Good morning and good evening, ladies and gentlemen, no matter where you are. Welcome to WIN Semi 's resolve webcast conference for the third quarter of 2025. My name is Joe Tsen, the Spokesman and the Associate Vice President of Finance in WIN Semi . Joining me on today's call is Steve Chen, the General Manager of Corporate Administration. Today's call is organized into three sections. First of all, Steve will comment on the company's results for Q3 and provide brief guidance for Q4 2025. Secondly, I will go through the financials in detail. After that, we will open the floor for Q&A. Please freely submit your questions in the input box on the webcast window throughout the conference. Before we begin, I would like to draw your attention to the safe harbor notice on page one of the presentation slide. Please note that this presentation contains forward-looking statements.
These statements are based on our current expectations. Actual results may differ materially from our expectations, and the company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements going forward. Now, let me hand over the call to Mr. Steve Chen, the General Manager of WIN Semi .
Thank you, Joe, and welcome, everyone. WIN Semi conducts a consultative review for the third quarter of 2025, reaching TWS 24.49 billion, representing a 19% increase quarter-on-quarter and a 3% increase year-on-year. Slightly better than expected and making a return to both quintile and annual growth. The stand-alone gross margin for this quarter was 29.1%, up 6.2% from the previous quarter, while the consolidated gross margin was 26.9%, up 8.4%. This improvement was mainly driven by higher wafer output that kept capacity utilization from 45% to 50%, a slightly more favorable product mix, and a 0.6% point contribution from the valuation gain on the share of a China-based customer held by a consolidated subsidiary. As a result, after three consecutive quarters of operating growth, WIN returned to profitability with an operating margin of 8.6%. Net income attributable to the parent company was TWS 21.07 billion, translated to EPS of TWS 22.52.
The third quarter is traditionally a strong season for U.S. flagship smartphone launches, and customer spin-off activities preceded spending, with the market expectations for stronger than expected sales. Value-per-PA shipment continued to grow following Q2, while Wi-Fi PA also sustained its momentum with two consecutive quarters of growth. The strongest sequential growth came from the optical business, mainly because the smartphone 3D sensing went up, is concentrated in Q3. Even the infrastructure business, originally expected to remain flat from the previous quarter, posted a double-digit growth. As a result, all product segments posted sequential growth in Q3. As the year drove to a close, a review of the business performance showed that the significant fluctuation in the smartphone market in recent years has been mainly from geopolitical factors. In China's low-end smartphone market, government subsidies and the price competition have accelerated the localization of the value-per-PA supply chain.
Fortunately, WIN continues to maintain a performance advantage in the mid-to-high-end Android and iOS markets. The Wi-Fi business benefits from the transition to Wi-Fi 7, with key customers' market share rebounding sharply, resulting in an annual Wi-Fi revenue significantly exceeding last year. Meanwhile, WIN has allocated more resources to the high-margin infrastructure segment, leveraging our gallium arsenide and gallium nitride-based millimeter wave expertise to deepen our presence in the high-frequency and high-power applications. This effort has led to tangible results in low-Earth orbit, which is real aerospace and the AI Data Center and the optical driver IC. As the revenue grows steadily, this year's infrastructure revenue has already surpassed last year's level and is now approaching that of the value-per-pay, becoming a key pillar supporting both revenue and profitability.
In the optical business, which has long relied on smartphone 3D sensing applications, the impact of the customer multiple source strategy has led to a gradual decline and has since stabilized. Nevertheless, optical revenue has remained around the meeting's % of the total revenue, thanks to growing contributions from the AI data center applications and the LiDAR use in automotive and robotic sensing, which are expected to become WIN's third growth engine in the coming years. On the operations side, WIN has strictly controlled capital expenditure, managed the depreciation, and optimized the asset utilization, and maintained a positive operating cash flow with a visible improvement quarter by quarter. With the outlook for 2025 Q4, with the continuous pull-in momentum for the newly launched smartphone, consolidated revenue is expected to grow in the low single digits, and the consolidated margin is forecast to maintain in the high 20s level. Thank you.
I will turn the call back to Joe.
Okay. Okay. It's my pleasure to present our financial results for the third quarter of 2025. Please refer to our presentation slides. From the very beginning of the slides, you may see the safe harbor notice. Please read it over and pay attention. In page three, we show you our ESG achievements and several awards, and we update it to the most recent item by item. Now we start over from page 5. In page 5, we discuss the revenue, which is top line, and the margin. In Q3 2025, our consolidated revenue was TWS 4,488 million, and QoQ was up 19%, and YoY also up 3%. As you guys probably know, Q1 is our traditional high season for the new flagship smartphone launch from the U.S. brand.
We have several different customers who are also in this supply chain, including the cellular PA and Wi-Fi PA, 3D sensing, proximity sensor, etc. Because of the high season in Q1, we see most of the customers and most of the products recorded QoQ growth in this quarter. Even the infrastructure, originally, we expect in Q3 probably only flat-ish, but I think because of the strong AI data center demand and some other point-to-point demand, making the infrastructure also grows for double digits. The gross margin for Q3, we see significantly improve, mainly driven by several factors. First of all, the capacity utilization increased to 60% from 45% last quarter. Secondly, the product mix is also slightly better and more favorable to the gross margin compared to the last quarter.
The third one, the share price increase of a list of Chinese customers, which is held by our consolidated subsidiary, which contributes our gross margin approximately around 0.6 percentage point. Therefore, making the individual gross margin going up to 29.1%, which is from 22.9% last quarter. The consolidated gross margin also going up to 26.9% from 18.5% last quarter, which is increased about 8.4 percentage point. Also making the consolidated operating profit margin to 8.6% from - 3.1% last quarter, which is improved about 11.7 percentage point. Because of the several factors, as I explained, making no matter the gross margin, operating margin, it all has a significant improvement. Therefore, please flip to page six. After the three consecutive quarters of business downturn and the operating loss, we return to the growth momentum in Q3.
As the better of revenue and the gross margin improvement with the stable operating expense, net income attributable to the parent company becomes total around TWS 1,970 million in Q3 compared to a net loss in Q2. EPS for Q3 becomes TWS 2.25 compared to TWS -0.99 in Q2. Please flip to page six. Or seven, I'm sorry. Page seven talks about our product mix. Since the product mix is one of the major factors to making our gross margin improve, you can take a look on the Q3's product mix. In the very beginning, you probably will find out it looks very similar to Q2. Actually, remember the Q3 revenue QoQ was up around 19%, which means even the cellular, Wi-Fi, infrastructure is all in the same range compared to Q3 to Q2. It means it's still actually all having around a double-digit growth.
Don't mention that the others, which is a majority is optical, improved from 13% to 15%. This is the most significant growth factor in our product mix, QoQ in Q3. If you ask me what is the second largest growth, I will tell you that's the Wi-Fi. After the product mix, please flip to the next page, page 8. We discuss the guidance for Q4. As Steve had mentioned in his management comment, I'll just repeat again, consolidated revenue to increase about low single-digit QoQ. We also expect Q4 consolidated gross margin to be around the level of high 20s. If you further would like to know about the full product mix, what it looks like in Q4, I will tell you that I think most of the product mix, including cellular, Wi-Fi, infrastructure, optical, will be very similar to Q3.
Maybe cellular and the infrastructure have the opportunity to be slightly up a little bit. This is the guidance. The next page, we are going to discuss our financial statements, including income statement and balance sheet. We can quickly go through the Q3 income statement on page 10. The Q3 2025, first of all, before we begin, I would like to remind everybody that all of the figures are under the unaudited basis. The actual results are based on the CPA's report. The net revenue for Q3 is TWS 4,488 million, and QoQ was up 19% and YoY up 3%. The gross profit is TWS 1,205 million, and the gross margin becomes 26.9% compared to last quarter, was up around 8.4 percentage point. Operating expense is very close to the level of last quarter. It was TWS 820 million. Therefore, the operating OP ratio was 18%, and operating income becomes TWS 385 million.
The operating margin was 8.6%, which compared to last quarter improved around 11.7 percentage points. The non-op item is positive income around TWS 511 million . The detail will be discussed in page 12. The income before income tax was TWS 897 million, and income tax expense was TWS 213 million. Therefore, the net income was TWS 683 million. The net margin becomes 15.2%. The profit attributable to the owner, to the parent company, is TWS 1,970 million . Therefore, the EPS becomes TWS 2.52 . The ROE, which is return on equity, was 11%. Approximately the utilization rate is 60%, up from 45% last quarter. Depreciation expense is TWS 936 million. QoQ was down around 10%. You can see the trend is gradually quarter on quarter going down. The CapEx is TWS 933 million NT. This is the Q3 income statement. The next page will show you the accumulated Q1 to Q3 income statement.
The net revenue was TWS 11,844 million . The YoY was - 14%. The gross profit was TWS 2,502 million, and the gross margin was 21.1%. The operating expense ratio is about 21%. Therefore, the operating income was TWS 50 million and the operating margin around 0.4%. The non-op item was again about TWS 235 million. The income before income tax was TWS 285 million, and the income tax expense TWS 155 million. Therefore, the net income becomes TWS 130 million net margin 1.1%. The accumulated three quarters, the net profit attributable to the parent company was TWS 665 million. EPS for the first three quarters was TWS 1.57 . The return on equity was 2% for the first three quarters. The utilization rate average is 50%. For the first three quarters, depreciation expense becomes TWS 380 million . Compared to the same period last year, it went down around 11%.
As it approaches the end of the year, we make an estimation for the whole year to provide to the investor. We find out the whole year of 2025, YoY probably will depreciation expense will be around between 13% to 14% lower than 2024. The CapEx for the first three quarters was TWS 1,320 million . That's the income statement for the first three quarters. Please flip to the next page, page 12, to discuss non-op items. The non-op items, the total was net around TWS 511 million. The major items are, for example, like foreign exchange gain TWS 189 million. Financial costs, which is interest expense, are TWS 181 million. Another major two items, for example, like the gain on disposal of property, plants, and equipment was TWS 1,942 million, which is, as you guys know, that we sold our fab located in the Southern Taiwan Science Park to ASE.
This is the gain on disposal of the plant and the facility, which is only the shell, not mass production yet. This is the gain on the disposal of the property. Another one is the impairment loss, which is TWS 1,642 million. This item, it's a company reported to the shareholder at the 2025 AGM. The company is implementing a downsizing of our foundry business in China. This figure is the asset impairment by the CPA to refresh the current scale of the operation at several China foundry facilities. Please flip to the next page, page 13. It's about the balance sheet. The balance sheet date is September 30, 2025. We still have the cash and the cash equivalent around TWS 5,837 million. I see the total assets are TWS 57,828 million, which went down from the TWS 61,132 million last quarter.
The major reason is because we sold the Alpha 30 in Southern Taiwan Science Park to ASE. Therefore, the net property and plant equipment becomes TWS 21,738 million. It went down from last quarter. Because of that, we also used the proceeds to pay out part of our interest-bearing debt. Therefore, our total liability went down to TWS 7,867 million from last quarter, TWS 23,800 million. This also made the debt ratio go down to 31% from 39% last quarter. The total equity was TWS 39,961 million, which is also significant growth from last quarter. This also reflected our book value per share going up from TWS 86.17 to TWS 93.12 on September 30th. Finally, the key index, which is the current debt ratio, I mentioned that it's 31%. The current ratio also improved to 255%, which is making our financial status very healthy. That's pretty much what I have. We now begin our Q&A section.
Please submit your question in the input box on the webcast window right now. Thank you.
Okay. There is a question asking about the gross margin. It looks like for Q3, it's surprisingly better. I think the major reason, as we already explained, is because, first of all, the utilization rate is much better than last quarter, and also the product mix. If you take a look for the product mix, you can see that, as we mentioned it on the management comment, we kind of keep the market share for the mid-end and the high-end Android phone and also the iOS phone market. Because of that, without the low-end market, which is damaged the gross margin, we keep the better business on hand. At the same time, the infrastructure is having a better performance, which is high-margin business. Also, at the same time, Q3 is exactly the high season for 3D sensing business, which is also enjoying the better margin.
Several reasons from the gross margin, I mean the product mix and the utilization rate. Therefore, making the gross margin is a lot better than Q2. That's most of the reasons because of that. The minor impact is because of our China customers' stock price volatility held by our consolidated subsidiary contribute 0.6% point, which is actually that is minor. The major reason is still the product mix and the utilization rate are better. Thank you.
Okay. Let me explain more detail about the CapEx this quarter. I think, due to the statement, we can see the Q1 and Q2, the CapEx is quite low. This quarter is up to almost around TWS 1 billion. I think, even if we don't increase more capacity, as we just mentioned for the manager comment, actually, recently here because the smartphone market has some structural change, we put more resources to increasing more diversified revenue, such as the optical communication and other optical laser products. Even we have more high-frequency like LEO or GEO or those kinds of aero or defense, these kinds of new applications. I think those all need some different new equipment compared to original gallium arsenide product for the PA, especially for the cellular. It mainly reflects some new investment for some new technology projects.
I think for 2025, the whole year, CapEx still can maintain our original forecasting, around TWS 1 billion- TWS 2 billion, this kind of range for the CapEx whole year. Thank you.
Okay. There is a question from an investor asking about our depreciation expense and also the operating expense. It looks going toward a good direction, and I would like to know more color about that. First of all, the reason the depreciation expense, you see that since the recent couple of quarters, the trend is gradually going down. It's because since we stopped doing the major CapEx and also most of the major CapEx was happened heavily, major CapEx was happened in the past several years. It's gradually the depreciation and amortization is gradually the time, the period is to the end or going down by the schedule. You see the depreciation no longer is going down again, going up again, sorry. The trend will keep going down for the following quarters.
The operating expense, if you follow WIN Semi long enough, you probably see back in the past for the long time, our operating expense guidance always gives you some kind of percentage linked to our revenue. Since in the past two, three years downturn, and then now we well control the operating expense, especially except the R&D, the rest of it we all manage well. You can see that in the recent couple of quarters, it's all in a very small range around between TWS 810 million and TWS 820 million, which is this kind of range. Hopefully, we will keep the same going forward. Okay. This is our explanation. Thank you.
Okay. I think all the market has read the news that the top two RF companies, Skyworks and Qorvo, just announced to be merged in the future. For this point, they will be reducing a lot of the operating costs. I think it definitely will become a very big change for the whole GaAs market. For WIN Semi, we think that it provides WIN Semi a better chance in the future because, first, these two companies actually are WIN's existing customers since more than 10 years ago, and are still keeping business with WIN Semi every year. Even sometimes they may be one of our top 10 customers. Like we discussed in the previous coverings, actually starting from this year, or last year, we already see these two companies have more allied engagement with WIN Semi. That means WIN Semi's technologies really can compete with their internal technology.
Everybody knows WIN Semi is the foundry that is still keeping a very big energy for the R&D developing and keeping to upgrade our technology innovator for the cellular, Wi-Fi, and even the infrastructure or the cellular aerospace. I think after the merge, that company will cover all the microwave technology and frequency. That's very the same like WIN Semi technology roadmap. I think for now, the project that collaborates with WIN Semi should, we don't see any kind of change. Also in the future, I think because WIN Semi right now is the only foundry qualified for the Tier 1 iOS company, and those companies, those businesses still have a lot of portion related to that. If they want to become a fab-lite company, I think definitely WIN Semi could have a better chance to have a better foundry business in the future. Thank you.
Okay. The time is 4:20 P.M. right now. There is no further question in the slot. Thank you. We're going to thank you for your participation. We'll finish the call. Thank you again for participating for the WIN Semi's conference. There will be a webcast replay within hours. Please visit www.winfoundry.com under the investor relations section. You may now disconnect. Thank you again, and goodbye.