Welcome to Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation's first quarter 2025 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's presentation, we will have a question-and-answer session, at which time you'll receive instructions on how to participate. [Non-English content] Without further ado, I'd like to introduce Ms. Guo Guangli, Senior Vice President and Board Secretary, to host the we bcast.
[Non-English content] Greetings, welcome to SMIC's first quarter 2025 webcast conference call. Attending today's call are Dr. Haijun Zhao , Co-Chief Executive Officer, and Dr. Junfeng Wu , Senior Vice President and Person in Charge of Finance.
[Non-English content] 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 statement 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 US dollars unless otherwise stated.
[Non-English content] I will now ha nd the call to Dr. Junfeng Wu to introduce the company's financial status.
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First, I will report our audited results for the first quarter of 2025, followed by our guidance for the second quarter of 2025.
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The first quarter results are as follows. Revenue was $2,247 million, up 1.8% sequentially. Gross margin was 22.5%, down 0.1 percentage points sequentially. Profit from operations was $310 million. EBITDA was $1,292 million, EBITDA margin was 57.5%. Profit attributable to the company was $188 million.
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Moving to the balance sheet, at the end of the first quarter, the company had total assets of $48 billion, of which total cash on hand was $12.7 billion. Total liabilities were $15.7 billion, of which total debt was $11.3 billion. Total equity was $32.2 billion. Debt to equity ratio was 34.9%, and net debt to equity ratio was negative 4.5%.
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In terms of cash flow, in the first quarter, net cash used in operating activities was $160 million. Net cash used in investing activities was $1,328 million. Net cash used in financing activities was $354 million.
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For the second quarter 2025, our guidance are as follows: Revenue is expected to decrease by 4% to 6% sequentially, and gross margin is expected to be in the range of 18% to 20%.
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This concludes the financial status. Next, let me recap the relevant matters related to the company's 2024 annual report. According to the relevant regulations of Shanghai Stock Exchange, when a listed company has made profits during the annual reporting period and its accumulated undistributed profits are positive but no cash dividends are distributed, the company should provide a key explanation on matters related to the cash dividend plan in the earnings webcast after the disclosure of the ann ual report and before the record date of the annual general meeting.
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The technical capability, production capacity, revenue scale, and market share are important indicators for foundry in IC markets to measure its company competitiveness and market position. The company is currently in an important period of capacity construction rollout and continuously increasing market share. Both capacity construction, research, and development activities still require continuous capital expenditures. Therefore, currently, the company's free cash flow, the operating cash flow deducted by the capital expenditure, is still negative. In 2025, the company's capital expenditure is expected to be roughly flat compared to that of previous year. Under this investment plan, the company currently still needs to prioritize allocating funds to its core business, including capacity expansion and R&D activities. This arrangement helps to continuously enhance the company's core competitiveness and corporate value.
Ensure the company to continuously maintain its leading position in fierce market competition, and protect investor interests with a maximum degree. Thus, the company plans not to do profit distribution for the year 2024. This arrangement is more in line with the company's long-term development needs and the long-term interests of shareholders, and in accordance with relevant laws and regulations, regulatory documents, and the company's profit distribution policy as well. There are no circumstances that harm the interests of the company and its shareholders. The plan has been reviewed and approved by the board of directors and published in the annual report, and will be submitted for approval at the annual general meeting. We would like to thank our shar eholders for their underst anding and support.
[Non-English content] Thank you, Dr. Wu. Next, I will hand the call to Dr. Haijun Zhao to comment on operations.
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Hello everyone, thank you for attending SMIC's first quarter 2025 earnings call.
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In the first quarter, the company realized revenue of $2,247 million, a sequential increase of 1.8%. By service type, revenue is categorized into wafer revenue and other revenue, which accounted for 95.2% and 4.8% respectively. The wafer revenue amount increased by close to 5% sequentially, of which wafer revenue from 8-inch and 12-inch increased by 18% and 2% sequentially. This growth was primarily attributable to customer shipment pull-in brought by the changes in geopolitics, the demand rise in commodity products driven by policies such as domestic trading programs and consumption subsidies, and the bottom-out and restocking in the field of industrial and automotive. Thus, the company's overall shipments increased by 15% sequentially to 2,292,000 standard logic 8-inch equivalent wafers. Ho wever, due to the fab production fluctuations, the blended ASP for the latter half of first quarter decreased.
The quarterly revenue didn't meet the original guidance. This impact is expected to extend into the second quarter.
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In terms of revenue by region, China, America, and New Asia accounted for 84%, 13%, and 3% respectively. The revenue amount from China remained stable. The revenue amount from overseas increased sequentially, mai nly due to the aforementioned three factors: wafer revenue by application, the revenue from smartphone, computer and tablets, consumer electronics, connectivity, and IoT remained relatively stable, which accounted for 24%, 17%, 41%, and 8% respectively. The revenue amount from industrial and automotive increased by more than 20% sequentially, and its revenue contribution increased from 8% to 10%. Benefited from major customers' achievements in automotive fields, the company's increased investment and key deployment on automotive electronics platforms over the past few years, and the company's close collaborations with industrial chains in areas such as BCD, CIS, MCU, and domain controllers.
The company's shipments of automotive-grade products have achieved steady growth. If you look into the financial reports from IC industry leaders across various sectors, you will find that these customers usually choose SMIC as their preferred partner for new products. New energy vehicle industry has developed a distinctive path in China, and our customers have achieved remarkable progress. Also, the company has seized these opportunities to drive the revenue growth in our automotive business segment.
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In terms of product platforms, the company has continued to promote process iterations and product upgrades while proactively responding to customer needs. Amid a broadly moderate market recovery, the demand from BCD, MCU, and specialty memory was strong. The overall revenue from these platforms increased around 20% sequentially. In the field of Hi-V CMOS, the small panel AMOLED display driver platforms applied in 40 nanometer and 28 nanometer were in short supply due to the limited capacity. Additionally, the company has collaborated with strategic customers and partners to pioneer the launch of 40 nanometer Hi-V RAM display driv er chip products with high added value and high cost performance. This platform has achieved mass production and been applied into end-use industr ies.
In the field of CIS and ISP, in order to better meet new product demands, the company has continuously expanded technology platforms and production capacity deployments to secure more orders.
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In the first quarter, the company's gross margin was 22.5%, remaining flat sequentially. The capacity utilization rate increased by 4.1 percentage points sequentially to 89.6%, among which the utilization rate of 12-inch remained stable, and the utilization rate of 8-inch increased to the average level at 12-inch. This roughly offsets the impact of declining blended ASP and rising depreciation on gross margin.
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In the second quarter, the revenue is expected to decrease 4% to 6% sequentially. The shipment unit is expected to be relatively stable, and the blended ASP is expected to decrease. The gross margin in the second quarter is expected to be in the range of 18% to 20%, one percentage point below the original guidance of the first quarter. The company has mitigated the impact of price fluctuation through cost reduction and efficiency improvement. However, the equipment depreciation in second quarter will continue to increase, and the gross margin guidance decreased comparing to the first quarter level.
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Although there are many new factors coming into the market currently, most factors are known as before. Therefore, there is no significant change in the fundamentals compared to the first quarter. Customers have responded calmly, and the company's capacity utilization rate continues to keep at a high level. We have observed positive signals that various industries have bottomed out, including industrial and automotive. The localization transformation of supply chain has been strengthened, and more manufacturing demand has shifted back domestically. The market is experiencing anxiety brought by tariff policy changes and others. Next, whether the tariff policy will hard land, whether market stimulus and the rush stocking will overdraw the future demand, whether the demand for commodity products will decline due to the pricing increase brought by the new tariffs, all these deserve to be closely paid attention to.
Our visibility on second half is not clear, especially from the latter half of third quarter to end of this year. We will give more comment in next earning call in August. The company believes that the second half of the year presents both opportunities and challenges. The problems encountered by the company are also issues that everyone has to face. The company will enh ance its adaptability and risk resilience capability. The company's top priority remains as strategic focus on its core business and near-term deliverables.
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Finally, I would like to thank all customers, suppliers, investors, and community for their understanding and strong support to the company. Thank you.
[Non-English content] 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 would now like to open up the call for Q&A. Operator, please assist.
[Non-English content] We will now begin the question and answer session. To ask a question, please press star one one on your telephone. To withdraw your question, please press star one one again. [Non-English content] Your first question comes from the line of Lep ing Huang of Huatai Securities. [Non-English content]
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[Non-English content] Your next question comes from Kuai Jian of Orient Securities. [Non-English content]
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[Non-English content] Your next question comes from Xiaofei Zhang of Guotai Junan Securities. [Non-English content]
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[Non-English content] Your next question comes from Ziyuan Wang of CITIC Securities. [Non-English content]
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[Non-English content] Thank you all for your questions. [Non-English content] I would now like to hand the call back to Ms. Guo Guangli for closing remarks.
[Non-English content] Thank you for participating in today's conference call. Thank you for your trust and support.
[Non-English content] This concludes SMIC's first quarter webcast conference call. We thank you for joining us today.