S Korean fund managers plan space-themed ETFs ahead of SpaceX IPO

Korean asset managers are preparing US aerospace-themed ETFs ahead of a widely anticipated June SpaceX IPO, according to industry officials and foreign media.

The move reflects growing demand from local investors for listed ways to bet on the sector.

Shinhan Asset Management plans to launch the SOL US Space and Aerospace TOP 10 ETF later this month, while Mirae Asset Global Investments and Korea Investment Management are preparing similar funds.

Korea Investment’s product is expected to be actively managed and may buy SpaceX after any listing, while Hana Asset Management and Samsung Asset Management also plan to add the company to existing ETFs.

Hana’s US space and aerospace ETF, launched in December, passed 50 billion won (US$33.5 million) in assets within a month.

🔗 Source: The Korea Times

🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

A regulatory overhaul is the real fuel for Korea’s ETF launches

New funds are arriving alongside a regulatory push from South Korea’s Financial Services Commission, the country’s top financial regulator, aimed at reviving domestic capital markets 1.
Officials want retail investors to trade more at home after more activity moved to overseas exchanges, which has fed capital outflows and added pressure on the Korean won 2.
Rule changes would allow products that were not available in South Korea, including single-stock leveraged ETFs that seek up to 2x the daily return of an underlying stock 3.
Regulators are also widening access to weekly options, which may let asset managers build higher-yield strategies such as covered call ETFs, which use options to generate income from stocks 1.

Why the SpaceX IPO could be a wild ride for retail investors

Some ETF buyers are backing SpaceX at a steep price after reports said it raised its IPO target valuation to over $2 trillion, which implies more than 125 times annual revenue of about $16 billion 4.
Much of the valuation rests on Starlink, the satellite internet business that served 9.2 million subscribers in more than 150 countries and brought in about 67% of total company revenue in 2025 5.
Analysts treat the “space-based AI” initiative as a long-term call option, which means a speculative bet on future upside, with zero revenue assigned to it so far 5.
Once public, the shares could swing 20 to 30% on minor news because the planned public float, the portion available for public trading, is about 3.3% 5.