26/06/2026

BIZ & FINANCE FRIDAY | JUNE 26, 2026

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First global rules for self-driving cars adopted

SK Hynix targets US$29.4 billion from US listing

SEOUL: South Korea’s SK Hynix said on Wednesday it plans to raise up to US$29.4 billion (RM122 billion) through a US stock market listing in what would be among the biggest listings globally, as the Nvidia supplier seeks to capitalise on strong investor appetite for AI stocks. If completed at the indicative price, the deal would be the second-biggest share sale after a record US$85.7 billion initial public offering by SpaceX earlier this month, surpassing Saudi Aramco’s US$25.6 billion IPO in 2019 and Alibaba’s similar-sized offering in 2014. The planned listing reflects strong global appetite for AI-linked equities, even as volatility increases across US tech and semiconductor markets. It comes weeks after record-breaking equity issuance elsewhere in the sector, including Elon Musk’s SpaceX, and ahead of expected IPOs from AI-focused companies including Anthropic and OpenAI later this year. The world’s largest tech companies are tapping debt markets and raising equity to fund a costly expansion of AI infrastructure. Earlier this month, Google-parent Alphabet said it was looking to raise US$80 billion in equity offerings. “The most attractive benefit for investors is that SK Hynix will trade on Nasdaq alongside rival Micron, giving the company an opportunity to be re-rated in the US market,“ said Ryu Young ho, a senior analyst at NH Investment & Securities. “That could also be reflected in its Korea listed shares as investors increasingly link the two valuations.” The memory chip maker, now valued at about US$1.2 trillion, has been one of the clearest beneficiaries of the AI boom. Its shares have quadrupled so far this year, outperforming rivals Samsung Electronics and US-based Micron. The company is a key supplier of high bandwidth memory chips used in AI systems by customers such as Nvidia and Google, and this week overtook Samsung to become South Korea’s most valuable company. CLSA Senior Analyst Sanjeev Rana said expectations for a US listing have already helped drive the stock’s rally, alongside strong demand for high-end memory used in AI data centres. “If they can get at least a valuation multiple similar to Micron, for example, then the local shares also need to reflect that, so that kind of expectation is there,“ Rana said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if this rally continues.” Its blistering share price rally marks a dramatic reversal of fortunes for a chipmaker that two decades ago nearly collapsed under debt and also helped the size of the share sale increase sharply from an initial plan which a source said in March could raise as much as US$14 billion. SK Hynix said the proceeds from the listing of American Depositary Receipts will be used to build chip factories in South Korea and purchase chipmaking equipment such as an extreme ultraviolet scanner made by Dutch equipment maker ASML , shares of which rose 1.1% on Wednesday. The world’s second-largest memory chipmaker plans to issue up to 17.79 million new shares, worth 45.45 trillion won (RM122 billion), in the ADR listing on Nasdaq. Ten ADRs will represent one common share. Pricing will be finalised after bookbuilding, although the initial range is based on Tuesday’s closing price of 2.555 million won. It will kick off its ADR bookbuilding process on July 6 and determine the final offer price on July 9 ahead of its Nasdaq debut the following day. “The ADR listing should not materially change our view on SK Hynix or the memory sector,“ said Gary Tan, a Singapore-based portfolio manager at Allspring Global Investments. “The headline capital raise appears large but implies only limited dilution and remains modest relative to its mid-term capex plans.” BofA Securities, Citigroup Global Markets, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Securities are managing the offering, SK Hynix said. – Reuters

GENEVA: The first global regulations for fully autonomous vehicles were adopted Wednesday, a UN agency said, establishing uniform international safety requirements that could pave the way for larger-scale rollouts of self-driving cars. Safety concerns and the cost of developing next-level systems have long slowed progress on autonomous vehicles. As self-driving cars have begun to hit the road in a growing number of cities, the fragmented national approaches to regulation have spurred manufacturer fears that vehicles developed for one market could be blocked from others. In a bid to address that issue, a meeting of the World Forum for Harmonisation of Vehicle Regulations at the United Nations in Geneva decided to introduce a global regulatory framework for vehicles equipped with fully autonomous driving systems (ADS). The forum brings together dozens of countries, carmakers and technology giants. “The global regulatory landscape has reached a decisive milestone,” said the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), the forum’s umbrella organisation that counts 56 member states in Europe, North America and Asia. The new regulatory framework, which does not cover assisted systems, comes at a time when the market is heating up especially for so-called “robotaxis” – driverless cars loaded with sensors. In China and the US combined, private robotaxi fleets more than doubled in 2025 to reach 8,000 vehicles across more than two dozen major cities, according to a May report by the International Energy Agency (IEA). By 2035, the IEA forecasts there will be between 700,000 and three million robotaxis in 40 to 80 major cities. The global regulations aim to “to strengthen trust among governments, industry and the public by ensuring that automated systems everywhere meet rigorous safety standards”, UNECE said. “This is a really big step,” said Richard Damm, chair of the UNECE Working Party on Automated/Autonomous and Connected Vehicles (GRVA) behind the proposal. “It’s very important, as automation will be one of the future technologies we will see on the road,” he told AFP. The new framework will require manufacturers to ensure testing meets strict credibility criteria, and also to implement audited safety governance and processes throughout the ADS lifecycle. They would also need to provide

o New regulations come as robotaxi fleets expand rapidly, with millions of autonomous vehicles forecast by 2035

Global regulators say common safety requirements are key to building public trust in the next generation of driverless vehicles. – UNSPLASH PIX

international agreements, adhered to by separate and partially overlapping groups of countries. More than half of the 62 state parties to a 1958 agreement took part in Wednesday’s vote, agreeing unanimously to implement the new rules. Under this agreement, autonomous vehicles produced in one of the countries can be sold without further controls in the others. The US, Canada and China – not party to the first agreement – were meanwhile among 13 countries to vote to add the same set of regulations to a 1998 agreement, which is similar but does not provide for mutual recognition between countries. Damm stressed that bringing all the big players on board had not meant weakening safety requirements. “This regulation is not a compromise on safety,” he said.

evidence no unreasonable risk”, UNECE said, and would be required to provide continuous performance monitoring. The vehicles must also record and store safety-relevant ADS data. The move was backed by all the major auto markets, including the US, China, the European Union, Japan and Britain, the organisation said, voicing confidence that the worldwide deployment would be speedy. “We expect it to enter into force in January 2027,” GRVA secretary Francois Guichard told AFP, adding that a few manufacturers “are already in the starting blocks”. Under the complex system of international vehicle regulations, identical sets of rules were adopted in two separate votes Wednesday, according to UNECE. They will be included in two existing their system “poses

US says China pressuring states, firms to avoid Taiwan TAIPEI: China has been contacting US states and private firms to discourage engagement with Taiwan and mischaracterising US policy, but links with Taiwan should be expanded, three US government departments said in joint letters. embassy and consulates regularly contact local government offices or private business in the US to “discourage engagement with Taiwan”. China” policy. Taiwan’s government welcomed the letter and show of support from the US.

“Although Beijing continues to intensify its suppression of Taiwan and pressure international businesses, the US government has clearly demonstrated its willingness to deepen cooperation with Taiwan,“ its foreign ministry said in a statement. The letters say that Taiwan plays a key role in the global trade system and US states and businesses have had robust ties with the island for many decades. “Taiwan is a vital US partner and democratic success story,“ the letter to the governors says. “We hope you will take advantage of all the opportunities that our shared values and robust relationship with Taiwan offer.”– Reuters

“In doing so, they often mischaracterise US policy by, for example, falsely claiming that Washington has previously accepted Beijing’s specific position on Taiwan,“ both the letters say. Should government offices or companies be contacted by Chinese officials “applying pressure on you”, they should contact the State Department, the letters say. China’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The US officially takes no position on Taiwan’s sovereignty under Washington’s “One

The US is Taiwan’s most important international backer and arms supplier despite the lack of formal diplomatic ties, to the constant anger of Beijing, which claims the independently ruled island as its territory. The two letters, from US Departments of State, Agriculture and Commerce, are addressed to governor’s offices and CEOs or business leaders. They are dated June 16 but were released by the de facto US embassy in Taiwan late on Wednesday. Similarly worded, the letters say that China’s