EL7.AI
StocksMediumUpdated×2•Originally published 20 October 2026•Updated 20 October 2026•
4 min read

Elice shares close at 60,500 won below IPO price on Seoul debut

Key Facts

1Elice shares closed at 60,500 won against an IPO price of 90,500 won on their Seoul trading debut.
2Bookbuilding drew 2,367 institutions, and the institutional offering was 388.8 times subscribed.
3Elice reported revenue of 34.4 billion won and operating profit of 10.3 billion won in the first half of 2026.
4The Kospi index fell about 4% in early trading on the day of Elice's listing.

Elice Group shares ended their Seoul trading debut on October 20, 2026, at 60,500 won, compared with an IPO price of 90,500 won, according to Reuters, amid pressure on data center stocks and listing plans in the sector. The South Korean company completed its IPO and began trading before closing below the price at which shares were sold in the offering. The weak debut followed institutional interest during bookbuilding, which the company said drew participation from 2,367 institutions. The institutional offering was 388.8 times subscribed, according to Elice's official pricing statement. Strong institutional demand during the IPO was thus followed by a decline in the share price once trading began.

Elice's listing coincided with delays and cancellations of share sale plans by other companies linked to AI infrastructure, though each transaction had reached a different stage. SoftBank's SB Energy postponed its U.S. share sale, according to Reuters. In Australia, Firmus Grid canceled its planned IPO, a decision Bloomberg attributed to valuation concerns. Data center operator AirTrunk is also delaying a planned listing, according to Bloomberg. While Elice began trading in Seoul, the other companies faced delays to share sales or listings, or a canceled offering in the case of Australia's Firmus Grid, whose decision was linked to valuation concerns.

Elice reported revenue of 34.4 billion won in the first half of 2026, according to figures cited by Investing.com. Operating profit for the same period was 10.3 billion won, bringing the company to market after posting an operating profit for the half-year. Elice said in its listing statement that revenue generated during the period reached 87% of the previous full year's revenue. The company thus compared half-year sales with a full-year total in presenting the scale of its business ahead of deploying IPO proceeds for expansion. The shares closed below the offering price despite the reported operating results and half-year revenue approaching the previous year's total.

Elice's presentation of its business model centers on modular data centers that it says shorten construction times and reduce initial infrastructure spending. According to the company's statement, traditional construction takes between 24 and 36 months, the period it uses as the basis for comparison with its model. It said the modular model reduced that period to 3 months or less, compared with its stated timeframe for traditional construction. It added that initial infrastructure costs could be reduced by up to 40%, according to the technical comparison in its IPO statement. The company presents these time and cost savings as part of its plans to expand regional edge AI data centers, whose development it intends to fund with IPO proceeds.

In the broader South Korean market, the Kospi index fell about 4% in early trading on the day of Elice's listing, according to Reuters, coinciding with the weak debut of the company's shares. The decline came amid investor questions about the relationship between AI spending and the returns it generates, according to Ninghui Liu, head of investment strategy and research for Asia Pacific at State Street. Reuters quoted him as saying investors were questioning "whether every dollar of AI capital expenditure generates a return above its financing cost." The question relayed by Liu focuses on the cost of financing that spending compared with the resulting return. In the sector's IPO market, valuation concerns were the reason Bloomberg cited for the cancellation of Firmus Grid's planned offering in Australia.

Following the listing, Elice intends to direct IPO proceeds toward expanding edge AI data centers in regional hubs, according to its announced plan. The funds will also be used to enter global markets, alongside expanding this infrastructure. Chief Executive Kim Jae-won said the company would develop its integrated AI capabilities to respond systematically to global infrastructure demand after the listing. He added in the IPO pricing statement that the company aimed to sustain its robust growth by developing those capabilities. In the monitoring of global AI spending, attention is turning to Meta's results scheduled for the following Wednesday, according to Reuters, as a near-term milestone for assessing that spending.