SK Hynix is the "memory leader for the AI era" and the South Korean chip maker's U.S. listing will help it close the valuation gap with rival Micron, William Blair analyst Sebastien Naji said on Tuesday.

Naji initiated coverage of SK Hynix's American depositary receipts at Outperform, with a $260 price target that implies the U.S. shares could jump 82% from their level as of Monday's closing bell.

The bullish price target came hours after SK Hynix and memory-chip maker Sandisk announced the release of a technical blueprint for their high bandwidth flash technology on Tuesday.

"Sticker pricing for AI memory and a slow ramp-up of new supply are likely to keep the company's earnings power higher," Naji wrote.

Shares of SK Hynix, Micron, and rival Samsung Electronics have all soared this year as the AI build-out drives up demand for memory chips, at a time when supply is tight.

But the stocks have struggled for direction over the past month, as investors question how long the AI spending boom can last. SK Hynix ADRs closed at $142.72 on Monday, about 4% below where they were priced at for the company's U.S. listing in mid-July.

The ADRs were fetching 6.1-times expected earnings for fiscal 2026 as of Tuesday, compared with Micron's 11.3-times valuation. Naji expects SK Hynix's U.S. listing to help narrow that gap, giving the company "longer-term visibility and strong tie-in to AI and data center end-markets."

Barron's has written favorably about the ADRs, arguing that SK Hynix is currently bigger, cheaper, and has a closer relationship with Nvidia than Micron.