AI Competition Heats Up...Design Platform Stocks Surge Nearly 1 Trillion Won in a Day

FIGMA INC (ticker: FIG) saw its shares surge 7.26% to close at $20.12 on the New York Stock Exchange. Trading volume stood at roughly 10.96 million shares, and the company’s market capitalization reached about $8.9 billion (approximately KRW 12 trillion), representing an increase of nearly $700 million (around KRW 1 trillion) in a single day.

While Figma’s stock was briefly weighed down by reports that Anthropic is developing an AI design tool for websites and presentations, it bounced back by over 7%, suggesting bargain hunting and a retracement trend despite concerns about competition in the tech and AI arenas. On certain retail investor forums, analysts have noted significant short interest in Figma shares and pointed to the potential for a near-term short-covering rally.

Figma is a browser-based, collaborative design platform whose suite of products—including Figma Design, Dev Mode, FigJam, and Figma Slides—has effectively become the industry standard in UX/UI design. After a $20 billion acquisition deal with Adobe collapsed at the end of 2023 due to regulatory pushback, Figma accelerated its independent growth strategy. In its 2025 initial public offering on the NYSE, the company raised about $1.9 billion, securing a market valuation of roughly $19.3 billion (around KRW 26 trillion).