SEOUL, May 18 (AJP) - Amid unresolved bottlenecks around the Strait of Hormuz, high-profile United States companies including SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic are preparing for consecutive initial public offerings (IPOs) later this year. With foreign capital expected to flock to these massive listings and South Korean investors steadily expanding their overseas portfolios, forecasts are emerging that the domestic stock market could face a correction.
The benchmark KOSPI closed 0.31 percent higher at 7,516.04 on Monday. While it recouped some losses on growing expectations that the general strike at Samsung Electronics would come to an end, the index had plunged below the 7,100 mark early in the session, following a decline of more than 6 percent last week.
East Asian stock markets had previously pushed higher despite the escalating blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. The KOSPI hit a record high of 7,981.41 at Thursday’s close last week, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 similarly touched an all-time high of 63,442.50 on May 10.
Analysts point to various factors behind the sudden stagnation or decline of Asian markets that had seemed bound for endless gains, with the upcoming series of megacap listings in the United States being cited most frequently.
The most anticipated listing is SpaceX, which operates small-satellite launch vehicles and manned spacecraft operations.
SpaceX is a dominant leader in capturing and deploying multiple satellites into low Earth orbit (LEO). Up to 70 percent of active satellites currently in orbit were launched via the company’s rockets, and 97 percent of global satellite internet speed tests are conducted through its Starlink service.
Its broad portfolio, spanning civil and military applications, is considered a core strength. Most notably, its reusable launch vehicles, led by the Falcon 9, allow the company to perform launches at costs up to three times lower than competitors in China and Russia, attracting clients worldwide.
Consequently, markets expect SpaceX’s public offering to be the largest in history. Prominent asset management firms, including Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs estimate the size of the offering could reach up to $75 billion. This would more than double the previous record of $29.4 billion set by Saudi Aramco, the world's largest oil company, in 2019.
The complicating factor is the rising volume of overseas investment by South Korean nationals. In 2025, South Koreans poured an estimated $114.4 billion into overseas equities, more than doubling the roughly $42 billion that flowed out in 2024.
The combined value of foreign direct investment into South Korea during the same period stood at only $36 billion.
The Bank of Korea (BOK) had sought to incentivize domestic investment by launching Reshoring Investment Account (RIA) products to curb the local currency's sharp depreciation, which fell 6.5 percent over the past year from 1,390 won per dollar in May 2025 to 1,480 won per dollar this May. However, with the SpaceX IPO becoming tangible, those plans are in jeopardy.
With leading artificial intelligence companies like Anthropic and OpenAI scheduled for large-scale listings later this year - or the first quarter of 2027 at the latest - capital flight from the South Korean securities market is projected to accelerate. Some forecasts suggest these two firms could even surpass SpaceX’s record-breaking offering size.
Domestic brokerage firms are racing to launch SpaceX-related exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Firms, including Korea Investment Management and Mirae Asset Global Investments, are rolling out aerospace-focused ETFs in an effort to retain domestic capital. Yet, blocking the correction appears challenging given the lowered barriers to foreign market entry.
While forecasting that the KOSPI could reach 9,000 by the end of the year, NH Investment & Securities projected that "large-scale IPOs such as SpaceX and OpenAI could temporarily dampen the South Korean securities market."
"The scale of domestic capital shifting overseas could be substantial," Mirae Asset, which has aggressively invested in SpaceX, also warned of a short-term shock.
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