{
  "id": 15695508,
  "title": "Global Market: South Korea's Elice shares plunge 28% in market debut as data centre stocks shunned",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/20/global-market-south-koreas-elice-shares-plunge-28-in-market-debut-as",
  "topic": "finance",
  "section": "Finance & Markets",
  "published": "2026-10-20T03:23:42.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Economic Times - Top News",
    "slug": "the-economic-times-top-news",
    "url": "https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/us-stocks/news/global-market-south-koreas-elice-shares-plunge-28-in-market-debut-as-data-centre-stocks-shunned/articleshow/135060541.cms"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "SEOUL - Elice Group, a South Korean AI services company, saw its shares drop 28% during their market debut on Tuesday as the sector faced a downturn in investor confidence. The firm raised 201.1 billion won ($150 million) in its initial public offering (IPO), aiming to fund the development of portable modular data centers and related infrastructure using the proceeds. However, analysts are now questioning whether substantial AI investments will yield returns soon, due to high inflation driving up borrowing costs, according to Kim Hak-joon, an analyst at Kiwoom Securities.\n\nInvestors are uncertain about the demand for AI, and it is challenging to gauge present demand accurately. In the same month, several data center firms postponed their IPO plans. Australia's Firmus, backed by Nvidia, and Blackstone-backed AirTrunk, postponed their Singapore REIT IPO. Additionally, SB Energy, a subsidiary of Japanese conglomerate SoftBank, had filed paperwork for a US IPO. The Elice shares were trading at 65,300 won at the last market close, falling below the IPO price of 90,500 won. The IPO attracted institutional orders amounting to 388.84 times the available shares, as per a filing.\n\nElice reported that revenue for the first half of the year surged to 34 billion won and that it turned an operating profit of 10 billion won, reversing a 3.5 billion won loss for the same period in the previous year.",
  "summary": "Elice, which raised 201.1 billion won ($150 million) in its IPO, provides AI cloud services as well as AI-based education and business software and plans to spend most of its IPO proceeds on launching portable modular data centres and related infrastructure.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 5,
    "also_reported_by": [
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        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/20/south-korea-central-bank-to-hold-rates-on-october-22-hike-in-november",
        "published": "2026-10-20T00:42:38.000Z"
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      {
        "outlet": "FXStreet",
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        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/20/confirmed-pboc-leaves-loan-prime-rates-unchanged-in-october",
        "published": "2026-10-20T01:02:51.000Z"
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        "outlet": "Straits Times Business",
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        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/20/keppel-reit-to-buy-51-stake-in-keppel-south-central-for-610-9-million",
        "published": "2026-10-20T01:03:00.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "The Business Times - Companies & Markets",
        "title": "South Korea, Japan shares fall as Asian stocks decline in break from US chip rally",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/20/south-korea-japan-shares-fall-as-asian-stocks-decline-in-break-from",
        "published": "2026-10-20T01:58:26.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}