AI is spawning a “gold suction wave” out to sea! Citibank: The scale of global equity and bond financing for Korean companies is expected to reach a record high in 2026

The Zhitong Finance App learned that Citigroup expects Korean companies to achieve a record financing scale in the global bond and stock markets in 2026. As companies seek international investors to fund growth, Korean companies' capital market issuance activity is expected to increase dramatically. Among them, SK Hynix (SKHY.US)'s landmark US listing transaction of 26.5 billion US dollars will be an important driving force.

As one of the underwriters of SK Hynix's listed transactions, Citi has helped Korean clients raise approximately US$60 billion in the global bond and stock markets so far this year. The bank anticipates a further increase in mergers and acquisitions in various industries such as technology, consumer, and healthcare, including overseas acquisitions by Korean companies and acquisitions by foreign companies in Korea. Furthermore, since this year, Citi has ranked fourth in the Korean stock capital market underwriting ranking and third in the Korean international bond underwriting ranking.

Park Jang-ho, CEO of Citigroup Global Markets Korea, said in a statement on Wednesday: “Korea has more and more world-class companies and emerging industry leaders, and these companies are increasingly using the capital market on competitive terms to fund their growth goals.”

Citi's optimistic outlook comes at a time when Korea's two major chipmakers — SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics — are the main beneficiaries of global artificial intelligence infrastructure construction. The global AI construction boom is driving a surge in demand for memory chips. South Korea is seeking to mobilize at least 1,350 trillion won (about 975 billion US dollars) of corporate investment. Companies including Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix will invest in chips and data centers, but many of these projects are still in the early stages of planning.

SK Hynix's American Depositary Receipt (ADR) was listed last month, making it the largest initial stock offering transaction for a foreign company, highlighting the strong demand for Korean technology stocks from global investors. Last week, Kakao Mobility, backed by TPG Capital, secretly submitted a US listing application. People familiar with the matter revealed that Samsung Electronics has also had preliminary discussions with banks on potential US listing matters, but no decision has yet been made on whether to proceed with this plan.