The flash memory subsidiary of SK Hynix Inc., known as Solidigm, has chosen lead banks for its US initial public offering planned for next year, according to people with knowledge of the situation.
SK Hynix's U.S.-listed shares jumped almost 2% in overnight trading.
The South Korean company's flash memory arm has engaged Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley to handle the offering, which could raise approximately $10 billion, the sources said. Additionally, Solidigm is collaborating with these two lenders to complete a pre-IPO funding round, the people added.
JPMorgan Chase & Co., Citigroup Inc. and UBS Group AG have also been selected for Solidigm's IPO, the sources said. A listing could occur as early as 2027 and value the company at up to $100 billion, Bloomberg News has reported.
Discussions are still underway, details may change and additional banks could be brought in, the people said, requesting anonymity because the information is not public. Reuters was the first to report the size of the offering.
A representative for SK Hynix stated that its subsidiary Solidigm is exploring various options to enhance its business competitiveness, but no specific plans have been finalized at this point. Spokespeople for Solidigm, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan and Citigroup declined to comment. UBS did not respond to requests for comment.
The second-largest memory firm's American depositary receipts dropped 4.3% on Friday as a lockup agreement preventing insiders from selling shares expired following its $26.5 billion listing in July, the largest ever for a non-US company.
The pace of US IPOs has decelerated despite a series of megadeals, with companies including smart ringmaker Oura joining several others in postponing their anticipated debuts in recent weeks. While Anthropic PBC is expected to go public before the US Thanksgiving holiday, other companies are targeting listings next year including its AI competitor OpenAI and flash memory maker Kioxia Holdings Corp.
Solidigm was established in 2021 after SK Hynix acquired Intel Corp.'s flash memory business and rebranded it. The unit of the South Korean company has repositioned itself as a supplier of high-capacity drives used in AI data centers.
In August, Solidigm signed a multi-year agreement with CoreWeave Inc. to sell enterprise solid-state drive capacity which could support its AI cloud platform. Other customers include Vast Data, Dell Technologies Inc. and Tencent Holdings Ltd., according to the website.
Based in Rancho Cordova, California, Solidigm has 13 locations globally, including in Mexico, Canada and China, and employs more than 2,000 people.