Welcome to AUO Corporation 2025 third quarter financial results conference. Before the meeting starts, all lines are being placed on mute. After the presentations and remarks by the management team, there will be a question- and-a nswers session. Now I'd like to turn it over to Ms. Julia Chao, AUO's IR Officer.
Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. I'm Julia from AUO's IR Department. On behalf of the company, I would like to welcome you to participate in our third quarter financial results conference. I'm joined by four executives: Paul Peng, Chairman and Group CEO; Frank Ko, President and Group COO; James Chen, Senior VP of Display Strategy Business Group; and CFO David Chang. The format of today's meeting is this: first of all, CFO will go over our 2025 third quarter financial results and provide you with our guidance for Q4.
Paul and Frank will each have an opening remark. We will proceed with questions and answers. For the first part of the Q&A session, we will address the questions that we collected previously from analysts. If there are still more questions, we'll open the line for you to post more questions. That was the agenda for today. Now, before I turn it over to David, please allow me to remind you that all forward-looking statements contain risks and uncertainties. Please also spend some time to read the safe operating notice on slide number two. David, please.
Hello, everyone. I'm David. I'd like to go over our Q3 results and the outlook for the fourth quarter. First, our net sales came in at TWD 69.9 billion, up by only 1% over the previous quarter, mainly due to the unfavorable impact of the New Taiwan Dollar appreciation by about 4.9% against the U.S. dollar during the quarter. The display unit was affected by the appreciation of the NTD and a decline in panel prices, resulting in a lukewarm seasonality, with revenue roughly flat compared to the previous quarter. Mobility solutions saw a revenue decrease of about 3% due to the appreciation of the NT dollar. Vertical solutions, following the consolidation of ALYNC Technology, saw a significant Q-O-Q revenue increase of 20%. In terms of the gross profit expenses, Q3's gross margin dropped to 9.6%, mainly due to the stronger NTD and the unfavorable TV panel prices. Q3's OPEX ratio rose to 12.2%.
Excluding the impact of the inclusion of ALYNC Technology this quarter, it is basically the same as the previous quarter. The company will continue to strictly control our OPEX, aiming for a short-term OPEX ratio of 11% to 12% and a mid-term target of 10%. Our OP margin dropped to - 2.6%, with an OP loss of 1.8 billion. Net loss was TWD 1.2 billion, with a loss per share of TWD 0.17. The cumulative EPS for the first three quarters was TWD 0.52. EBITDA was TWD 5.4 billion for the third quarter, with EBITDA margin dipping to 7.8%. Next, let's look at the balance sheet. Cash and cash equivalent was TWD 55.8 billion, up by TWD 1.5 billion over the previous quarter, which is a healthy level. I'll explain the cash flow statement in detail over the next page. Total short and long-term borrowings for Q3 amounted to TWD 117.2 billion.
The gearing ratio at the end of the quarter was 39.1%, roughly the same as the prior quarter. The overall financial structure remains rather healthy. Additionally, inventory was TWD 35.8 billion, and inventory turnover days were 52 days. Both figures were flat Q-O-Q and remained at healthy levels. Moving on to cash flow. Operating activities brought in about TWD 3.1 billion, with depreciation and amortization of about TWD 7.2 billion. Cash outflow from investing activities was TWD 1.2 billion. CAPEX was TWD 3.6 billion. Cash outflow from financing activities was TWD 1.7 billion, mainly due to the payment of TWD 2.3 billion in cash dividends. Next, revenue breakdown by pillar. Revenue from vertical solutions due to the consolidation of ALYNC Technology increased by 20% Q-O-Q. As a result, the contribution of vertical solutions rose by 2 percentage points to 17%. Meanwhile, revenue from display and mobility solutions both slightly declined by 1%, reaching 52% and 27%, respectively.
Next, I'll explain the company's outlook for the first quarter of the fourth quarter of 2025. For mobility solutions, based on the current order situation, revenue is expected to increase by mid to high single-digit percent Q-O-Q. For vertical solutions, as commercial display demand is entering the off-season, but with the help of new products and solutions, we anticipate its revenue to be roughly flat or slightly down compared to Q3. Finally, for the display segment, the market will enter the traditional off-season, and the revenue is expected to decrease compared to Q3, but the decline will be less than the same period last year. This concludes my presentation.
Thank you. Thank you, David. Now we will ask Paul to have an opening remark. Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. I'm Paul.
In Q3, our revenue was TWD 69.9 billion, up by 1% Q-O-Q, while down by 10% Y-O-Y due to continued New Taiwan Dollar appreciation, up by 5% Q-O-Q. Our revenue and profit both took a hit. Our gross margin in Q3 was down compared to the prior quarter, and we dipped into the red at the operating margin level at 2.6%. We have shared with you before that every 1% rise in New Taiwan Dollar generally translates to 0.4% to- 0.5% impact on our margin. However, without Forex impact, we would have broken even for this quarter. Despite the loss for the quarter, our net profit attributable to the parent company for the past three quarters amounted to TWD 4 billion. EPS was TWD 0.52 for the first three quarters accumulatively. We continue to improve our product mix and have a stringent control of our OPEX.
Inventory turnover days were 52 days, and gearing ratio was 39.1% for Q3, which were relatively healthy. Recently, U.S.-China trade contentions remained very volatile, with uncertainties for geopolitics situation. As we have shared with you, panels are parts and components, so the increased tariffs would have limited impact on our operations. We continue to diversify our production across the world for automotive segments, and the fact that Mexico is under the USMCA framework, tariff policy changes would have a limited impact on us. However, what we have to be more concerned about is that whether tariffs would cause the. End market demand to trend downward, and as the demand weakens, that would pose the biggest challenge to our future operations. This is something that we need to observe very closely.
We have been inching toward higher-end and more value-added products and solutions, and we continue to diversify our customer base around the world. This has been having a positive contribution to our revenue, and it will also help us to mitigate the impact of tariffs. Moreover, we continue to expand our footprint across mainland China, Taiwan, Southeast Asia, India, Europe, North America, and Mexico. This will allow us to dynamically adjust our capacity allocation based on our customer needs and the changes in the tariff policies. However, we do not discount the possibility to work with our supply chain partners and to manufacture products at areas that are more favorable in terms of tariffs.
In light of the uncertainties on the market, we will continue to control our OPEX and our CAPEX so as to lower our costs continuously, with the goal to maintain our cash positions for adapting to market changes. Here, I would like to share with you a great piece of news. In September, Garmin launched the world's first micro-LED smartwatch featuring our micro-LED panel. With excellent image quality, high brightness, readability under sunlight, and energy efficiency, the watch perfectly meets both professional and leisure needs. Upon the launch, it received an enthusiastic response and is currently in short supply. This also confirms AUO Corporation's leading position in the micro-LED space. This year at CES, together with Sony Honda Mobility, we showcased the micro-LED media bar solution, which is currently under validation and is expected to launch in the second half of next year.
We will continue to advance large-size micro-LED displays and transparent applications, maintaining our leadership in technology and mass production capabilities, and jointly launching differentiated products with our customers. Next, I would like to share with you our view on our display business in Q3. Unlike the previous years, seasonality has had a different pattern, with seasonality that is more lukewarm than before. With unfavorable Forex and ASP, demand has been less than satisfactory. In Q4, which will be a traditional off-season, we are actively monitoring rush orders from our customers and dealing with their restocking demand. However, the seasonality for the second half of the year has been less strong than before. Looking into 2026, there are several points that I would like to share with you, and these are things that we should feel more excited about.
First of all, the replacement cycle triggered by device upgrades during the pandemic continues to unfold. TV sales are expected to be driven by upcoming sports events such as Winter Olympics and the World Cup. Laptops continue to benefit from the end of life of Windows 10, as well as growing demand for AI PCs and gaming models. AUO's display unit continues to pursue a high-value product mix, enhance profitability, and generate stable cash flow. Rather than chasing capacity growth and revenue growth, we focus more on profit growth. The low-generation production lines will gradually be phased out or revitalized as assets. In November last year, our board of directors approved the incorporation of BHTC and Mobility Solutions into the new fully owned subsidiary AUO Mobility Solutions Corporation, which will officially begin operations on January 1st, 2026.
Over the past year or so, extensive efforts have been made in incorporating the two entities' legal compliance, finance, IT systems, and personnel communication, as well as transfer planning at the factory sites. The integration of both teams' functions will allow Mobility Solutions to operate as one AUO Mobility Solutions Corporation in the future, which is expected to gradually demonstrate the synergy of integration. AUO Mobility Solutions Corporation will officially make its debut at CES 2026. Please stay tuned. We are sure that you will be amazed. Next, I will turn over to Frank, who will be going over the recent updates of the other two pillars, Mobility Solutions and Vertical Solutions.
Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. I'm Frank. Paul has gone over our view for display prospects in 2026, as well as the recent updates with micro-LED. He also talked about the fact that we are going to launch the new entity AMSC , which will incorporate our Mobility Solutions business, and the new entity will officially operate since January 1st, 2026. I will share more with you the updates with regard to Mobility Solutions and Vertical Solutions businesses. First of all, on Mobility Solutions in Q3, its revenue dipped by 3% Q-O-Q. However, the performance was better than anticipation, as we shared with you in Q2. Aside from the Forex impact, we have observed that in Q3, some customers have regained their momentum. Dwindling concerns for tariff policies. Today, our Board of Directors passed a new CAPEX plan for BHTC's Mexico facility to launch a new production line, which will go into mass production in 2027.
Like the phase III capacity expansion in the Bulgaria facility that we shared with you last quarter, this capacity expansion at the Mexico facility came as a result of our increased project awards from customers over our cooperation with them for some time now. As a result, we've decided to build a whole new facility at the existing Mexico plant to supply and meet the demand for our North American customers for display HMIs. This new facility will help us to deal with the tariffs challenges under USMCA. This also underscores our decision to merge with BHTC. That will bring us to be closer to our customers and improve our globalization. As the new capacity comes online, we believe we will be able to support the double-digit CAGR growth objective of the Mobility Solutions segment. Additionally, as Paul shared with you, AMSC will become fully operational on January 1st, 2026.
For AMSC, we are incorporating BHTC Mobility Solutions business. AMSC will operate as an entity spanning from product development, customer service, sales, and procurement. In terms of synergy, we believe that this will help us to maximize our synergy. Prior to the acquisition of BHTC, either AUO's Mobility Solutions business or BHTC would have an operating margin of low single-digit percentage. However, since the merger in 2024, synergy has been unfolding. This year, the Mobility Solutions business operating margin has improved to mid-single-digit percentage. In the future, with the fully operational capabilities of AMSC, we believe that the efficiency will further improve, helping to boost the profitability of the Mobility Solutions business. According to the current projects and orders that we have had and the delivery timeline, Mobility Solutions revenue will likely be up by mid-single-digit percentage, mid to high single-digit percentage points in Q4. For 2026, in U.S.
dollar terms, we are anticipating to achieve double-digit CAGR growth in revenue. This is about Mobility Solutions. Now, about Vertical Solutions. In Q3, Vertical Solutions revenue increased by 20% Q-O-Q, which was in line with our anticipation. We have announced that we are building a large-size EPD module production line in our local fab. This line has passed qualification by critical customers and is slated for mass production by the end of this year. All the efforts and activities have been proceeding as we plan. We have a good piece of news to share with you. We are incorporating ALYNC, which will help 32.8% into our consolidated statement. ALYNC has been a leading firm in industrial computer, edge computing, and edge AI. As the adoption for AI applications increases, the consolidation of ALYNC would complement our Vertical Solutions business.
Currently, other than the existing collaboration with ALYNC in the fields of smart healthcare and smart mobility, we are also expanding and accelerating business opportunities in the areas of smart retail, factory automation, and entertainment, as well as other fields. The latest progress that we've made includes that in the end of September, ADP and ALYNC jointly exhibited at the Global Gaming Expo at Las Vegas in the U.S., showcasing ADP's large-size, high-contrast ratio, highly integrated touch curve panels featuring ALYNC's interactive and gaming capabilities. That product has gained very avid responses from the industry. The collaboration and the alliances with ALYNC have increased the exposure of AUO at the entertainment ecosystem, deepening our dialogues with end customers, as well as accelerating our collaboration with customers in the areas of product design and technology exchanges. All of these activities will help us to garner more orders going forward.
These efforts will likely bring in new revenue contributions in the first half, rather, in 2026, with enhanced contributions in 2027 and 2028. In the future, ADP and ALYNC will continue to collaborate on many areas, including business models, sales, product development, product mix, and more. The two companies will work closely in developing field-edge AI solutions using smart displays as the best platforms. This will help us deepen the influence of AUO as the entire company. Looking ahead into the fourth quarter, as industrial and commercial applications enter into a slower season, with the help of new products in the areas of smart solutions, green solutions, and energy-saving solutions, Vertical Solutions business will likely report revenue that is flat to down slightly Q-O-Q in Q4. As for 2026, across the industry, applications are likely to see stronger demand, especially with new products coming online from AUO, including large-size.
Paper cover, e-paper, and integrated display solutions, as well as software and hardware-integrated field solutions. We are anticipating continued revenue growth for the Vertical Solutions business. This is my view on Mobility Solutions and Vertical Solutions.
Thank you, Paul and Frank. Now we will address the questions that we collected from analysts before the meeting. The first question is related to financial operations. Under the current economic conditions, what is AUO's guidance on CAPEX and D&A for 2025 and 2026? Are you anticipating a significant decrease in CAPEX? David, would you please?
In terms of our CAPEX, as we guided last quarter at the investor conference, we are anticipating the amount to be no more than TWD 28 billion. This will include Frank's statement on the CAPEX for the capacity expansion at our Mexico site. As for depreciation and amortization, we are still maintaining our estimate of TWD 30 billion.
As for our CAPEX in 2026, in light of our strategic transformation, we will gear more investments into mobility and vertical solutions businesses, as well as the mass production related requirements for micro- LED. We will continue to deepen our transformation toward an asset-light business model. Moreover, we do not have any plans to expand our front-end capacity for panel production. Therefore, we are expecting that our 2026 CAPEX to be significantly lower from this year.
The next questions are related to market and panel-related, display-related questions. First up, what are the global and market demand and channel inventory conditions for TVs, monitors, and notebooks in Q3? What is the outlook for Q4, and is there stronger demand for higher-end IT products? James, would you please?
Good afternoon. I'm James. I would like to provide you with an update on the market status. In Q3, despite Amazon Prime Day, Black Friday in July, and back-to-school promotions, due to economic conditions, TV set products experienced a decline of 3% Y-O-Y. However, the performance in the U.S. market was relatively flat Y-O-Y. In mainland China, due to the higher base period caused by the trading program a year before, sales through was down by more than 10% Y-O-Y. The two markets, while in flat or relatively stable status, still experienced very robust growth for large-size TV sets, especially models that are 85-inch, with the U.S. growing by nearly 30% Y-O-Y for the 85-inch segment. Mainland China growing by more than 20% between Q1 and Q3. As a result, average size grew by nearly 1 inch. Despite a relatively flat growth in the volume, area demand continued to grow by 3%- 5% for the IT segment.
As Paul has just shared, due to the replacement cycle, brands are promoting their products during Black Friday in July and back-to-school festivals, leading to 7% growth Q-O-Q and high single-digit % growth Y-O-Y. This shows that the replacement cycle and demand is unfolding. We are expecting that the replacement effect will continue to expand.
Also related to display, what is the company's view on the supply and demand of the panel industry in 2026? James, would you please?
As I just talked about previously, the market is not generating new capacity. While growth is slowing down across the industry, size migration remains very robust, leading to 3% - 5% growth for area demand on an annual basis. We believe that supply and demand will likely become healthier going forward. Currently, the industry is making products based on customer demand, and industry players are not adjusting their prices very drastically.
As a result, supply and demand across the industry will likely become healthier as we go into 2026. Moreover, in the beginning of the year 2026, there will be major sports events, including Winter Olympics, and in the middle of the year, there will be the FIFA World Cup, which will likely help boost demand, leading to a more positive outlook for next year.
Thank you, James. Next, we will open the line for you to post more questions. In order to ensure equal opportunity for each participant, please be reminded to limit the number of your questions to three per call, and please say them all in one go. Thank you.
We now start the Q&A session. If you wish to post questions, please press the star sign and the number one on your telephone keypad. Please start to speak after we announce your name. If you wish to cancel a question, please press the star sign and the number two. The first question comes from Diana Chen from UBS. Please go ahead.
Thank you. I'm Diana from UBS. Thank you for taking my questions. I have two questions. First up, within your mobility and vertical solutions, considering the economic conditions, challenges, and uncertainties, in particular with the mobility solutions, are you having any specific focus on specific products? With the new production line coming up from your Mexico facility, how much revenue do you expect the facility to contribute? As your vertical solutions merged, ALYNC, you also talked about some new progress made in new areas. Are you expecting any applications to post stronger growth momentum?
My second question is relating to FINALPOP, which is an area that has garnered avid market attention, especially from packaging providers, and some of your peer panel makers are striving to go into mass production in the second half of this year. What is your view on the relevant status in the market, and what is your view on the potential of this kind of technology and the overall progress of the industry?
Diana I'm Frank, I would like to address your questions. The first question that you have is about the mobility solutions segment's growth momentum and the sources of growth. As AUO develops our automotive products, we have observed that the entire automotive industry is undergoing a transformation toward EV and autonomous vehicles. They are hoping to strengthen their capabilities with cockpits.
We are leveraging our foundation built upon our existing technology over the past decade, and we are also meeting the expectations from Tier 1 customers and automotive OEMs. We decided to develop smart cockpit solutions starting from the past three or four years, thus leading to the acquisition of BHTC. The merger with BHTC will help us to further enrich our product line in display HMI and also allow us to extend our presence from providing only panels to providing systems to elevate our value. As a result, our mobility solutions business will benefit from two growth sources. First of all, automotive displays 5%- 7% CAGR growth in terms of volume over the next few years. Secondly, we are leveraging our display HMI and smart cockpit product lines to add value to our products.
This is why we are anticipating double-digit CAGR growth in our revenue in the next few years. That was about our products. With the establishment of AMSC, we will be able to further integrate AUO's display capacity and BHTC's capabilities in climate control, mechanical control, and integrated control. This will also allow us to build software-defined vehicles to provide software-defined vehicle SDV-ready solution provider. We will have relevant products exhibited at CES in 2026. Actually, in 2025, we exhibited a concept car, which presented the preliminary form of the SDV vehicle, and we will be able to further showcase relevant products in 2026. As for the capacity contribution of the new facilities, the reason that we are expanding our capacity in Bulgaria and Mexico is that we want to meet the local demands from European and American automotive OEMs.
The new capacity will allow us to enhance our service to the customers in those markets. As for the vertical solutions business, vertical solution is incorporated under ADP. ADP is able to provide a wide array of applications and a wide array of brands to provide integrated services to the customers in these fields, including in the retail, education, enterprise, and healthcare space. ADP is able to leverage industrial and commercial displays to provide field applications and solutions. With ALYNC incorporated under AUO's umbrella, we are expected to further enhance our HAI capability on top of our premium display competence. Going forward, retail will likely be an important source of growth for the vertical solution business. This will incorporate E-LYNX capability in EPD modules and the ECOPOST.
Besides POST plus advertising capabilities, there will be new production lines, or rather product lines, that will help generate new sources of momentum of growth for AUO as a whole. As for X-ray-based medical displays, we are already in the leading rank around the world, and we are seeing fast growth and continuous growth over the past two years. Today, we are also leveraging robotic arms in the enhancement of our surgical solutions, and we are meeting the requirements of Japanese customers as well as customers in Taiwan and Southeast Asia. As for TFT-based X-ray sensing, we are seeing growth over the past two quarters. ADP today, it has already extended its footprint from panel business to professional and special purpose solution businesses.
It is working well with ALYNC to extend its footprint into the gaming sector, including the entertainment and gaming sectors, which are enjoying stronger growth momentum post the pandemic. There are also new products coming from AUO that we will focus more on going forward. ADP has been progressing nicely in the areas of medical and retail, and these will be the two very important sectors that ADP will be working with ALYNC to provide more growth momentum for the display business. You also talked about AI. I think this has been a very hot topic in the IT industry around the world. As a panel maker, AUO has, of course, assessed and explored opportunities and our relevance in the fields of AI applications from edge computing to products and also AI servers. We are assessing our roles and our opportunities that we can capture.
In terms of applications, especially edge computing, we have been a strong player in the AI PC category. I'm very happy to report to you that this year, we have successfully developed a super power-saving LTPS panel that has broken a very critical technological barrier, allowing us to develop an LTPS panel featuring 1 Hz refresh rate, which is a very low refresh rate. This model is the very first one and the only one in the world that is able to deliver a refresh rate at 1 Hz. It will allow us to further lower the power consumption of AI PCs. As you know, power efficiency is a critical, the most critical requirement of AI PC, edge, and servers currently. Every component used in these kinds of devices would have to deliver even higher power efficiency. Power efficiency happens to be the strength of AUO.
We will be able to apply this new panel in our mainstream product line next year and to deliver new iterations and new products. In terms of new applications, aside from notebooks, AR glasses would also become a high-potential application for AI. On this front, we are working with our partners to leverage our expertise in glass process and optical materials. We have developed a four-color wave guide, which can combine with different light sources, including micro- LED. It can be applied in AR glasses, and it's very lightweight, transparent, and thin. We have demonstrated this product at this year's FID and it has garnered avid attention from the industry. Currently, we are having some very close and active discussions with our customers. As for the collaboration between ADP and ALYNC on display applications, we are leveraging micro- LED applications on edge AI solutions.
By the way, ADP has set up a new AI department and is developing solutions. These solutions would include retail and gaming applications. You also talked about advanced packaging and optical communications. At AUO, we are categorizing them as in the AI server segment. Aside from FINALPOP, we are focusing more on advanced packaging, optical communications, and silicon photonics, aiming to capitalize on our tech advantages as a group. In terms of micro- LED, we worked with InnoStar to extend our capacity from micro- LED into the fields of silicon photonics and optical communications last year. We also joined the Silicon Photonics Alliance. This underscores our efforts to expand from the panel industry into semiconductor and to play out our advantages as an entire group. AUO is responsible for optical design, simulation, and mass transfer.
We are also working on optical coupling, assembling, to the development of module and system-level developments. If there are further developments that we make, we will share with you.
The next question comes from Karen Huang from Citi. Please go ahead.
Good afternoon. I'm Karen from Citi. I have two questions. Thank you for taking my questions. The first question is more short-term related. Could you provide more color on whether you have new customers and new project awards for your mobility solutions business, and what are the benefits that you are expecting from the new facilities? The second question is more long-term oriented. Over the past two years, you have achieved results from your biaxial transformation. You are lowering your panel business ratio continuously. You shared with us previously that your goal is to bring down the revenue share of your panel business to below 50% by 2027.
Could you share with the progress so far? Are you convinced that you will be able to deliver on your goals by 2027? Do you think that the performance of your non-panel business has been better than previously?
Thank you, Karen, for your questions. I'm Frank. On your first question relating to the automotive business, simply put, the decision to expand the capacity in Mexico is because of the results that we have garnered from new projects. Currently, due to the acquisition of BHTC , we are able to expand our capacity overseas and secure our positioning in the global market as well as creating synergies. These efforts have been recognized by our automotive OEM customers, therefore leading to new orders and project awards.
Besides the U.S., we have shared with you previously that in the first half of this year, we have new project awards from a leading brand. We have also been making new progress in the second half of this year. We are making steady progress in Southeast Asia, India, and China. We continue to deepen our presence in mainland China, delivering more than double-digit growth every year. Generally speaking, our order streams have been very steady and distributed quite evenly.
Hi, Karen. This is Paul. On your second question, last year, we started to break down our operations into three pillars. The goal is to make our vertical solutions and mobility solutions account for more than half of revenue by 2027. Currently, based on our Q3 results, these two segments have accounted for more than 44% of the total revenue, showing that we are making progress steadily.
For the display segment, we will continue to strengthen technological development. For high-end products in the display segment, such as TV or notebook, we also have gaming monitors and IPC that feature robust power efficiency, and we also have displays that are very integrated. For these products, we will continue to increase their proportion. Moreover, in the area of micro- LED, we are investing more heavily. In addition to wearables, we are also applying micro- LED in transparent displays, automotive, commercial applications. In summary, what we are working on is to capitalize on our display technology expertise and to turn ourselves from a company that offers pure consumer use displays into more and a wider variety of products. Going forward, our consumer-type displays will account for less than 50% of our revenue.
At the same time, we will be leveraging our display technology and products to support the growth of the other two pillars so as to spur the growth of our overall revenue.
This call comes fr om Betty Wong from Yuanta Securities. Please go ahead.
Good afternoon. Thank you for taking my questions. My first question is on your micro- LED watch. What is your technological positioning for this product? Are you getting more customer requests after the launch of this product? The second question that I have is on large-size e-paper capacity. With the collaboration with e-Ink, could you share with us your progress made with the capacity and the shipments of your products in the e-paper space? Are they having any relevance with the large-size signage orders for e-Ink?
Thank you for the questions, Betty. For micro- LED, yes, indeed, in the beginning of September, our customer launched a new wearable product, and after that launch, we have been receiving heavy attention from other customers because that watch has been receiving very, very good attention from customers and consumers. We are getting more requests. We have entered into some more meaningful discussions with customers. Aside from wearables, we also have automotive and transparent displays that are undergoing development or validation with our customers. The most specific or visible one is the collaboration with Sony Honda Mobility, which will have its new product featuring our micro- LED media bar solution that will go into market in the second half of next year. We are expanding our presence in the micro- LED space based on our development and technological breakthroughs over the past 10 years or so.
We have been developing technologies that are advanced and rather mature at the moment, and we are getting recognition from our customers with a very complete ecosystem. We are expecting applications and adoption to continue to expand. We have been preparing for this technology for a very long time. We are anticipating the capability to maintain our leading position in the market.
Betty I'm Frank, I would like to answer your second question on ADP and e-Ink's strategic alliance and strategic focuses. The strategic alliance between ADP and e-Ink is mainly focused on large-size full-color e-paper module production capacity for e-Ink. As their e-paper technology transitions from black and white into color and transitions from small size to large size, they need the support of a partner that is able to deliver large-size modules and with a sound application track record.
Especially ADP is that partner with a wide array and sound track record in the area of commercial and industrial applications, also with a strong lineup of customers. The two companies are starting with collaboration on manufacturing, and the new fab will enter into mass production in Q4 this year. Currently, there are common customers between ADP and e-Ink that are having qualifications going on at the production line. For ADP next year, in the areas of retail, smart buildings, and other products that will be complemented with e-paper production product lines. For e-Ink, it now has a partner that is really reliable. This is the reason why we want to enter into collaboration with e-Ink in the first place. It happens that in the past two days, there are media reports about a Japanese customer that introduced full-color e-paper signages, which applies ADP's Echo Post featuring e-Ink's e-paper technology.
With that as a start. We will be working with e-Ink that spans from new e-paper products, new sizes, new applications into further presence in more application fields.
Ladies and gentlemen, we will now take one last question. Thank you. The next caller is Vivi Huang from Morgan Stanley.
Thank you for the management team for taking my questions. I'm Vivi from Morgan Stanley. I have three questions. Firstly, could you provide some color on the industry's loading rates in Q3 and Q4? Second, for your mid and long-term normalized GP, OP margin and ROE targets, could you provide us with some guidance? Also, the third question is on automotive applications. Given the fierce competition in the automotive market in China, what is your position in China? What is your strategy going forward? How are you coping with competition?
Thank you. Hi, Vivi. I'm James. I would like to address your first question. In Q3 and Q4, the loading rates in the panel industry, I think currently in, rather, in Q3, the industry's loading rates were around 82%- 83%. In Q4, with the slower seasonality setting in, particularly with capacity adjustments during the October 1st golden week in China, the loading rates may go down. Today, the industry has become more rational in the way that panel makers are adjusting their production strategy based on customer needs. The industry's operations are increasingly healthy.
Hi, Vivi. I would like to address your second question. On our long-term profitability, under our transformation strategy, under the three-pillar framework, we will work on improving the revenue contributions of the vertical and mobility solutions businesses. As for the display business, we will focus more on improving product mix and our customer mix so as to provide a steadier profit.
As for the gross margin, we hope that our vertical and mobility solutions would deliver high teens to low 20% for gross margin. As for the display, we think we hope that the gross margin would rest on single-digit percent. At the same time, we will strive to improve the profitability across our product lines. As for the OPEX, as we just shared with you earlier, for the long term, we hope that OPEX will account for 11% - 12% of our revenue. For the midterm, we hope the ratio could lower to 10%.
Hi, Vivi. I'm Frank. For your third question, on our strategic positioning in mainland China for our automotive business. Our automotive panels have been among the top three players worldwide, underpinned by the principle of China for China. In 2022, we set up a team dedicated to serve China.
In terms of our positioning in China, we are building upon our display strategic core competence, and we are also meeting the prosperous demand from China. We are offering services both as Tier 1 and Tier 2 players on the market. For Tier 2 partners, we are serving them as a professional panel maker to provide differentiated display technologies such as mini- LED and micro- LED-based displays. At the same time, post the acquisition of BHTC, we now have the capability to offer Tier 1 service capabilities. This is to provide China for global services, meaning that we will be able to further deepen our capabilities as a trustworthy Tier 1 partner for Chinese automakers and automotive OEMs to help them expand overseas.
Thank you, Frank. Thank you all for your participation in our third-quarter results conference. This concludes our online investor conference for the quarter. If you have any other questions, please feel free to contact us at the IR department at AUO Corporation. Thank you all for your participation. You may disconnect now. Thank you.