How should "the first RISC-V stock" ESWIN Computing (01256) be valued?

Title context: How should "the first RISC-V stock" ESWIN Computing (01256) be valued? Text: ESWIN Computing, the "first RISC-V stock," has officially listed on the Hong Kong stock market, and the company's high growth potential and scarcity are gradually becoming the main thread of market attention. It is understood that ESWIN Computing completed its IPO subscription on October 6, with an offer price of HK$1.55, raising net proceeds of HK$2.386 billion from the global offering. The Hong Kong public offering was 9.09 times subscribed, and the international offering was 1.95 times subscribed. On October 9, the company successfully listed. The listing of ESWIN Computing fills the gap in the capital market for a pure-play RISC-V chip target, which is one of the core reasons the company has attracted widespread market attention. According to the use of proceeds, approximately 35% of the funds will be used for the development and iteration of chip products; 30% will be used to enhance the hardware and software capabilities of the RISAA platform and improve an open, flexible, and interoperable R&D system; 15% will be used for potential strategic mergers and acquisitions to expand technical capabilities and product portfolio and enhance the company's global competitiveness; and 10% will be used to build and expand the marketing network and further promote the construction of the RISC-V ecosystem. With this listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, ESWIN Computing's growth story will also enter a new stage of development. Attracting long-term capital, with substantial long-term valuation potential From the subscription situation during the IPO stage to the steady performance in the grey market and on the first day of listing, the market's attention to ESWIN Computing is gradually shifting from short-term prices to long-term value. There are two main reasons: first, investors are highly optimistic, as the dual scarcity attributes of the "first RISC-V stock" combined with AI empowerment make the company a core target that funds cannot avoid when positioning in this track; second, the company's valuation is still at a relatively low level, attracting long-term investment institutions and major investors to enter in order to obtain long-term returns. From the perspective of market pricing, high-quality targets in the AI+ track with strong prospects generally have PS valuations above 20 times. For example, Z.AI in the general-purpose enterprise AI large model track and INSILICO in the AI pharmaceutical field still have PS ratios as high as several hundred times even after significant retracements from highs; in the AI+ chip field, BIREN TECH has a PS of over 80 times. Looking at ESWIN Computing's valuation, based on the first-day closing price of HK$1.535, the company's total market capitalization is approximately HK$33.8 billion, corresponding to a PS of about 11.8 times based on 2025 revenue. Compared with other targets, the market pricing is relatively low. However, it should be noted that market pricing amplifies the beta value in the short term, while the core logic for long-term upward movement is that the company's strength and development potential continue to attract long-term investors, thereby driving continuous realization of valuation and performance. According to Frost & Sullivan, based on 2025 revenue, the company is China's largest domestic smart terminal human-machine interaction chip provider. In the direction of "RISC-V+AI," ESWIN Computing has become the company with the most comprehensive global coverage of patents, IP, and products. The company will focus its raised funds on the integrated development of "RISC-V+AI," enhance its software and hardware technical strength, and also carry out strategic mergers and acquisitions to solidify its industry competitiveness and leading position. According to Frost & Sullivan data, the market size of China's RISC-V main control chips in 2025 was RMB 37.7 billion, with a compound growth rate of 139.5% from 2021 to 2025, and is expected to reach RMB 219.4 billion by 2030, with a compound growth rate still as high as 36.2% from 2026 to 2030. R&D-driven, creating a clear growth curve From the overall performance perspective, ESWIN Computing has strong performance growth. From 2023 to 2025, revenue increased from RMB 1.752 billion to RMB 2.431 billion, with a compound growth rate of 17.8%. In Q1 2026, revenue was RMB 494 million, a year-on-year increase of 18.4%. The company is an R&D-driven high-tech enterprise, and R&D requires substantial upfront investment, which is also the core reason ESWIN Computing is still loss-making. In Q1 2026, the company's R&D expense ratio was 51%, a decrease compared with the same period, mainly due to the release of R&D achievements as the company enters a harvest cycle, and its profit space is expected to further open up. ESWIN Computing has built the RISAA (RISC-V+AI) ecological technology platform, deeply integrating the RISC-V computing architecture with AI technology, and has built diverse self-developed capabilities covering CPU cores, NPU, bus interconnection, security, software toolchains, and AI compilers. In terms of ecosystem adaptation, the company's intelligent computing products have completed certification for enterprise-level operating systems such as Ubuntu and RedHat, and have reached cooperation with Canonical and RedHat, solving the pain point of RISC-V having "a chip but no soul" in high-end applications. As of March 31, 2026, the company has launched more than 150 software-hardware collaborative products and serves 220 customers worldwide, including several of the world's top technology companies. The rise of AI Agents, automotive intelligence, and the accelerated industrialization of embodied Siasun Robot&Automation are jointly driving the development of RISC-V, making it an important technology route in the global chip field, and the RISC-V ecosystem has entered a stage of certain high-speed growth. According to public research, RISC-V-related chip shipments have exceeded 10 billion units and will continue to maintain high-speed growth in the coming years. Overall, ESWIN Computing's listing fills the gap in the capital market for a pure-play RISC-V target. Relying on solid fundamentals and a diversified product matrix built on R&D accumulation, the company's profitability has a basis for continuous improvement. The accelerated volume ramp-up of interconnect and computing chip product businesses, along with continued explosive demand in multiple scenarios, also provides support for high performance growth. In the long term, as the business logic is realized and performance continues to be released, the company's valuation is expected to reach a new level.