Elice Group Shares Drop Over 30% on KOSDAQ Debut

Elice Group secured 201 billion won ($151 million) in what is the largest initial public offering (IPO) on the KOSDAQ in 2026. On Tuesday, on the first day of trading, its stock slid more than 30% below the IPO price.

This decline occurred just weeks ahead of Anthropic, the firm behind the Claude artificial intelligence models, which intends to list in November.

Elice Group Drops 30% as It Debuts on KOSDAQ

Elice determined its IPO price on October 6, prior to the latest selloff in AI stocks, analysts observed. A filing indicated that institutional investors placed orders for 388 times the number of shares available.

The company's financials had strengthened prior to the IPO. Revenue in the first half of the year increased threefold to 34 billion won, and Elice turned around to a 10 billion won operating profit.

These figures failed to protect the stock from a wider pullback in AI optimism. Over the past month, the KOSPI has declined more than 21%. The index slid 3.5% on that same morning, paring its 2026 gain to 31%.

In early trades, Elice's shares dropped as much as 32% to 61,400 won, Bloomberg reported. Some of the concern centers on demand itself.

Kiwoom Securities analyst Kim Hak-joon informed Reuters that the scale of future AI demand remains unknown. He also noted that current demand is difficult to gauge.

AI Listings This Summer Took a Different Direction

This wariness stands in contrast to AI-related listings in China from a few months earlier. Memory chip producer CXMT increased by roughly 470% on its Shanghai debut on July 27, having raised $8.6 billion.

Robot manufacturer Unitree began trading at 629% above its IPO price on August 19.

The downturn has since affected those gainers. On Monday, CXMT stock declined 6.5% as the US chip selloff expanded into Asia. It has now fallen 18% since its listing.

Implications of Elice's Decline for Anthropic's Upcoming IPO

Ke Yan, who leads research at Singapore's Shenton Research, described the change in terms of paying customers.

"Elice's debut shows the AI infrastructure trade has moved from 'build at any cost' to 'who is paying and for how long'," he said. "Until the AI labs that rent … capacity show they can fund their compute commitments, new listings across the region will likely be priced in that risk premium."

Anthropic ranks among the biggest AI research firms gearing up for a public offering. It has pledged a minimum of $518 billion to cloud and computing capacity over the course of ten years.

Discussions around its valuation have already moderated. At its investor day on October 14, certain investors referenced a $1.5 trillion figure. Earlier estimates were close to $2 trillion, until third-quarter revenue growth decelerated to 45%.

An underwhelming market entrance could have effects beyond Anthropic. A tepid response might put pressure on the broader AI sector, where OpenAI is anticipated to go public next year.

This month, multiple prominent investors have issued warnings about a bubble. Paul Tudor Jones forecast a challenging 2027 for US equities. He cited the influx of new stock from large AI companies.

Michael Burry has directed his caution specifically at Anthropic. He described its valuation as a bubble, remarking that it could acquire 78 S&P 500 firms. Ray Dalio has likewise stated that the AI bubble is near to popping.

The pricing of Anthropic's offering in November will reveal whether Ke Yan's risk premium applies to the labs purchasing computing capacity.