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Shanghai-based maker of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth microcontroller chips (the ESP32/ESP8266 family) for IoT devices.
Shanghai-based maker of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth microcontroller chips (the ESP32/ESP8266 family) for IoT devices.
A fabless designer, it sells low-priced chips and modules in very large volumes, mostly through distributors, to makers of connected devices. Free software tools and an open developer community keep new designs coming, and some newer chips use the open RISC-V design rather than licensed processor cores.
In one line: The default low-cost Wi-Fi chip for hobbyist and IoT hardware worldwide.
Moat: narrow (brand, installed base, distribution). Huge developer ecosystem and installed base make its chips a default choice for low-cost Wi-Fi IoT.
Headquarters: Shanghai, China · Founded: 2008 · Employees: 898
Size Espressif Systems (Shanghai) (688018.SS) is a China Information Technology company (Semiconductors) with a market value of $5.61B, the 450th largest of 4,839 China companies the cockpit tracks. Shares closed at CN¥159.60 on 6 Nov 2026.
Performance Over six months the shares gained 29.8%, against -25.5% for the median peer and -16.4% for the China market (cap-weighted) — highest of 20 in its peer set.
Growth Revenue grew 22.9% over the last twelve months (peer median +34.2%); the operating margin is 19.3% (peer median 16.8%).
Valuation It trades at 48.8× forward earnings against a peer median of 31.0× (5th most expensive of 17).
Price implies For today's price to make sense, revenue must grow about 36% a year for seven years (Req g). Recent delivered growth is +25%, so the hurdle is +11 pp: the price needs faster growth than the company has been delivering — of companies that just grew 25–50% a year, 93.8% slowed down over the next four years.
Capital Return on invested capital runs 8.9 points above its cost of capital (10.1% WACC).
Next results Next results expected around 22 Mar 2027 (exchange calendar; dates can move).
| TTM | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | CN¥3.02B | CN¥2.56B | CN¥2.00B | CN¥1.43B | CN¥1.27B |
| Revenue growth | — | +28% | +40% | +13% | — |
| Gross profit | CN¥1.52B | CN¥1.16B | CN¥850M | CN¥551M | CN¥481M |
| EBITDA | n/a | CN¥511M | CN¥335M | CN¥101M | CN¥83.0M |
| Net income | CN¥674M | CN¥498M | CN¥339M | CN¥136M | CN¥97.3M |
| Free cash flow | CN¥416M | CN¥24.7M | CN¥128M | CN¥260M | CN¥51.8M |
| Capital expenditure | CN¥153M | CN¥516M | CN¥97.7M | CN¥49.4M | CN¥26.2M |
| Total debt | CN¥34.9M | CN¥30.6M | CN¥27.0M | CN¥17.0M | CN¥22.4M |
The default views of Competitor Analysis ▸ Charts, drawn from the same data. Open them in the cockpit to change the axes, pin companies and read every value.
| Company | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Espressif Systems (Shanghai) 688018.SS | $5.61B | +30% | +23% | 19% | 48.8× | 36.0% |
| Realtek Semiconductor 2379.TW | $11.0B | +33% | +12% | 11% | 19.9× | 8.4% |
| Nordic Semiconductor NOD.OL | $3.62B | -12% | +15% | 8% | 54.6× | n/a |
| Texas Instruments TXN | $253B | -4% | +20% | 41% | 24.6× | 23.3% |
| STM STM | $41.0B | -29% | +16% | 7% | 17.3× | 38.6% |
Peer set: Industry: the same industry and sector in any market, nearest in size. This is the same default set the interactive Competitor Analysis opens with.
| Measure | 688018.SS | Peer median | Rank in peer set |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-month return | +35.7% | -20.9% | highest of 21 |
| 6-month return | +29.8% | -25.5% | highest of 20 |
| Distance from 52-week high | -7.2% | -53.9% | highest of 21 |
| Revenue growth (TTM) | +22.9% | +34.2% | 8th lowest of 21 |
| Operating margin | 19.3% | 16.8% | 8th highest of 21 |
| Forward P/E | 48.8× | 31.0× | 5th most expensive of 17 |
| Growth the price implies (Req g, 7 yrs) | 36.0% | 23.6% | 4th most demanding of 12 |
| Growth delivered (Del g) | +25.3% | +16.5% | 3rd highest of 12 |
| Hurdle (Req g minus delivered) | +10.7 pp | +4.4 pp | 6th most demanding of 12 |
| ROIC minus cost of capital | +8.9 pp | -0.1 pp | 7th highest of 21 |
| Company | Market | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g | Delivered g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Espressif Systems (Shanghai) 688018.SS | China | $5.61B | +30% | +23% | 19% | 48.8× | 36.0% | +25.3% |
| TCL Zhonghuan Renewable Energy Technology 002129.SZ | China | $5.68B | +9% | +13% | -27% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Cirrus Logic CRUS | United States | $5.69B | -34% | +6% | 23% | 16.9× | 1.5% | +7.8% |
| Silicon Motion Technology Corporation Sponsored ADR SIMO | United States | $5.52B | -36% | +104% | 21% | 8.4× | n/a | n/a |
| Henan Shijia Photons Technology 688313.SS | China | $5.72B | -36% | +73% | 22% | 47.9× | n/a | n/a |
| SG Micro 3661.HK | Hong Kong | $5.78B | n/a | +54% | 17% | 38.7× | 3.4% | +25.8% |
| Sigmastar Technology 301536.SZ | China | $5.41B | +4% | +99% | 31% | n/a | 19.6% | +20.0% |
| GalaxyCore 688728.SS | China | $5.41B | +1% | +16% | 3% | 86.7× | 28.8% | +3.8% |
| Amlogic (Shanghai) 688099.SS | China | $5.84B | -13% | +39% | 17% | 22.4× | n/a | n/a |
| Beijing YanDong MicroElectronic 688172.SS | China | $5.86B | -26% | +22% | -89% | 63.3× | n/a | n/a |
| Hubei Feilihua Quartz Glass 300395.SZ | China | $5.35B | -38% | +50% | 24% | 52.7× | n/a | n/a |
| Hangzhou Silan Microelectronics 600460.SS | China | $5.93B | -18% | +12% | 2% | 41.1× | n/a | n/a |
| Impinj PI | United States | $5.28B | +12% | +8% | -1% | 62.6× | 47.2% | +21.1% |
| Allegro MicroSystems ALGM | United States | $5.25B | -42% | +28% | 9% | 22.1× | 45.3% | +8.5% |
| Yangzhou Yangjie Electronic Technology 300373.SZ | China | $5.99B | -3% | +29% | 18% | 22.4× | 18.1% | +22.3% |
| Shanghai Biren Technology 6082.HK | Hong Kong | $6.03B | -67% | +542% | -47% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Shanghai Iluvatar CoreX Semiconductor 9903.HK | Hong Kong | $6.06B | -6% | +158% | -65% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Win Semiconductors 3105.TWO | Taiwan | $5.19B | -27% | +24% | 11% | 28.5× | 48.8% | -8.2% |
| Dosilicon 688110.SS | China | $5.13B | -7% | +375% | 54% | 27.4× | 23.6% | +3.3% |
| EverProX Technologies 300548.SZ | China | $5.04B | -59% | +64% | 35% | 33.5× | 30.9% | +26.6% |
| Zhejiang Quartz Crystal Optoelectronic Technology 002273.SZ | China | $5.03B | -28% | +19% | 18% | 24.9× | 16.9% | +16.5% |