Global Markets
Korean AI data-centre firm Elice sinks 32% on debut despite a 389-times-oversubscribed book
The 201.1 billion won listing priced at the top of its range, then broke issue within minutes as investors grow choosier about AI infrastructure.
HedgeWeekly News Desk ·
Shares of Elice Group fell 32% on their first day of trading on South Korea's Kosdaq on Tuesday, a sharp reversal for an offering that had drawn heavy demand. The AI infrastructure company raised 201.1 billion won, about $151 million, by selling 2.22 million new shares at 90,500 won, the top of its 70,400 to 90,500 won range, which valued it at just over 1 trillion won.
The stock opened at 75,700 won, about 16% below the offer price, and touched 61,000 won early in the session, according to Korea Exchange data cited by local media. The wider Kosdaq index was down about 1%. The weak debut came despite institutional book-building that was 388.84 times covered across 2,367 domestic and overseas investors, and a retail tranche 408.26 times subscribed that pulled in more than 10 trillion won in deposits.
Founded in 2015 as an online AI education platform, Elice has moved into GPU cloud services, data-centre infrastructure and enterprise AI products. It reported first-half 2026 revenue of 34.4 billion won and operating profit of 10.3 billion won, figures it said were unaudited. The company plans to use the proceeds to build regional edge AI data centres outside the Seoul area, where power connections are available, and to expand into the US, Japan and Singapore.
Why it matters: the listing was an early read on appetite for AI infrastructure equity after a tech-led selloff, and the result was poor. Other data-centre operators have withdrawn or paused planned listings as investors become more selective and borrowing costs stay high. For allocators, the gap between subscription levels of almost 400 times and a one-third drop on day one shows that book demand offered little guide to aftermarket pricing here. The next tests for AI sentiment come with SpaceX results after Tuesday's US close and Meta on Wednesday.