Double valuation difference+AI outlet! Asian companies raised $28 billion in ADR this year to a six-year high. Citi says there are still major deals ahead

The Zhitong Finance App learned that as Asian technology companies seek higher valuations and target the deep capital pool of the world's largest stock market, it is expected that more Asian companies will choose to issue shares in the US.

Adrian Nye, head of issuer services at Citibank Japan, North Asia and Australia, said that Asian tech companies are hoping to increase their valuation by going public in the US in the form of American Depositary Receipts (ADR). According to compiled data, the average price-earnings ratio of the companies in the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index is about 22 times, which is more than double that of their Asian peers.

Nye revealed in an interview: “Currently, there are a number of large-scale and attractive deals in the ADR distribution pipeline.” However, he did not elaborate further on the exact scale or schedule. He also pointed out that the rise in stock prices driven by the artificial intelligence (AI) boom has also brought a favorable atmosphere to the sector.

Statistics show that since this year, Asian companies have raised about 28 billion US dollars through ADR, the highest annual record since 2020. Among them, SK Hynix (SKHY.US) dominated the $26.5 billion listing, while the initial public offering of Japanese payment service provider PayPay Corp. (PAYP.US) contributed 1 billion US dollars.

SK Hynix's launch not only opens up new channels for investors, but also effectively narrows the valuation gap with competitors such as Micron Technology (MU.US). Previously, TSM.US successfully attracted large inflows of foreign capital through its listing in the US, further consolidating its favored position among US investors.

However, chip-related stocks still fluctuate a lot, causing market sentiment to tend to be cautious. Last month, the global chipmaker sector experienced a wave of sell-off due to market concerns about large-scale companies' huge AI investments.

Despite this, after the Korean memory chip giant's record listing, its Japanese counterpart Kioxia Holdings has indicated plans to launch ADR next year. At the same time, inspired by the successful listing of local competitors, Samsung Electronics is also allegedly in the early stages of evaluating going public in the US.

“The reserves for new ADR issuance projects are currently quite sufficient,” Nye said.