South Korean artificial intelligence (AI) cloud infrastructure and data center company Elice Group officially listed on the KOSDAQ market today, but its debut did not go smoothly.
In early trading on Tuesday, shares of the new cloud service provider plunged as much as 32% to 61,400 won. As of press time, Elice raised 201 billion won (approximately $151 million) through its initial public offering (IPO), making it the largest IPO in South Korea this year. The listing performance will test investors' willingness to invest in the AI data center industry. With rising borrowing costs and growing uncertainty about the long-term returns of massive AI investments, investor sentiment toward AI infrastructure companies has shifted, and several of Elice's peers have already stumbled.
Firmus cancelled its highly anticipated Sydney listing this month. Shares of CoreWeave (CRWV.US) have fallen by more than half from their May peak. AirTrunk is postponing an IPO plan for a real estate investment trust (REIT). Nscale is facing headwinds over its target IPO valuation.
Albert Yong, Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer of Petra Capital Management, said: "Elice is listing at a time when market sentiment toward AI infrastructure companies has weakened, especially in the U.S. market. Investor sentiment toward AI infrastructure has been highly volatile and often disconnected from companies' fundamentals."
Elice successfully attracted demand from South Korean retail investors. To subscribe for the company's shares, retail investors put up approximately 10.3 trillion won in subscription deposits. The retail tranche was more than 400 times oversubscribed. According to Elice's prospectus, to win over investors, the company highlighted its strong performance growth — first-half revenue grew 200% year-on-year to 34.4 billion won. The company turned profitable, posting operating profit of 10.3 billion won; EBITDA grew more than 11-fold to 23.2 billion won.
Analyst Douglas Kim wrote in a report published on Smartkarma that the company's sales are expected to grow 83% in 2026, with an operating margin of approximately 33%.
Kim Dojoon, Chief Executive Officer of Zian Investment Management, said: "Although Elice's AI cloud business has already achieved operating profit and the company plans to use IPO proceeds to meet private-sector demand, it remains to be seen whether it can sustain its current profitability. CoreWeave's performance may have dampened investor sentiment, but Elice's financial structure is very different from CoreWeave's, so I don't think investors need to view this company as a particularly high-risk proposition."
Elice was founded in 2015 by three students from a KAIST doctoral program. The company initially started as a coding education platform and later pivoted into AI cloud infrastructure, offering products such as servers, liquid-cooled chips, cloud computing and networking equipment and software. Since then, the company has developed a modular data center platform equipped with high-density power systems and advanced liquid cooling technology, designed specifically for high-performance AI chip clusters.
According to CEO Jae Won Kim, with backing from venture capital firms including Vertex Ventures and Altos Ventures, Elice plans to use IPO proceeds to build more AI data centers in South Korea and overseas.
Jae Won Kim said in an interview: "We will do our utmost to become a leading global provider of full-stack AI infrastructure. This IPO is intended to give us ample financial strength to make that goal a reality."
In addition, if Elice's IPO succeeds, it would help break the slump in South Korea's IPO market. While fundraising across Asia has grown substantially, South Korea's primary market has remained weak. Data shows that since 2026, companies listing in Seoul have raised a cumulative $1.4 billion, compared with more than $3 billion each year in the previous three years. South Korea's IPO market has cooled this year.
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