South Korean computer chip maker SK Hynix has raised $26.5bn (£19.8bn) in its share offering in New York, marking the largest listing ever by a foreign company in the US.

The company, a key supplier to artificial intelligence (AI) chip giant Nvidia, said on Thursday it had sold 177.9 million American depositary shares for $149 each. Shares are scheduled to begin trading Friday on the Nasdaq.

In May, SK Hynix saw its market value surpass $1 trillion in its home country, driven by booming demand for AI chips.

Its share price has more than tripled in South Korea this year, which, along with Samsung Electronics, has helped boost the benchmark Kospi index by more than 70% over the same period.

SK Hynix is ​​one of the world’s leading memory chip manufacturers. The industry has received a huge boost thanks to the hundreds of billions being spent on AI.

Shares of rivals Samsung Electronics and Micron have more than doubled in recent months.

The U.S. listing gives SK Hynix easier access to huge amounts of potential investment from the world’s largest economy, which has fewer barriers than South Korea, said Seoul National University finance professor Jaewon Choi.

Traders are watching the listing closely as a “water-testing yardstick” to determine whether investor enthusiasm for memory chip makers will continue, Choi said.

Demand for the offering reportedly exceeded the number of shares available seven times, underscoring strong investor appetite for a key company in the AI ​​supply chain.

Each American depositary share is equivalent to one-tenth of a common share traded in Seoul, SK Hynix said.

The offering offers U.S. investors a way to buy SK Hynix shares without having to trade through a foreign stock exchange.

The company has promised significant investments to develop South Korea’s chip manufacturing and artificial intelligence capabilities in the coming years.

The country’s government is likely counting on SK Hynix’s listing in the United States to raise funds that can support the company’s domestic investments, said Hanyang University business professor Yun Youngjin.

But listing on Nasdaq carries some risks, especially if investors move money toward the United States and away from the South Korean stock market, Yun added.

In June, the country’s government revealed plans to invest more than $880 billion in partnership with SK Hynix and Samsung.

Both SK Hynix and Samsung have stock market valuations of more than $1 trillion, joining a growing group of companies that includes tech giants Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft and Google-owner Alphabet.