On October 9, ESWIN Computing Technology Co., Ltd. officially listed on the Main Board of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited, being called by the market as the true "first RISC-V stock" in the global capital market.
This global offering involved approximately 1.617 billion H-shares at an issue price of HKD 1.55 per share, raising a total of approximately HKD 2.507 billion, with net proceeds of HKD 2.386 billion. The funds are primarily intended for iterative R&D of chip products, upgrading the RISAA (RISC-V + AI) ecological technology platform, potential strategic mergers and acquisitions, building a marketing network, and constructing the RISC-V ecosystem.
First-Day Broken Issue: The Market Votes with Its Feet
However, the response from the capital market was not enthusiastic. During the dark pool trading phase, some platforms quoted a closing price of HKD 1.54, below the issue price; on the first day of listing, it opened low at HKD 1.54, briefly plunged to HKD 1.365 during the session, and finally closed at HKD 1.535, a drop of 0.97% from the issue price, with a total market capitalization of approximately HKD 33.8 billion.
The market's caution is not without basis. The prospectus shows that this is a typical "cash-burning" chip company: established for 7 years, it has raised a total of CNY 9.276 billion through 4 rounds of financing, with a post-investment valuation once reaching CNY 35 billion; however, it accumulated a net loss of CNY 4.9 billion over three years. In 2025, revenue was CNY 2.431 billion and net loss was CNY 1.516 billion, which translates to a loss of CNY 0.63 for every CNY 1 of revenue earned. The gross margin dropped from 25.9% in 2022 to 15.4% in 2023. Although it rebounded to 18.6% in 2025, it fell again to 14.8% in the first quarter of 2026.
ESWIN Computing has been endowed with the imaginative space of "China's ARM alternative" by market narratives. The expression in the research report by SDIC International Securities is quite straightforward: the current valuation "has already reflected the growth options of RISC-V computing chips," implying that subsequent valuation space needs to be supported by performance realization.
However, the changing trajectory of the expense structure exposes subtle strategic adjustments. In 2023, the company's R&D expenditure was CNY 1.445 billion, accounting for 82.5% of revenue; by 2025, the absolute value of R&D expenditure dropped to CNY 1.042 billion, and the proportion plummeted to 42.8%, shrinking by nearly 30% over two years. Meanwhile, sales expenses increased from CNY 167 million in 2023 to CNY 235 million in 2025, a growth of about 40%. Why would a RISC-V enterprise established on R&D shrink its R&D and step up marketing on the eve of its listing?
The Answer in the Cash Flow Statement
The answer lies hidden in the cash flow statement. As of the end of March 2026, the company had only CNY 1.3 billion in cash on hand, while the operating loss for the single year of 2025 reached CNY 1.5 billion. Without this IPO, it could only sustain for about 10 months at this rate. The net proceeds from this fundraising are approximately HKD 2.386 billion, which, combined with existing cash, totals over HKD 3 billion, enough to support more than two years at the current consumption rate.
Market views suggest that compressing R&D expenses from CNY 1.4 billion to CNY 1 billion is less about efficiency improvement and more about passive contraction under cash pressure; the counter-trend increase in sales expenses is intended to drive revenue growth before cash is exhausted, in order to hedge against the pressure brought by the decline in gross margin.
During the company's growth process, the key equity-participating sub-fund of the "Xidong Mother Fund" invested in ESWIN in two rounds starting from 2019, accompanying the enterprise's development and growth. ESWIN Computing's listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange this time is regarded as a landmark breakthrough for China's chip industry in the open architecture track, and also another practical verification of Xishan empowering hard technology with "patient capital" and cultivating new quality productive forces.
ESWIN Computing was founded by Wang Dongsheng, the founder of China's semiconductor display industry and the founder of BOE. Adopting a fabless business model and based on the RISC-V architecture, it focuses on the R&D and design of chips, chipsets, boards, and related core software. As of March 31, 2026, the company has accumulated over 620 IP modules, more than 20 serialized RISC-V cores, and over 1,740 product-related patent applications. It has successfully brought more than 150 software and hardware integrated products to the market, serving 220 customers globally.
In terms of business layout, ESWIN Computing has built three major product matrices: "human-computer interaction chips - embodied intelligence chips - edge computing and AI chips for intelligent computing centers," ranking among the top RISC-V main control chip providers in China. Regarding commercial implementation, its RISC-V automotive-grade AI MCU EAM 2011 has been introduced into the supply chains of mainstream OEMs such as SAIC, BYD, and Chery; the world's first consumer-grade AI NAS based on the RISC-V architecture, jointly created with Zspace, is planned for mass production and release in the fourth quarter of 2026.
For this newly listed company, the cold opening in the capital market is just the starting point. Whether it can fulfill the industrial narrative of RISC-V with solid revenue growth and gross margin recovery before the cash flow window closes will determine whether the halo of the "first stock" can be transformed into sustainable valuation support.
Editor/Layout: Sun Tian
Reviewed by: Mei Yaxin
Supervised by: Liu Qicheng