Chapter 193: Prime
Ten days later.
The company that has been receiving hot attention simultaneously from the New York stock market and Korea’s financial district is none other than ‘Dojin Frontier’.
When this company, which integrated Dojin Group’s construction and defense industries, officially announced its IPO on the New York NASDAQ,
the entire global investment market shook.
If it had just been a simple construction or defense company, there wouldn’t have been this much of a reaction.
The videos that Kang Tae-joon released about AGE and AI combat robots were enough to grab the world’s attention all at once.
[Initial offering price $4, market capitalization $40 billion]
[Expected to be the largest IPO since Faderbook in 2012 and Aliverber in 2014]
[Dojin Frontier introduces ‘dual share structure’, founder Kang Tae-joon secures 10 times the voting rights]
Related news poured in ceaselessly on KTalk Feed and various media outlets and investment communities.
The name Dojin itself had already established itself as a global tech company beyond Asia.
Even investment banks evaluated this IPO as ‘the most powerful tech listing in the coming years’.
…
…
…
JPMorgan New York Branch.
“We exceeded the target subscription amount by 200% within one minute of opening.”
The entire trading room stirred at the officer’s exclamation.
“What about Silverman Sachs?”
“They’re in the same situation. Subscription requests are flooding in from each branch in Hong Kong, Tokyo, Frankfurt, London, and Seoul.”
This level of explosiveness was beyond even what the lead underwriter, JPMorgan, had anticipated.
“What about sovereign wealth funds or institutions?”
“Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund CIG is at $4 billion, Norway’s Oil Fund at $3.5 billion, and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority is increasing theirs to $5 billion.”
JPMorgan’s representative, Jamie Dimon, who was present, looked at the screen with an expression of mixed surprise and excitement.
“There are this many investors interested in Dojin?”
The IPO was an overwhelming success.
Dojin Frontier’s expected subscription amount of $12.8 billion was exceeded in an instant.
And in less than a day, the total order amount presented by global investment institutions reached a staggering $103 billion (approximately 120 trillion won).
[Unprecedented IPO Appears, NASDAQ Excited]
[Will Dojin Frontier Surpass Tesler?]
[Kang Tae-joon Effect, Asian Tech Company Sets Global Record]
Dojin Frontier, which instantly emerged as a global top-tier company, made a dazzling debut on the New York NASDAQ market.
The stock price closed at $9.6 on the day of listing, a 140% increase from the offering price.
“Whoaaaaaa!”
“Congratulations, sir.”
“I never thought it would be this big of a hit.”
Cheers erupted from the employees, and I couldn’t help but smile.
“Being the first affiliate to go public probably helped too.”
Executive Director Oh Seong-hak nodded in agreement.
“The demand that couldn’t invest in Dojin Tech and Dojin Soft must have flocked to Dojin Frontier.”
By investing in Dojin Frontier, they enjoyed the effect of indirectly investing in Dojin Tech and Dojin Soft.
But I knew all too well that it was too early to celebrate.
“I think what comes next will be even more important.”
It was Seong-hwan who spoke up.
He had a rare serious expression.
“We gained popularity thanks to the videos of AGE and the feed, but if we can’t keep the momentum going, the stock price could cool down at any time.”
“Recently, malicious articles and comments have decreased a lot, but there still seem to be some critical articles.”
“Critical articles?”
Seong-hwan handed me the tablet.
[Is Dojin Frontier Copying Tesler?]
Dojin Frontier, the defense and construction conglomerate that Dojin Group ambitiously listed, has now entered the electric vehicle market.
Park Cheol-jin, CEO of Dojin Frontier, declared at the investor briefing held immediately after the IPO, “We will fully enter the electric vehicle market,” and announced plans to independently develop an AI-based autonomous driving platform and electric vehicle hardware.
However, some industry insiders say it’s hard to shake the impression that Dojin Frontier is simply following Tesler without sufficient experience in the automotive industry.
Tesler, a leader in the electric vehicle sector, currently dominates the premium market with models J and Z,
and is preparing to enter the mass market with the mass production of Model 5.
In contrast, Dojin Frontier has yet to release a single completed vehicle to the market.
The industry’s perspective is that there will inevitably be a lack of experience and practical constraints in electric vehicle platforms, battery supply chains, and charging infrastructure.
Especially in the completed vehicle market, beyond mere technological capabilities, production stability and global supply chains are key.
Even Tesler endured years of deficits after the Roadster in 2012 to establish Model J in the market.
└ They were making rifles, and now they’re suddenly making electric vehicles?
└ Isn’t that too abrupt?
└ No matter how good Dojin’s technology is, is this really the right way to enter the electric vehicle market?
└ With so much already on their plate, not just electric vehicles but also Lunar Link, rockets, and autonomous driving……
└ Doing it this way, it seems like nothing will work out……
After reading all the comments, I returned the tablet to Seong-hwan and said calmly,
“Well, it’s the reaction I expected.”
“Definitely, Dojin Frontier’s concept overlaps a lot with Tesler.”
Executive Vice President Hong Chung-ki seemed to agree with the article to some extent,
and others seemed to share similar thoughts.
“Actually, we wanted to enter the electric vehicle market sooner, but with so many projects already underway, we didn’t have the capacity to do so until now.”
“Every time we made money, we poured it into semiconductor development, so we didn’t have the capacity for anything else.”
Executive Director Oh Seong-hak, who knew the situation best, supported my words.
Seong-hwan responded with a still serious expression.
“As a latecomer, if we don’t show something substantial, the shareholders will be greatly disappointed.”
Shareholder disappointment would likely lead to a drop in stock price.
“So, since we’re already following Tesler, why don’t we follow their strategy too?”
“Follow Tesler’s strategy?”
Seong-hwan looked puzzled, so I explained further.
“Do you know how Tesler competed with internal combustion engine vehicles when they first entered the market?”
“How… did they do it?”
Just as I was about to answer,
Chilbong, who had been listening, slapped his knee and exclaimed,
“Roadster!”
“Roadster? That’s Tesler’s premium sports car.”
“Right.”
I smiled and continued the explanation.
“Back when many said electric vehicles could never surpass internal combustion engines, Tesler directly challenged internal combustion engine cars with the Roadster.”
The Roadster started with high-end performance that dominated every metric: acceleration, braking, power, and weight.
“So, to enter the electric vehicle market, we should start with a premium car rather than a mass-market vehicle?”
“Exactly. There’s nothing better to showcase our technology.”
The next day, I posted a short message on KTalk Feed.
[KTalk Feed] -@Kang Tae-joon | Followers 57,185,726
High-end electric vehicle PRIME (PRIME)
Development commenced
Maximum output 1,550 horsepower
0-100 km/h: 1.6 seconds
Top speed 457 km/h
Fully charged range: 680 km (high-speed driving)
Dojin Frontier will never disappoint its shareholders.
Though the post was short, its impact was significant.
Within an hour of posting, views exceeded 2 million,
and comments poured in so quickly that it was impossible to read them all.
└ Wow, 1,550 horsepower?
└ 0-100 km/h in 1.6 seconds?
└ Are we really supposed to believe this?
└ Unbelievable, even the Bugatti Chiron takes 2.4 seconds to reach 100 km/h.
└ If this is true, it’ll overturn not just the electric vehicle market, but the entire internal combustion engine market.
└ Lol, so when will it be unveiled?
└ Will it actually be shown?
└ Like Tesler, are they just making empty promises without revealing the actual product?
└ Even Tesler’s Elon Musks only announced the second-generation Roadster without revealing its horsepower.
└ The Prime’s specs are even higher than the Roadster 2’s.
└ The Roadster 2 reaches 0-100 km/h in 1.9 seconds, right?
└ This seems like an obvious lie to boost the stock price?
└ Hypercars should never be believed until the actual vehicle is unveiled.
└ At least tell us when and where it’ll be unveiled, otherwise, how can we believe it?
“Brother…… with this, even I wouldn’t believe it.”
Seong-hwan, who had come to my office to read the comments, shook his head.
“What’s the stock price reaction?”
“It dropped from $9.6 to $8.7, about a 9.4% decrease.”
Whether it was because of my post
or an adjustment after the stock price rose 140% post-IPO,
the market reaction was that my post was too far-fetched, causing the stock price to fall.
“As expected, people only believe what they see.”
“Of course. And claiming 0-100 km/h in 1.6 seconds is just too outrageous.”
“Who says it’s outrageous?”
Seong-hwan’s eyes widened at my words.
“So… you’re saying it’s actually possible to reach 0-100 km/h in 1.6 seconds?”
“Of course. When have you ever seen me lie about something like this?”
“……”
Seong-hwan looked at me, his pupils shaking with confusion.
“Of course, it can’t be done right away.”
While electric vehicles are structurally simpler than internal combustion engines,
they can’t be built in just a day or two.
“It’ll take at least one or two years, right?”
Seong-hwan asked, as if it were obvious.
Even Tesler took five years to develop the first-generation Roadster.
Actually, one or two years was an underestimate.
But…
“Prime can be built in six months.”
“What? In six months?”
The reaction was one of disbelief.
“No, brother. I’m no expert, but from body design to powertrain, cooling system, battery stability, and driving control algorithms, coordinating all that would actually take more than one or two years.”
“That’s usually the case.”
Despite claiming not to be an expert,
he seemed to understand the process quite well.
“It’s true that developing an electric vehicle from scratch would take that long, but the core and heart of an electric vehicle—the battery and driving control algorithms—are already largely developed,
so it won’t take that much time.“
Batteries were the second project we started after lenses, and the focus was on developing vehicle batteries rather than mobile batteries,
so there were no technical shortcomings.
Of course, there were still quite a few external aspects to complement.
But if I were to participate directly in the production, six months would be more than enough.
That evening,
I posted an additional message on KTalk Feed.
[KTalk Feed] -@Kang Tae-joon | Followers 58,991,604
Participating in the Brookling Circuit Trial Race this June
Competing vehicles: Bugatti Chiron, Porsche 928, Spydel, Ahsung Hyper R1