Solidigm is the U.S. subsidiary of South Korea's SK Hynix, focusing on NAND flash chips and solid-state drive business.

The company focuses on high-capacity storage products for AI applications, supplying enterprise-grade SSDs in the server, cloud infrastructure, and data center fields, and is committed to meeting the rapidly growing data storage needs in AI scenarios with differentiated products.

Solidigm's business foundation stems from a major acquisition. In 2020, SK Hynix announced the $9 billion acquisition of Intel's NAND storage and SSD business, and in 2021 integrated the related business and launched Solidigm as an independent subsidiary.

SK Hynix stated at the time that the acquisition would strengthen its NAND flash and enterprise SSD business, expanding its global storage market share.

Solidigm has now become an important part of SK Hynix's storage business portfolio. Last month, SK Hynix said it was studying measures to boost Solidigm's competitiveness, after media reports indicated the subsidiary was considering pre-IPO financing of about 5 trillion Korean won (about $3.6 billion).

Alongside listing plans, Solidigm is also considering expanding local production capacity. According to earlier media reports, the company is evaluating options to build a NAND flash chip plant in the U.S., with upstate New York emerging as a primary candidate location.