The chipmaker has set the highest offering price among 25 companies that are expected to debut on the Shanghai Stock Exchange sci-tech board next week.
Setting CNY 62.60 (USD 9.10) per share as its initial public offering price, Espressif Systems stands out in a crowd of the 25 STAR board pioneers. It's about to raise over CNY 1.2 billion (USD 174 million) through this IPO.
Recently, we have seen the whole local electronics supply chain 'migrating' into the Shanghai Stock Exchange Sci-Tech Innovation Board, which is also known as the Star Market.
The Shanghai-based wireless chip maker's revenue hit CNY 474.92 million (USD 69 million) in 2018, growing with a breathtaking CAGR of 96.6% over the past two years. Its net profit growth records are astounding: CNY 93.88 million (USD 13.64 million) in 2018, up by 220% from the previous year. As of the end of 2018, Espressif had onboard 241 people, more than two-thirds of which are involved in R&D activity.
In an effort to provide and facilitate wireless connectivity across the globe, Espressif produces and markets Wi-Fi and Bluetooth/BLE chipsets or various types as well as two kinds of modules. According to the firm's prospectus, the lion's share (almost 90%) of its revenues was coming from the microchip business in 2016. However, the picture has been changing lately: the company made more than 32% of the operating income within the module field last year.
According to Gartner, over 110 billion units of various IoT equipment were sold in 2018 worldwide.