Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for joining us on the Q3 2023 earnings call. I'm Leah Peng, the spokesperson for GlobalWafers, and our Chairperson, Doris Hsu, is with us today. Here's how today's call will unfold. Doris will start with executive comments, followed by my brief introduction, covering our perspective on the semiconductor industry, our Q3 2023 performance, and addressing the questions we have received from investors recently. The session will conclude with an open Q&A, during which Doris will provide the answers. A quick reminder, please keep your audio on mute throughout the meeting. If you have any questions, please use the chat panel located in the upper right or lower right corner of your screen, depending on your device and layout, and we will address them during the Q&A. We appreciate your cooperation in limiting the question numbers into two.
Before we begin, I would like to remind you that today's discussion may contain forward-looking statements. Please be aware that these statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties, which could cause the actual results to differ materially from our expectations. Please refer to the safe harbor notice in our presentation. Now, without further delay, I would like to pass the floor to our Chairperson, Doris, for the executive comment. Doris, please.
Thank you, Leah. Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you very much for joining GlobalWafers earnings call of Q3 2023. Leah Peng, our spokesperson, will guide us through the presentation and FAQ received recently, and I will address the questions raised in the meeting today. First of all, let me share some comments of our overall financial results and update our operational status with everyone. Page three, please. If you have already downloaded our material, please turn to page three. That's our financial highlights. Despite a modest QOQ decline in the third quarter, GlobalWafers' resilience in navigating macroeconomic challenges and semiconductor industry imbalances remain commendable. Our revenue, Q3 revenue totaled 17.4 billion NTD, which is a 2.9% decline compared to Q2. Please note that this is the second highest over the same period.
The accumulated three quarters revenue achieved nearly NTD 54 billion, a 3.8% increase YOY, and hit the record high. Yes, we hit a record high for the first three months of this year's revenue, totaled NTD 54 billion. Regarding gross margin, our Q3 gross profit margin was 36.6%. The accumulated three-quarter gross margin hit 38.3%, which was the third highest-ever gross margin. The erosion of this quarter's Q3 2023 gross margin erosion was mainly resulted by depreciation increase and power cost increase, which will be further elaborated later. And let me move to operating profit.
In Q3 2023, our operating profit margin was at 27.8%, and the cumulative total for the first three quarters of this year reached 29.9%, making it the third highest figure for the same period. In page four, please. Our net profit this year hit record highs. With this quarter, we hit record high of our net profit, which is 31.9% in Q3 and an impressive 28.4% in the first three quarters net profit. Both of the highest ever—both are the highest ever, demonstrating our strong performance. EPS wise, in Q3 this year, our earnings per share reached 12.73 NTD, marking the highest ever over the same period. For the first three quarters, our EPS amounted to 35.22 NTD per share.
This representing a historical high for the company. And, a very... Another very important index is prepayment. As of end of September 2023, our prepayment totaled NTD 37.9 billion or $1.2 billion. Please note that the prepayment will be refunded to customers once contractual obligations are fulfilled. The value is dynamic. Our prepayment slightly decreased, around, 0.4 billion NTD to NTD 37.9 billion in Q3. At the end of Q2, it was NTD 38.3 billion. In fact, we continue to sign new contracts with multiple customers. Next is the outlook on macroeconomics. Please turn to page 5 if you, if you have our material. So I will make a quick outlook of the macroeconomics and semiconductor industry.
IMF, October 2023's World Economic Outlook forecast decline in global growth from 3.5% in 2022 to 3.0% in 2023. Subsequently revised down to 2.9% in 2024. Despite the efforts to mitigate inflation through global monetary policy, the semiconductor industry remains under pressure due to the persistent decline in business and consumer activity. Furthermore, the recent outbreak of conflict in Israel has introduced new challenges, contributing to increased concerns for energy costs and inflation. For the semiconductor industry, the semiconductor industry is showing signs of recovery, driven by stable demand, balanced inventories, and growth in automotive and industrial sectors. However, ongoing challenges such as war, energy crisis, inflation, high bank interest rates continue to impact the macro environment.
With customers reabsorbing inventory into the emergence, the emergence of new applications like AI, and automation, we assume 2024 is poised for an upturn, assuming uncertainties like geopolitical tensions are appropriately managed. Notably, memory suppliers' production cuts in response to the previous market downturn are expected to lead to memory supply tightness and rising ASPs in 2024 and 2025. A shift in product mix for high-end servers and AI applications will help rebalance the global memory market as well. Yes, page six, please. Let me talk a little bit about the industry outlook. I think I would like to focus a little bit on compound semiconductor. Compound semiconductor is now hitting the headwinds, of course, mainly because of two reasons.
One is the EV car industry. EV market seems a little bit softening now, and another reason is the availability of compound semiconductor, compound wafer supply. So due to these two reasons, so market is a little bit tough now, which has just happened in the past couple months. But overall, the positive cycle of R&D investment and expanded applications is still expected to drive further market penetration for compound semiconductors. This ongoing process creates a self-reinforcement loop, with each technological advancements leading to more diverse and sophisticated applications, which in turn attract additional research and investments. As a result, compound semiconductors are poised for rapid, robust, and solid market penetration, delivering innovative solutions and further enriching the semiconductor landscape.
Even right now, the market seems a little bit soft, but for long term, the compound semiconductor is still very strong. That will be still very promising for the whole semiconductor industry. The above are my comments. Leah, please share more details on the industry outlook and financial performance. Thank you.
Thank you, Doris. Let me share our observation of the industry in page 8. This page serves as a tracker for our customers' inventory levels compared with the global semiconductor market revenue and silicon wafer shipments as of the end of Q2 2023. The light blue line represents our customers' days of inventory of finished goods, as declared in their financial statements. The dark blue curve illustrates worldwide semiconductor revenue, while the line represents the overall semiconductor silicon wafer shipment shipping trend. The DOI shows a slight decline of 2%, affirming the effectiveness of actions taken by our customers to restart levels to a healthier state. Regarding worldwide silicon shipping area, following a decline that began in Q4 2022, started to grow in Q2 2023 compared to Q1.
We are seeing a positive reversal in global semiconductor revenue, accompanying a gradual reduction of inventory levels and the adjustments of inventory on a more robust trajectory. However, please note that there is an intrinsic delay in the propagation along the semiconductor supply chain, and customers are still absorbing the high inventory levels. We can expect that a soft demand is likely to persist in the second half 2023 for silicon wafers. In page 9, the SiC wafer power device market is poised for significant growth, mainly driven by the automotive along with the energy supply segment. Projections indicate a robust 31% CAGR from 2022 to 2028.
What sets GlobalWafers' business apart is our integrated approach to SiC wafer manufacturing, offering a comprehensive set of solutions from SiC parks and customizable substrates to diverse wafering service and epitaxy growth on both our own and customer-assigned substrates. We can support our customers along the SiC material chains through the various services, catering to the growing SiC market. Please turn to page 10 for our GlobalWafers GaN solutions. Built by a remarkable expansion in automotive and data communication, the GaN power device market is projected at an impressive 49% CAGR from 2022 to 2028.... To seize the momentum, GlobalWafers' complete lineup of GaN hetero-epitaxy products encompasses silicon, SiC, and the sapphire substrates. Our commitment to innovation and product diversity positions us as a trusted partner in the growing power GaN device market.
Please allow me to brief update our greenfield expansion, GWA, in page 11. Our flagship 300-millimeter factory, GWA, is on schedule for sample capability by the fourth quarter in 2024, and the mass production ramp during 2025, when the market is generally expected to be in full swing. Now, the excavation has been completed. Process equipment orders are placed and are aligned with the sample and production schedules. GWA has submitted its pre-application for incentive grant funding in early September, and is now awaiting official feedback. The full application is scheduled to be submitted in Q4. While the application is still ongoing, we are diligently stay updated with the latest developments and maintaining close communication with relevant authorities. Please refer to our Q3 financial performance on page 13.
While Doris outlined the financial highlights in her executive comment, please allow me to provide further context to our Q3 performance. During this quarter, our revenue experienced a slight decline of 2.9%, reaching NTD 17.4 billion. Our gross margin also decreased by 1.1%, now at 36.6% compared to the previous quarter. The shift can be attributed to factors such as depreciation, 2.5%, power cost, 0.6%, but offset by the positive contribution of the reversal of LCM adjustment, which is 1.8%. The combination of this and other minor factors resulted in a total change of 1.1%. Our operating income margin stood at 27.8%, boosted by the mark-to-market valuation of Siltronic shares in our portfolio.
Our Q3 net profit margin reached 31.9%, and our EPS was 12.73. Concurrently with our ongoing expansion projects, our Q3 CapEx amounted to NTD 10 billion, while depreciation stood at NTD 1.7 billion. Page 14 represents the accumulated financial performance for the first three quarters. The revenue reached nearly NTD 54 billion. The net profit margin stood at 28, 28.4%, and the EPS amounted to 35.22. As of the end of September, our CapEx were NTD 24 billion, with depreciation totaling NTD 4.9 billion. Please turn to page 16. Here, I would like to emphasize that our accumulative EPS as of the end of September has reached 35.22. This is very close to our full year EPS in 2022, which was 35.39.
Then let's move on to the balance sheet in page 18, and I will add more color on the key item, cash. In Q3 2023, our cash was NTD 20 billion. If we dive into other assets, additional NTD 46 billion, which was earmarked for deposits, held for more than three months, and another NTD 3 billion, this restricted cash, which is temporarily sat in bank for tax consideration, but could be used when necessary. So if these cash-related assets are included, our total cash in Q3 is actually NTD 74 billion. Additionally, we have spent NTD 4.8 billion in ECB repurchase in Q3. Here, I would like to further elaborate the reason for the changes in the short-term and long-term loans. Our short-term loans surged to NTD 35 billion in Q3, while the long-term loan decreased by NTD 7 billion to NTD 50 billion now.
The primary reason for this change is attributed to the reclassification of 7.1 billion corporate bonds into short-term loans in accordance with IFRS principles. Now, I would like to address most of the questions we have received from the investors recently, and those we anticipate will be raised. Okay, so the first question is regarding our debt ratio. GlobalWafers' current ratio and the quick ratio significantly dropped to 150% and 130%, respectively, in Q3, down from the previous range in 160%-180% in Q2. While the debt ratio slightly improved to 64%, this is a 3% improvement compared to the previous quarter. Do you anticipate any unfavorable impacts on your future operations as a result of these changes?
Okay, then, regarding the quick ratio and current ratio, the main reason is the reclassification of corporate bonds into short-term loans based on IFRS principle, that lead to those lower current and quick ratios. And secondly, regarding liability percentage, the main reason of the liability improvement comes from the repurchase of partial ECB. Please note that the debt is mainly composed of prepayment, NTD 37.9 billion, ECB, NTD 6.6 billion, and the corporate bond, this is NTD 19 billion. With very low interest rates, these financial measures and the corporate bond offer a strong leverage, insulating GlobalWafers from the rising funding costs and empower us to expand operations and deduce long-term profitability. If we exclude the prepayment, the debt ratio would have dropped to 54%. Also, GlobalWafers holds a bond dedication on hand, NTD 74 billion.
If deducting the bank loan, corporate bond prepayment, and the ECB, actually, we hold a 14 billion NTD net cash... and if we add the prepayment back, GlobalWafers holds net cash of 24 billion NTD. In conclusion, characterized by a healthy mix of assets and liability, our financial structure is well-balanced. And the second question is regarding our cash strategy. Given GlobalWafers' debt ratio of 64%, decrease the customer prepayments, and a reduction in cash to 25 billion NTD, what is the potential impact on your operations, and how should the company address this situation? In fact, we have implemented multiple strategic measures to solidify our cash position. Firstly, our board approved the issuance of 14 billion NTD corporate bonds today. This move is expected to bolster our cash reserves and provide us with additional financial flexibility.
Secondly, we are generating profits from our day-to-day operations, which contribute to enhancing our cash position. Moreover, we currently hold share in Siltronic. This represents a significant component of our financial assets, thereby affording us greater flexibility in capital allocation. Additionally, our board has endorsed the capital increase initiatives, including the issuance of GDR, to be implemented when necessary, as resolved during the last shareholder meeting. These measures are designed to inject fresh capital into the company, thus further strengthen our cash position. Through these diverse actions, we own various fundraising tools to enhance the versatility of funding utilization and are actively fortifying our cash reserve, ensuring that we are well prepared to meet financial challenges and to capitalize on strategic opportunities in the future. Okay, the third question is regarding our CapEx. Please explain why the CapEx is not paid with cash on hand, but with bank loan?
GlobalWafers chooses not to pay the CapEx with its cash on hand, but with bank loans for the following two reasons. First, the company needs to maintain a good relationship with the bank to secure credit lines for future need. Second, GlobalWafers has numerous international locations and may strategically allocate deposits to places with better interest rates to earn interest income. At the end of Q3, our net interest income totaled to NTD billion. In addition, our committed loan drawdown rate is merely 26%. The rest, 74% of bank credit line could be implemented anytime when needed. The next question comes from, regarding our corporate bond. GlobalWafers announced the board resolution to issue the NTD 14 billion unsecured corporate bond today. Please advise your rationale.
GlobalWafers foresees cash outflow in 2024 due to the maturity of NTD 7 billion corporate bond and the possible put option of $250 million ECB. It is important to note that GlobalWafers maintains a healthy cash reserve to cover these obligations. Today's announcement of this fourteen billion corporate bond further augments our assets through medium and long-term funds, providing increased flexibility in fund utilization and optimizing funding sources and costs. These funds will be instrumental in supporting a range of strategic initiatives, including the repayment of loans, the bolstering of working capital, and the backing of green investment plans. By utilizing these funds strategically, GlobalWafers can continue to drive growth and maintain a strong financial position. Okay, then the next question is regarding our compound semiconductors. Here, I would like to update our compound semiconductor status.
GlobalWafers SiC roadmap is aligned with the one of our key customers. Our 200 mm SiC and wafering capabilities has already been demonstrated and established. The capacity ramp will be consistent with the consolidated demand in the long-term agreements with our customers. Seizing the rising demand for power semiconductors in the automotive industry, GlobalWafers anticipates our qualification in the first half of 2024, with limited shipments planned for the fourth quarter in 2024. By 2025, our production capacity is set to ramp up quickly, and by 2026 or 2027, the total output of our eight-inch SiC wafers is expected to surpass that of six-inch SiC wafers. The next question is regarding the geopolitics. How does the current Israel and the Hamas conflict impact the semiconductor industry?
Okay, first, industry-wise, the Israel and Hamas conflict and the potential issues in the Strait of Hormuz increase geopolitical risk, potentially disrupting the semiconductor industry. These challenges include the supply chain disruptions, operational issues for Israeli semiconductor companies due to reserve service, transportation disruptions, and energy supply concerns. What is most worrying is the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. The supply route for around 30% of the world's maritime oil and a fifth of the global liquid natural gas supplies, strengthening energy supply, impacting semiconductor manufacturing costs. Regarding foreign exchange-wise, at the moment, the economic impact of the war between Israel and the Hamas in Israel, Gaza, Egypt. Based on historical experience, Israeli-Arab war and Israeli-Palestinian conflict are typical-...only has limited financial impact, except on the oil prices. However, the duration and severity of the conflict is still advancing, so we will closely monitor the situation.
The next question is regarding our greenfield expansion, GWA. How many government funds does GWA foresee to receive? Given that GWA is America's only clear silicon wafer investment for advanced chips, and is essential in addressing a critical gap in the United States in order to build a truly resilient domestic semiconductor supply chain. As such, GWA investment is truly unique and is vital to national economic and security interest. While the application is still ongoing, we are diligently staying updated with the latest development and maintaining close communication with the relevant authorities. Above is my response to the FAQ. Now, please allow me to pass the floor to Doris for the Q&A session. Please type your questions in the chat panel. Doris will provide the answers.
Okay, thank you, Leah. Thanks a lot for the questions. First of all, the first two questions are from Donnie, Nomura. The first question is that, CapEx plan and depreciation costs. Year to date, GlobalWafers only have around NTD 24 billion CapEx looks like to be running behind our earlier estimates of NTD 40 billion. If assuming 40% of our NTD 100 billion CapEx plan in 2022 to 2024 will be spent in 2023. Depreciation cost looks like still quite manageable at around NTD 1.6 billion-NTD 1.7 billion a quarter. So wondering if, if you could... Just a second.
If you just, if you could, give us an update on CapEx and capacity expansion plans, as well as your estimation, your estimates of depreciation costs for 2023 and 2024 forecast. This is definitely a very important question for GlobalWafers, because we are doing expansion in six countries, with a total CapEx way over NTD 100 billion. So this is definitely very important. And, and you are very right, Donnie, our CapEx is behind our original, our original plan. Our original plan is 40% spent in this year, but for two reasons that our actual CapEx is lower than our original plan.
The first reason is because that, I think, last year and early this year, we have—I have already reported to shareholders and in the earnings call several times that, due to some material lead time of the construction material delay, so our construction basically have a little bit delayed. That's one of the reason. And the second reason is that, starting from 2023, we are seeing some softness of the market. So, we talk with our customer, check a little bit about their demand for 2023 and 2024, and we realized that our customers' demand and our customers' ramp-up schedule will be a little bit delayed. So we intentionally push out the tool installation a little bit, to be aligned with our customers' demand. Slightly push out our our equipment installation schedule.
Also, we negotiate, we discuss with our tool vendors as well, try to get some support from tool partners, and let them know that we need a little bit flexibility on the delivery schedule, tool delivery schedule and payment terms. And that's why we came up with a little bit lower CapEx. This is we intentionally make it this way. So our, the peak of our CapEx spending will be 2024. I think that will be our peak, and it will come down in 2025 and slightly push out to 2026, CapEx wise. And depreciation, I think 2024 depreciation will be higher than this year. This year, already right now, Q3, depreciation already, you can see a significant increase this quarter, from the presentation material.
Our presentation material, you can see the table that we showed our depreciation. It's increasing, but next year, the whole 2024, YOY wise, I think our depreciation will be still higher than this, higher than 2023. So that's the, that's the status. Basically, the expansion plans, everything on schedule, just like what we explained, that our Italy expansion, Italy expansion will delay around 6 months, and our US depreciation, our US expansion basically on schedule, but the qualification maybe takes a little bit longer time. But basically, everything on schedule. So this is my first question, first answer, my answer to the first question. And the second question from Donnie is that, is regarding to our sales and, and gross margin, gross profit margin outlook.
We said that in the past, basically, our forecast is quite accurate about the sales trend in Q3 2023. Since mid this year, so when we, when I indicated that Q3 will be down slightly QOQ, despite the overall semiconductor industry is still at the downturn. Are you still holding the same view that Q4 sales should stabilize or slightly recover from Q3? I noticed that recently some auto IDM companies have toned down the demand outlook in second half 2023. So wondering if it will become a drag to our sales and gross profit margin outlook in Q4 onwards. Any guidance would be appreciated. So okay, this is very important.
Our revenue is like this, like Q1 2023 was our all-time high. Q1 this year was our all-time high, revenue-wise. We have a slight decline in Q2, which is 3.7% QOQ. Now Q3 is 2.9% QOQ, minus 2.9% QOQ, so down a little bit. I think Q4 will be weak as well. Our current view is that it's very likely that our Q4 revenue will be again slightly lower than Q3. That's our view. If you're talking about Q1 next year, I think Q1 will be still weak.
Matter of fact, our customers' demands, our customers are doing better and better, but, I mean, higher revenue, our customers' revenue is getting higher, but that doesn't mean that they will need more wafers, because they have already have some wafer inventory. So our view now is that Q4 will be slightly lower than Q3, and Q1 next year will be still a little bit weak, but I think that it's very likely, starting from Q1 next year or Q2 next year, we will see a QOQ growth. Starting from Q1 next year or Q2 next year, the revenue, our revenue should be picking up quarter by quarter. That's our view.
You are very right that the IDM, some IDM companies, just very recently, just about a couple of months ago, we, we started seeing some IDM companies, slowing down their demand and, especially for automotive, for automotive components, automotive applications. That's very true. I think that will be a short-term thing, because they are, they are, they have high inventory, so they are trying to reabsorb the inventory. That's one of the reasons. Also, the market will gradually picking up. I think that's definitely that's one of the main reasons why, why our Q4 this year and Q1 next year will be maybe a little bit slower. That's that's main reason is because the IDM is a little bit weakening a little bit right now.
That's what we are seeing. But the impact will be manageable. I think it will be not too significant. That's the status. So far, it's hard for us to give numerical guidance for Q3 or for Q4 2024 revenue for now. But I think revenue trend-wise, Q4 will be slightly lower than Q3, and Q1 next year will be flattish or slightly lower than Q4 this year. Then we will start seeing pick up. That's our view. Thank you very much for the question. And next question is from Bruce. The first question is that LTA is trending down for three consecutive quarters. Do we see the trend continuing? Any changes in our three- to five-year CapEx plan? I think you're talking about LTA.
Are you talking about prepayment or... Yeah, prepayment-wise, we are, our prepayment balance is trending down a little bit, very slowly, from NTD 38.3 billion-NTD 37.9 billion, from end of June to end of September. So LTA, prepayment-wise, is trending down very slowly. LTA shipment, actually, revenue-wise, Q1 was our peak, and Q2, Q3 was weak, and Q3, Q4 will be a little bit weak as well. I don't think that this trend will be continuing. Just like what I said, Q1 next year, maybe the LTA shipment will be still flattish or a little bit low. But the overall shipment will be recovering from Q2 next year.
The reason we think that the revenue will be picking up is that if you check the—if you check our—I mean, right now, that's going down is the IDM companies are a little bit slow. But if you check the revenues, actually, more and more customers are announcing a very positive revenue increase, including many Tier One companies, their revenue are getting better and better quarter by quarter. And the reason that they don't really pull, they don't push us to ship more, is because that they still have quite some inventory to digest. That's why they need—they have high revenue, but still, it takes a bit, a bit time for them to reabsorb the wafer inventory. So I think that...
This kind of situation is not going to be continuing, starting from the second quarter next year, it should be improving. In our next three to five years CapEx plan, like what I answered earlier, our this year, 2023, our CapEx will be lower than our expectation, because of our push out, intentionally push out, including negotiated a little bit late tool installation schedule and late payment. But we'll be catching up in 2024, next year. Peak will be 2024, the overall CapEx, and I think we'll push out a little bit. 2024, 2025 will be high, and we'll push out a little bit to 2026. That's our point. That's our view.
The second question from Bruce is that, "What's the financial impact for GWA with and without CHIPS Act support?" Oh, that's a huge impact. So we definitely need CHIPS Act, and that's a part of our equation. So when we evaluate are we going to make the investment in the U.S., I think that's one of the very important factors. Of course, customer demand is one important factor. Customer OT is another important factor, and what's very important is that government support. So, without CHIPS Act support, definitely it's a very important financial impact to us. So far, I think Leah already answered that. Update a little bit about the CHIPS Act status. I think so far we are doing okay.
We have already filed the pre-app, pre-application, and also we are working on our final full application. So far, everything is doing okay. The third question is from Charles from Bloomberg Intelligence. The first question is the inventory status and normalization forecast. "Could you provide an update on the current wafer inventory levels at your client's facilities? Specifically, what is the anticipated normal inventory duration in the current market context? Will it be around 100 days? Additionally, when comparing memory and non-memory segments, which do you foresee normalize, normalizing quicker in the upcoming quarters?" Well, very good question. I think, actually, for us, it's not really very easy to really figure out that, what's the wafer inventory level at our customer site.
They announce their total inventory numbers, but not necessary to tell us how much the inventory is wafer. Now, some of them, they're finished goods, some of them is raw material, including our wafer. So, it's not very clear for us, but we believe that, it's somewhere around, maybe 30 days, 40 days. I think it should be this level. We don't have the number, that's just our guess. And, at GWC, our company's level, our inventory, finished good inventory level is quite low. So it's very healthy. I think that the normal, so-called normal, wafer inventory level should be, one to two months. That's a normal level. Wafer only. Wafer only. I'm not talking about, the whole thing. That's, that's our view. Wafer finished good level, at our customer site.
But again, let me repeat this again, that actually we don't really know that our, the wafer inventory level at our customer. We know that very well at our site, but we don't know that at our customer. And the memory or non-memory segments normalizing, which one will be normalizing quicker? This one, inventory-wise, memory's inventory is higher than non-memory segments right now. But there are quite a lot of exciting killer applications such as AI. You know, for AI applications, you need a lot of memory as well. That will be another driving power for the recovery for memory. So, current inventory level-wise, I think memory is higher than non-memory inventory level. But the recovery right now, it seems that non-memory's recovery is faster than memory.
Depends that if, in the next couple, couple quarter, it's very likely that high resolution, high efficiency, advanced server and AI applications will consume a lot of, high density or advanced memory, like DDR5, that kind of advanced products. So we think that, both of these two will be okay, but, relatively, maybe non-memory segments, inventory consumption or rebalancing will be faster than memory. That's our view. And next question is capacity utilization trends. "Regarding your Q3 capacity utilization, can you share the latest figure for 16-inch, eight-inch and 12-inch wafers? What are the expectations going forward in terms of utilization rate?" Our, right now, our utilization rates, the worst one is small diameter.
Small diameter utilization rate is about 60%-65% right now, close to 70%, slightly low, below 70%, small diameter. And eight-inch is, eight-inch used to be okay in the first half this year, but starting from 2, 3, 8 inches, is much tougher. It's around 80%-90%, our eight-inch utilization. And, for a 12-inch, 12-inch epi, is 100% fully loaded. 12-inch polished wafer, is lower than epi wafer, is somewhere around 90%. That's our utilization. Two exceptional products, which is fully loaded. One is Float Zone wafer, especially a Float Zone 200 mm is fully loaded, and the second one is silicon carbide. Both of these two items are exceptionally full, for now.
But as I explained earlier, that some IDMs and the softness, it seems that we see some softening of automotive applications starting from Q4. So maybe, maybe silicon carbide demand will be slowing down a little bit. But basically, our 2023 compound revenue will be still over 10 times higher than last year. And next year, we are still expecting a good worldwide growth for compound and Float Zone as well. Float Zone right now is fully loaded, and we keep expanding our Float Zone operation. I think starting from 2024, we will have another additional strength for our Float Zone wafer.
In addition to, you know, on top of the high demand, another advantage for GlobalWafers' Float Zone is that starting from Q4 2024, our Float Zone operation in Denmark will be 100% green, 100% renewable energy. I think that is another factor many of our customers are very interested for that. And next is from Miss Lin from Sunny Lin. Okay, so the question from Sunny is that directionally, overall semis demand recovery has been slower than expected. However, most of the silicon wafer greenfield expansion are still on track in terms of timeline and scale. How should we assess the supply-demand into 2024, 2025? Yes, so far, the silicon wafer company's greenfield expansion basically are on track in terms of timeline and scale.
That's true, but it's true for construction, basically, for tool installation. Because, you know, from 2022 or early 2022 or mid 2022, those new expansions were already had already been designed. So for example, if the designed construction is for 300,000 wafer a month or 400,000 wafer a month, you have already designed. So, so far, it seems that silicon wafer companies expansion are basically follow the same timeline or just slightly a couple of months or three, three, four months delay. So no big delay. Scale, same, but the adjustment is delivery, tool delivery schedule. I learned that including GlobalWafers, I think we will do our best to accommodate with our customer, maybe adjust the tool installation a little bit to meet the pickup.
But, so for 2024, I think it's especially for the first half 2024, I think from the wafer capacity viewpoint, capacity is higher than wafer demand in 2024 worldwide, industry-wise, capacity is over demand. But starting from 2024, actually, as I said earlier, most of our customers have already started picking up their revenue from this year, not next year. So you see that many Tier One customers, their rev are improving. Many of them, you see a lot of the revenue improve from 2023. No impact for silicon wafer companies now because they are reabsorbing the inventories now. But, maybe one or two quarters later, inventory will be more reabsorbed and a much more reasonable normalizing the level.
So at that time, definitely, our customers business is increasing and inventory is very stable, very healthy, then, they definitely have to restart wafer increase the wafer start every month. So that's our view, that starting from second half, the situation will be getting more health-- getting healthier and healthier. Now, that's our, that's our view. Okay, and the second question from Sunny is that one of your peers on this recent earnings call mentioned that for LTAs, some key customers are trying to renegotiate on the price term for 2024. How's your discussion with the large customers under the demand uncertainties, yet increasing industry supply? Yeah, that's, that's, that's a very important question. I, of course, there are a lot of,
I know that our customers are facing a lot of challenges in the past several quarters, and also 2024 customers are, of course, they have some inventory adjustment pressure. We know that up till now, all of our customers and also GlobalWafers, I think we honor LTA, we honor our commitment because of our very long term long-standing relationship. So, so far, yeah, we do have a lot of discussion, but so far, customers are all following the commitments they made on the LTA. So that's current status. Okay. Yes, based on, that's from KGI, Jennifer. Based on LTA on-hand and spot price trend for smaller diameters, does the firm forecast ASP to trend up YOY in 2024?
I think ASP, LTA price, LTA price, our, we don't know other companies LTA, but, our LTA price for 2024, definitely, ASP, for, LTAs in 2024 definitely is higher than 2023. Because starting from 2024, we will have higher and higher depreciation due to expansion, new capacity, new tool. So depreciation is much higher. Our pressure is there. So, before we kick off the whole expansion, we have already talked and agreed, talked with our customer and, and agreed by our customer that they understand that that's the cost of our expansion, that's the cost of our, of our, capability upgrade and also, capacity expansion. So our LTA ASP for 2024 ASP is higher than 2023. And spot price-wise, I believe that next year, should be...
This year is a little bit panic here and there, and a lot of uncertainty, but I think next year, ASP should be more, for spot price, should be more, reasonable and stabilized. So, GlobalWafers view is that 2024 ASP will be higher than 2023. And, next question is that, "Is it possible to slow down to the way if CHIPS Act is not smooth? As you might know, there is no one from Taiwan got it yet." I think it's too early. Our focus now is to do whatever needed to supply a full application.
I think we address, we meet all the criteria, all, all the criteria requests from CHIPS Act, and we really improved the overall resilience in the supply chain in the U.S., so we believe that we will get the support. And, yes, your question is very important, but that's not the, that's not our focus. Now, our focus, do our best to get the, to explain ourselves and to get the support as our original plan. So, that's the question. Okay, thank you very much. I think I have already answered, yeah, I have already answered all the question I received today, and appreciate. Thank you very much.
Ladies and gentlemen, we would like to express our sincere appreciation to all of you for your valuable participation today. The earnings call concludes now. Thank you, and have a wonderful evening.
Thank you.