Good morning. Another major AI supply-chain company is launching a U.S. listing. South Korean memory-chip maker SK Hynix, a key Nvidia supplier, is expected to begin trading on the Nasdaq this Friday.<\/p>\n
This follows Elon Musk\u2019s SpaceX<\/a>, which went public on June 12, listing on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker SPCX. The IPO is said to have raised about $86 billion, making it the largest IPO in financial market history.<\/p>\n According to regulatory filings<\/a>, SK Hynix<\/a> is aiming to raise approximately $28 billion via Nasdaq-listed American Depositary Receipts. The company is a leading supplier of high-bandwidth memory. Unlike TSMC<\/a>, which produces logic chips, SK Hynix focuses on memory\u2014specifically DRAM (system memory) and NAND flash (storage used in solid-state drives).<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a positive indicator of the AI trade, with Korea chip plays now front and center,\u201d Tech analyst Dan Ives told CFO Daily in an email about SK Hynix\u2019s move to list on the Nasdaq. \u201cThe AI trade is spreading.\u201d<\/p>\n Morningstar equity analyst Jing Jie Yu said SK Hynix\u2019s U.S. listing, on its own, is unlikely to be a clear gauge of market conditions, as sentiment toward memory and tech stocks is already broadly similar across global markets.<\/p>\n \u201cThat said, I do believe that there is good appetite for the offering for U.S. and global investors, as it provides easier access and exposure to Korean stocks, which they might not have had prior to this,\u201d he told me.<\/p>\n In a July 1 note, Morningstar raised its fair value estimate for SK Hynix, arguing the current memory upcycle is tracking much stronger than expected but that the industry remains cyclical, limiting upside at current levels, especially given how far the shares have already run.\u00a0Morningstar still sees the stock trading at a discount to U.S. rival Micron<\/a>.<\/p>\n SK Hynix\u2019s Korea-listed shares have surged roughly 770% over the past 12 months, even after a 20% pullback from a June peak, Fortune reported<\/a>. That gain exceeds Micron Technology\u2019s roughly 700% rally over the same period.<\/p>\n SK Hynix\u2019s debut may also serve as an early test of investor appetite for the next wave of large technology listings. <\/p>\n Late 2026 is increasingly viewed as a window for a broader wave of marquee tech and AI IPOs. General Atlantic, in a June note on the \u201c2026 IPO comeback<\/a>,\u201d highlighted the second half of the year as a period when valuation discounts may narrow, mid-cap and underrepresented sectors re-enter the market, and investors rotate gains from mega-deals into less crowded areas beyond core AI and semiconductors.<\/p>\n Sheryl\u00a0Estrada Leaderboard<\/p>\n Marie Washburn has been promoted to senior vice president and chief financial officer of Longeveron Inc.<\/a> (Nasdaq: LGVN), a clinical-stage biotechnology company, effective July 13. She succeeds Lisa Locklear, who is stepping down to pursue board opportunities and other professional and personal interests. Washburn has served as vice president and corporate controller since November 2025 and previously held senior finance roles at Fore Biotherapeutics Inc., Axcella Health Inc. and Generation Bio, which was acquired by XOMA Royalty Corporation in February 2026.<\/p>\n \u00a0Toby O’Brien was appointed CFO of Everfox<\/a>, a cybersecurity provider. O’Brien brings more than three decades of financial leadership experience across the aerospace, defense, and communications industries. He most recently served as CFO of Intelsat, where he helped lead the company’s integration planning for its merger with SES. Before that, he spent 34 years at Raytheon, serving in senior finance leadership roles across the business, including helping lead the merger of Raytheon and United Technologies.\u00a0<\/p>\n Big Deal<\/p>\n Gartner predicts that by 2028<\/a>, 20% of finance organizations will no longer hire or develop non-digitally literate talent. Instead, they will invest all talent-related spending in advanced digital capabilities, including AI, analytics, and automation.<\/p>\n The firm argues that traditional skill profiles in finance are no longer sufficient as CFOs face mounting pressure to modernize processes, support real-time decision-making and deliver more strategic insights. As a result, finance leaders are expected to prioritize roles and training that emphasize data fluency, digital tools and technology-enabled workflows, reshaping how finance teams are structured and how careers in the function evolve.<\/p>\n Going deeper<\/p>\n “Xbox\u2019s CEO on 3,200 layoffs, four studios cut, and her blunt warning that \u2018we spread ourselves too thin\u2019” is a Fortune article<\/a> by\u00a0 Sebastian Herrera.<\/p>\n Herrera writes: “The largest restructuring in the history of Microsoft\u2019s Xbox is accelerating, in what Asha Sharma, its chief executive, described as a fundamental reset of how Xbox operates and invests. Sharma unveiled sweeping changes at the gaming unit Monday, primarily layoffs that will affect roughly 3,200 people, or 20% of staff\u20141,600 employees will be affected immediately, and the other 1,600 are expected to be cut over the next year.” Read more here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Overheard<\/p>\n \u201cIf I\u2019m always asking AI how to respond to my boss, I don\u2019t actually learn how to engage with my boss. I don\u2019t actually learn how to build a relationship with my boss.\u201d<\/p>\n
sheryl.estrada@fortune.com<\/a><\/p>\n