South Korean Data Center Firm Elice Plunges 33% in Kosdaq IPO Debut

Elice Inc. shares plunged as much as 33% to 61,000 won in their Kosdaq trading debut, marking the worst opening day for a South Korean IPO over $100 million since 2022. The Seoul-based data-center infrastructure provider raised 201 billion won ($151 million) by pricing shares at the top of its marketed range, achieving a post-listing market capitalization exceeding 1 trillion won. The debut drop aligns with a broader global cooling in AI infrastructure markets; CoreWeave shares have halved since May and Australian operator AirTrunk is reportedly delaying a planned real estate investment trust IPO. Retail investors had heavily backed the offering, pouring roughly 10.3 trillion won into subscription deposits to oversubscribe the retail portion by more than 400 times. Elice previously reported a 200% surge in first-half revenue to 34.4 billion won, pivoting from a coding education platform into a modular AI data center supplier utilizing advanced liquid cooling. "We’re going all-in on becoming a full-stack AI infrastructure leader globally. This IPO is about giving ourselves the financial firepower to execute." — Jae Won Kim, Elice CEO.