SEOUL, - Shares in South Korean AI services firm Elice Group plummeted 28% in their market debut on Tuesday, amid a sharp retreat in sentiment towards the sector that has also derailed other planned listings.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.US MarketsPowered ByAs on 20 Oct 2026, 01:30 AM ISTS&P 500 Top GainersWestern Digital352.21(6.09%)Datadog260.36(5.36%)Amazon.com262.45(4.98%)Palantir Technologies194.15(4.36%)Gainers»S&P 500 Top LosersCoterra Energy32.56(-8.62%)Mosaic17.92(-4.78%)NRG Energy99.38(-4.21%)Ameriprise Finl480.41(-4.07%)Losers»Investors are increasingly questioning whether massive AI spending can pay off anytime soon as elevated inflation keeps borrowing costs high."There's worry that these kinds of companies may not be able to get additional funding from investors," said Kim Hak-joon, an analyst at Seoul-based Kiwoom Securities."Everyone is not sure how much demand for AI there will be and it is hard to estimate current demand."Live EventsThis month, data centre firms that have shelved their IPO plans include Australia's Firmus, which is backed by Nvidia , Blackstone-backed AirTrunk, which postponed a Singapore REIT IPO, as well as SB Energy, a unit of Japanese tech investment conglomerate SoftBank, which had filed paperwork for a US IPO.Elice's shares were last trading at 65,300 won compared with its IPO pricing of 90,500 won.