Rebellions Gears Up for KOSPI IPO as AI Chip Listing Race Heats Up

*Editor's Note: 'AI PRISM' (Personalized Report & Insight Summarizing Media) is an AI-powered customized news recommendation and summarization service developed with support from the Korea Press Foundation. It selects and provides six tailored news stories for each reader type.

1. Surviving the Age of Reasoning AI

- Key Summary: Since the launch of OpenAI's ChatGPT, AI has evolved beyond chatbots that answer questions into reasoning agents that ask their own questions, make judgments, and handle tasks they were not instructed to perform. Oracle recently laid off thousands of employees, and the affected workforce included core positions such as 85 software developers, 43 systems analysts, and 39 program managers. Applied Intuition has also showcased technology enabling a single remote operator to control dozens of autonomous vehicles at construction and mining sites, making the replacement of blue-collar jobs a growing reality. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said, "Some jobs will emerge and some will disappear," signaling industry-wide restructuring ahead.

2. Rebellions, Valued at 3.4 Trillion Won, Eyes August Preliminary Review — AI Heavyweights Flock to Korean Market

- Key Summary: AI chip company Rebellions is preparing an IPO targeting a KOSPI preliminary listing review at Korea Exchange (KRX) in the third quarter of this year, with August — when semi-annual reports are finalized — cited as the most likely filing date. Rebellions recently raised 640 billion won through a pre-IPO round, securing a valuation of 3.4 trillion won ($2.5 billion) in the process. The company was selected as the first direct investment of the National Growth Fund, securing 250 billion won, with Korea Development Bank (50 billion won) and Mirae Asset Group (300 billion won) among the participants. Meanwhile, FuriosaAI is conducting a pre-IPO round targeting a valuation of 3 trillion won in the neural processing unit (NPU) sector, and DeepX has adopted an internal policy of prioritizing a domestic listing and begun preliminary IPO preparations.

3. Price-Drop Alert App Polcent Disrupts E-Commerce, Covering Coupang and Naver

- Key Summary: Polcent, an app that provides real-time price-drop alerts for online shopping mall products, surpassed 1 million monthly active users (MAU) three years after its founding and successfully raised 20 billion won from investors including KD Investment and Caspian Capital. Polcent has been profitable since its founding and has posted revenue growth of more than 100% annually. The service notifies consumers of price changes on shopping malls that use dynamic pricing. Starting with Coupang, it has expanded coverage to Naver Shopping, Musinsa, Kurly, 11st, Gmarket, and Olive Young. The company also plans to introduce a price comparison service and a marketing platform targeting manufacturers.

4. Revenue Growing 4x Faster Than M7 — H5 IPO Proceeds Expected to Exceed $280 Billion

- Key Summary: The Hectocorn 5 (H5) — SpaceX, OpenAI, Anthropic, ByteDance, and Databricks — are projected to post a compound annual revenue growth rate of 70% from 2025 to 2029, 3.8 times the 18% growth rate of the Magnificent 7 (M7) over the same period. SpaceX is reportedly set to raise up to $75 billion through its IPO, more than double the record $29 billion raised by Saudi Aramco in 2019. Even conservatively assuming a 10% free-float ratio, the remaining four companies' IPO proceeds are estimated at $206.4 billion, bringing the combined H5 total above $280 billion. For individual investors seeking H5 exposure, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that directly or indirectly hold H5 stakes are suggested as a viable strategy.

5. "Korea Is the Optimal Country for Stablecoin Experiments"

- Key Summary: Oliver Jenkyn, global president of Visa, and Stephen Karpin, Asia-Pacific president, who recently visited Korea, assessed the country as the world's best testbed for stablecoins. Visa executives said, "Korea has 17 million cryptocurrency investors, and its paid subscription rate for ChatGPT ranks second globally after the United States," emphasizing the strategic importance of the Korean market. As of November last year, Korea accounted for 5.4% of ChatGPT revenue, ranking second after the United States at 35.4%, while 11.4% of Google Gemini revenue also came from Korea. Ahead of the agentic AI era, Korea is considered an ideal location for building an environment where search, comparison, and payment are integrated on blockchain. However, domestic discussions on the Digital Asset Act have stalled.

6. As Gas Prices Surge, Shoppers Stay Home — "I Reinstalled Coupang"

- Key Summary: The energy crisis triggered by the war between the United States and Iran has increased fuel costs, reducing foot traffic to offline stores and accelerating the shift to online shopping among Korean consumers. According to WiseApp & Retail, new installations of major e-commerce apps reached 2,754,128 in March, up 2.8% from the previous month, while the combined monthly active users rose from 71.18 million in February to 72.80 million in March, a 2.3% increase. According to Mobile Index, estimated monthly credit and debit card payments at major e-commerce companies surged 14.5% in one month from 4.9436 trillion won in February to 5.6606 trillion won in March, following the outbreak of the Middle East war in late February. According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the online channel's share of the retail market expanded from 52.1% in 2021 to 59% in 2025, and is expected to exceed 60% for the first time this year.