Elice Group shares plunged 32% on their debut on Oct 20, the worst debut ever in South Korea for an IPO raising over US$100 million, renewing investor doubts over the payoff from AI spending. The company raised 201.1 billion won, and its shares closed at 60,500 won against an IPO price of 90,500 won, while the KOSPI fell 3.73% to its lowest close since April 7. U.S. neocloud stocks CoreWeave and Nebius also fell more than 5%. Other AI deals were shelved or delayed, including Firmus's Australian IPO and AirTrunk's Singapore listing. Elice's first-half revenue tripled to 34 billion won, and it swung to a 10 billion won operating profit.
Summary written by Upside AI from the original article. Read the source for full details.
Read the original on asiaone.com ↗
Keywords
IPOAI investmentdata centersSouth Korea
Open a keyword to see other news on the same topic.
Related tickers and likely impact
NVDA
▼ Likely negativeNvidia
Relevance: low
| Market | US stocks |
|---|---|
| Sector | Information Technology |
| Industry | Semiconductors |
| Market cap | $5.2T |
| Close on 10/20/2026 | 216.47 |
| Change that session | -0.29% |
Impact is scored by AI from the headline and may be wrong. It is not investment advice.
Related news
- South Korean IPO flop is the latest in a string of disappointments for the global AI trade
In October alone, three planned IPOs of data-center providers backed by AI heavyweights such as Nvidia, Blackstone and SoftBank have been shelved. Investors are not convinced that the planned capital expenditure is sustainable.
- Another Data Center IPO Fizzles as Investor Appetite Wanes
South Korean data center firm Elice fell 32% on its first day of trading before closing slightly higher. Its revenue tripled in the first six months of the year, and the IPO raised 201 billion Korean won (US$150 million) to fund data centers in South Korea and possibly expand to the US, Japan and Singapore. The article links the weak debut to rising wariness toward the AI trade and a wider Korean sell-off, with the KOSPI index down a further 3.7% on Tuesday after doubling in the first six months of the year and then losing two-fifths. In the past two weeks, Australian company Firmus pulled its $5 billion IPO, PLDT delayed its data center REIT IPO until next year, and AirTrunk pushed back its $1.5 billion Singapore REIT. Trading in credit default swaps has also skyrocketed, reaching more than $9 billion a week in September, up from less than $2 billion in July.
- Futures Slip As Korean Data Center IPO Faceplant Revives Tech Rout , French Spread Blows Out
US stock futures slipped, with Nasdaq futures down 0.7% and S&P futures down 0.2%, as Monday's AI rebound faded. Korean data-center firm Elice plunged more than 30% in its trading debut, reviving doubts about who will earn returns on the AI capex boom, while OpenAI is reportedly rushing to raise about $30 billion ahead of Anthropic's IPO. The OAT-Bund spread widened to a 151bps peak, approaching the 152bps high from just after the draft budget was presented, and the Kospi tumbled 3.65%. The 10-year Treasury yield eased to 5.12%, Brent held above $110/bbl, and the Fed is in its blackout period ahead of the Oct. 28 FOMC.
- Data center stocks slide as Korea IPO plunges 30%, pressuring tech sentiment
Shares of Elice, a South Korean cloud company compared to CoreWeave, fell more than 30% in their market debut as investors grew wary of AI computing providers amid overcapacity concerns. The selloff spread to U.S. tech: CoreWeave fell about 4% in premarket trading, Nebius and Iren each shed about 5%, and Vertiv slipped 2%. HSBC said debt market woes and moderating LLM revenues are worsening structural concerns for neoclouds, and analyst Abhishek Shukla keeps a reduce rating on CoreWeave with a $39 price target, implying 36.5% downside.
- Live updates: Market jitters persist as the AI selloff deepens
South Korea's KOSPI fell almost 4%, alongside one of the weakest IPO debuts in the country's history, with data centre company Elice tumbling around 30%. The selloff carried into U.S. pre-market trading, where CoreWeave (CRWV) dropped 4%, Cipher Digital fell 2%, IREN lost 3%, and the Invesco QQQ ETF traded lower. Bitcoin held above $81,000, gold slipped almost 1% to just above $4,110 an ounce, Brent and WTI crude each rose 2%, and the iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT) gained 0.5% on defensive flows.
- South Korean IPO plunge deepens AI market jitters as brent tops $111
South Korean data centre company Elice (0158S0) closed at 60,500 won ($45.57) on its debut, down over 30% from its 90,500 won offer price, despite a retail offering oversubscribed more than 400 times. The IPO raised $151 million at a valuation of roughly $755 million, according to Bloomberg. The debut came as the KOSPI dropped almost 4% to 5,552, with Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix also falling, and CoreWeave (CRWV) slipped another 3% in U.S. pre-market trading. Investors are questioning the borrowing costs, debt levels and returns of AI infrastructure spending, while Brent crude topped $111 a barrel, its highest since May, amid Middle East supply and shipping concerns.
Related markets
Latest news
- Bank Profits Surge
The 9-month 2026 results show many banks continued to grow profits, with some posting record quarterly earnings. VPBank's pre-tax profit reached nearly VND 30,000 billion, up nearly 47%, equal to its full-year 2025 result and about 72.4% of its 2026 plan; Q3 pre-tax profit topped VND 11,000 billion. Techcombank posted VND 28,900 billion (up 23.7%), while LPBank reported VND 10,421 billion (up nearly 9%). SSI forecasts pre-tax profit of its monitored banks to rise 19.5% in 2026 before slowing to 15.4% in 2027, pressured by narrowing net interest margins and rising credit risk provisions. It also expects system-wide credit growth of 16-17% in 2027 and 17.9% for the monitored banks.
- World's Largest Gold Fund Dumps Over 10 Tonnes of Gold as Prices Slide
SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold fund, continued net selling of nearly 12 tonnes of gold in the 22/10 session, bringing total sales over 2 sessions to nearly 15 tonnes and cutting its holdings to about 1,046 tonnes. Spot gold fell more than 2.8% to around USD 4,025 per ounce at the close of 22/10, and briefly dipped below USD 4,000 per ounce in the morning session of 23/10. Tensions in the Middle East pushed crude oil prices higher, raising concerns about inflation and further Fed tightening, and gold has still not attracted sustained safe-haven demand even as US Treasury yields fell. US September CPI rose 0.6% month on month and 3.7% year on year, while PPI rose 1.3% and 6.3%. Markets price about an 84% chance the Fed holds rates steady at its 27-28/10 meeting and a 16% chance of a 25 basis-point increase; September PCE data due on 29/10 is the next key factor to watch.
- Gold Prices Continue to Fall
On the morning of 23/10, domestic gold prices kept falling, with SJC bar prices varying by seller and the premium over world gold widening. Công ty TNHH Vàng bạc đá quý Sài Gòn listed SJC bars at VND 139-142 million per tael (buy-sell), down VND 300,000; Phú Quý was at VND 138-141.8 million, down VND 500,000; and Mi Hồng at VND 140-141.5 million, down VND 800,000. Gold rings also fell by varying amounts, with DOJI at VND 138-142 million and Phú Quý at VND 138-141 million per tael. World gold dropped USD 129 to around USD 3,992 per ounce, equal to about VND 125.3 million per tael, leaving SJC bars about VND 16.7 million per tael above the world price. The State Bank's central rate was set at 25,627 VND/USD, down 5 dong, while Vietcombank quoted 25,660-26,040 VND/USD (buy-sell).
- Company Linked to Billionaire Pham Nhat Vuong Announces Major Good News
VEFAC (ticker VEF), a Vingroup subsidiary, posted Q3 net revenue of nearly VND 77 billion, up 67% year on year, but a gross loss of about VND 27 billion as cost of sales from its exhibition business exceeded revenue. Q3 profit rose mainly thanks to a gross gain of about VND 65 billion from transferring some schools in a project to a partner, while financial income reached over VND 388 billion, mostly from loan and investment income. For the first nine months of 2026, after-tax profit was nearly VND 865 billion, down about 94% from VND 15,418 billion in the same period of 2025, as the prior year included large gains from transferring part of the Vinhomes Global Gate project. As of 30/9/2026, total assets stood at over VND 31,905 billion, up 36% from the start of the year, while total liabilities exceeded VND 24,364 billion, with short-term customer advances rising from VND 411 billion to over VND 8,373 billion.
- Lotte and Phat Dat Officially Break Ground on VND 60,000 Billion Mega Project in Thu Thiem 'Golden Land'
A joint venture between Lotte Group (South Korea) and Phát Đạt (HoSE: PDR) officially broke ground on 23/10 on Lotte Eco Smart City Thu Thiem in the Thu Thiem New Urban Area, HCMC, with total investment of about VND 60,000 billion. The project covers nearly 7.5 ha and will combine Grade A offices, retail, services, accommodation and housing, adjoining the central plaza and central lake of Thu Thiem. Phát Đạt holds 35% of Lotte Properties HCMC, the project developer, and will develop the housing blocks along with two towers (2-1 and 2-3) with about 219,722 m2 of floor area, while Lotte handles block 2-5. Lotte Properties HCMC paid VND 17,569 billion in land-use fees on 31/7/2026, and Phát Đạt completed its VND 7,666 billion payment to take its 35% stake. MB is funding all of Phát Đạt's capital contribution, while VietinBank and BIDV also support the project.
- International Business : Global stocks nosedive as Meta dents AI optimism
Global stocks retreated as tech earnings failed to ease concerns about the AI outlook, with MSCI's All-World index set for its largest daily fall in two weeks, down 0.4 per cent. Meta beat third-quarter revenue expectations, but its plan to issue non-voting stock revived worries about its mounting capital commitments, and a New Mexico judge ordered it to pay a $25 billion penalty in a data privacy case. Brent crude rose nearly 3% to $112 a barrel, near a five-month high, after more Houthi attacks in Saudi Arabia raised supply risks. Investors moved into government bonds, pushing the US 10-year yield down to 5.05%, below France's for the first time in 13 years, while French yields have climbed above 5% amid concerns over social unrest and debt. The France-Germany 10-year spread reached 177.7 basis points, its widest since 2011, while gold fell 1.8% to $4,070 an ounce.
Get the briefing on Telegram or Zalo
Join the Upside Telegram channel or Zalo group for the Vietnam stocks and gold briefing at 8:00 and 19:00 (Vietnam time) on trading days, plus a weekly wrap on Saturday morning.