...Welcome to Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation's second quarter 2024 webcast conference call. Today's call will be simultaneously streamed through the internet and telephone. Please be advised that if you join the meeting by phone, your dial-ins are in listen only mode. However, after the conclusion of the management presentation, we will have a question and answer session. At that time, you will receive instructions on how to participate. Without further ado, I would like to introduce Miss Guo Guangli, Senior Vice President and Board Secretary, to host the meeting.
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Greetings! Welcome to SMIC's second quarter 2024 webcast conference call. Attending today's call are Dr. Zhao Haijun, Co-Chief Executive Officer; Dr. Wu Junfeng, Senior Vice President and Person In Charge of Finance.
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Let me remind you that today's presentation may contain forward-looking statements that do not guarantee future performance, but represent the company's expectations and are subject to inherent risks and uncertainties.
Please refer to the forward-looking statements in our earnings announcement. Please note that today's earnings statement is presented in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards, IFRS, and all currency figures are in U.S. dollars unless otherwise stated.
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I will now hand the call to Dr. Wu Junfeng to introduce the company's financial status.
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First, I will report our unaudited results for the second quarter and the first half of 2024, followed by our guidance for the third quarter.
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The second quarter results are as follows: revenue was $1,901 million, up 8.6% sequentially. Gross margin was 13.9%, up 0.2 percentage points sequentially. Profit from operations was $87 million. EBITDA was $1,056 million. EBITDA margin was 55.5%. Profit attributable to the company was $165 million.
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Moving to the balance sheet. At the end of the second quarter, the company had total assets of $47.4 billion, of which total cash on hand was $13 billion. Total liability was $16.4 billion, of which total debt was $10.4 billion. Total equity was $31 billion. Debt to equity was 33.7%, and net debt to equity was -8.2%.
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In terms of cash flow, in the second quarter, we generated $19 million cash from operating activities. Net cash used in investing activities was $1,638 million. Net cash from financing activities was $46 million.
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The company's unaudited results for the first half of 2024 are as follows: revenue was $3,651 million, up 20.8% year-over-year. Gross margin was 13.8%, down 6.8 percentage points year-over-year. Profit from operations was $90 million. EBITDA was $1,943 million. EBITDA margin was 53.2%. Profit attributable to the company was $236 million.
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For the third quarter 2024, our guidance is as follows: revenue is expected to grow 13%-15% sequentially, and gross margin is expected to be in the range of 18%-20%.
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This concludes the financial status. Thank you.
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Thank you, Dr. Wu. Next, I will hand the call to Dr. Zhao Haijun to comment on operations.
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Good morning. Thank you for attending SMIC's second quarter 2024 earnings webcast conference call.
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In the second quarter, from the perspective of demand, with the gradual recovery of mid and low end consumer electronics, all the links in the industrial chain, from fabless to end user companies, have been more willing to restock and build up inventory than three months ago in order to seize the opportunity to gain more market share. At the same time, due to the disruption and changes in the supply chain brought by the geopolitics, some customers got the opportunity to penetrate into the industrial chain, therefore bringing incremental demand to the company. In response to the changing markets, customers' rapid requests for inventory adjustments were usually delivered to the company through rush orders and product pull-in. In terms of supply, the company has seen a recovery in 8-inch utilization rates, while the 12-inch capacity has been nearly fully loaded for the past few quarters. In the first half of this year, a certain amount of new effective capacity was released and quickly put into production. As a result, the company's overall utilization rate increased by 4 percentage points to 85%. Combining the above factors, the company's revenue and growth margin both beat guidance in the second quarter. Revenue increased by 9% sequentially to $1.9 billion, of which 8-inch equivalent wafer shipments increased by 18% sequentially to more than $2.11 million, and landed ASP declined by 8% sequentially due to the changes in product mix.
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In terms of region, revenue from China, America, and Eurasia accounted for 80%, 16%, and 4% respectively. Due to the geopolitical considerations and response to the demand of Chinese market, some overseas customers needed to build up inventory so as to stabilize their market share and hedge against the market risks. They pulled in some products from second half to the first half, thus there was an increase in the proportion of overseas revenue in the second quarter. By service type, wafer revenue accounted for 93%, and other revenue accounted for 7%. Wafer revenue by application: smartphone, computer and tablet, consumer electronics, connectivity and IoT, industrial and automotive accounted for 32%, 13%, 36%, 11%, and 8% respectively.
By size, demand for 8-inch picked up, and wafer revenue contribution from that accounted for 26%, up by 2 percentage points sequentially, while wafer revenue from 12-inch accounted for 74%.
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In terms of product platforms, the growth driver in the second quarter primarily came from platforms widely used in the consumer electronics and smartphone. Let's take some examples. BCD platform, including PMIC, switch regulators, LED drivers, et cetera. Its revenue increased more than 20% sequentially. RFCMOS platform, including Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, receiver, transceiver, et cetera. Its revenue increased nearly 30% sequentially.
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According to the unaudited results for the first quarter and second quarter, the company's revenue for the first half of this year increased by 21% to $3.65 billion, compared to the same period of last year, and the capital expenditures totaled nearly $4.5 billion. By the end of the second quarter, the company's monthly capacity was 837,000 eight-inch equivalent wafers.
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In the third quarter, the company's guidance is: revenue is expected to grow 13%-15% sequentially. Gross margin is expected to be in the range of 18%-20%. The main reasons are, firstly, due to the geopolitical impact, demand for localization accelerates, which leads to capacity for chipsets in the main markets being in short supply. Capacity is particularly tight in certain 12-inch nodes, and price is trending upwards. Secondly, the newly expanded capacity this year is all 12-inch capacity, which is relatively high value added. The fully utilized incremental capacity will generate revenue and optimize product mix. Combining the above reasons, the company's blended ASP in the third quarter is expected to increase sequentially, which drives the sequential increase in gross margin.
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Generally, the fourth quarter follows traditionally seasonal pattern. We are now taking a cautiously optimistic view, and there is still some uncertainty with this fourth quarter. According to the unaudited results for the first half of this year and guidance for the third quarter, the overall landscape for this year is more or less defined. Based on the premise that there is no significant changes in the external environment, the company's goal is to achieve annual growth in its revenue at a rate that shall exceed the industry average rate in the same market, and it is expected that the revenue to be recorded in the second half of this year will exceed that record in the first half. In terms of capacity expansion, the overall capacity is expected to increase around 60,000 12-inch wafers per month by the end of this year, compared to that of last year.
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Since the start of this year, both the macro environment and market have seen new influencing variables, transmitting to changes in demand in all areas of the industry chain compared to the beginning of the year. Facing the complex external environment, the company will continue to dedicate in wafer manufacturing, meet customer needs, and balance short-term operating objectives, while focusing on the company's long-term development. We will create vision-based strategic plans, hold to being the leader in local technology capabilities, and embrace headwinds and opportunities.
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Finally, I would like to thank all employees, customers, suppliers, investors and community for their attention, trust, and support to the company. Thank you.
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Thank you, Dr. Zhao. Next is our Q&A session. Questions will be answered by Dr. Zhao and Dr. Wu. Chinese questions will be answered in Chinese. English questions will be answered in English. Please limit your questions to two per person. I will now like to open up the call for Q&A. Operator, please assist.
Thank you. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one, one. One moment for the first question. The first question comes from the line of Leping Huang from Huatai Securities. Please go ahead.
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Thank you for the questions. One moment for the next question. Next question comes from the line of Zhang Xiaofei of Haitong Securities. Please go ahead.
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Thank you for the questions. One moment for the next question. Next question comes from the line of Hu Jian from Guosen Securities. Please go ahead.
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Thank you for the questions. Our next question comes from the line of Wang Ziyuan from CITIC Securities. Please go ahead.
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Thank you for the question. I'd now like to hand the call back to Miss Guo Guangli for closing remarks.
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Thank you for participating in today's conference call. Thank you for your trust and support.
[Foreign language] This concludes SMIC second quarter webcast conference call. We thank you for joining us today.