The most watched data center IPO in South Korea encounters a chill, plunging 28% on its first day of trading

On its first day of trading, South Korean artificial intelligence service company Elice Group's stock price fell by 28%. The company raised 201.1 billion Korean won (approximately 150 million USD) in its initial public offering, with business operations including AI cloud services and AI-based educational and commercial software, and plans to use most of the raised funds to launch portable modular data centers and related infrastructure.

Against the backdrop of high inflation driving up borrowing costs, investors are questioning whether the massive investments in the AI sector can yield returns in the short term. Kim Hak-joon, an analyst at Kiwoom Securities based in Seoul, stated that the market is concerned that such companies may not be able to secure follow-up financing from investors. Elice's latest stock price is 65,300 Korean won, with an offering price of 90,500 Korean won; the filing documents show that institutional orders during its IPO reached 388.84 times the number of shares available. Currently, investment sentiment in the industry has cooled, and several companies' IPO plans are hindered.