Short sellers are wasting no time pouncing on SK Hynix U.S. shares after their debut this month

Short sellers are quickly turning their attention to SK Hynix' s newly listed U.S. shares, adding bearish bets just weeks after the South Korean memory-chip maker made its American market debut and injecting another source of volatility into an already turbulent semiconductor sector. As many as 23 million of the company's American depositary receipts are now sold short, according to S3 Partners. Based on roughly 178 million ADRs in the public float, that equates to almost 13% of shares available for trading. That's far more than the exchange-reported figure of about 15 million shares in mid-July, S3 said. The rapid buildup underscores how traders are wasting little time betting against one of the biggest hardware beneficiaries of artificial intelligence. Since its July 10 debut in the U.S., SK Hynix's ADRs have fallen about 13% from their $149 offering price, and roughly 33% from their post-listing peak. SKHY 1M mountain SK Hynix since its U.S. debut The growing short interest has coincided with sharp swings in the stock and other semiconductor shares as investors reassess whether soaring AI-related spending can continue to justify elevated valuations. Chip stocks have come under renewed pressure in recent sessions after Alphabet boosted its capital-expenditure forecast, fueling concerns that hyperscalers may continue ramping infrastructure spending even as investors increasingly scrutinize returns on those investments. The PHLX Semiconductor Index is down more than 22% this month alone. SK Hynix shares tumbled Wednesday despite reporting explosive second-quarter results . The company posted exponential growth in both earnings and revenue, but the figures failed to justify Wall Street's lofty expectations for one of the biggest winners of the AI boom. Part of the short interest may also reflect arbitrage activity rather than outright bearish bets. Some investors short ADRs while simultaneously holding the underlying Seoul-listed shares to exploit price differences between the two securities.