Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the joint earnings call for the fiscal year 2025, hosted by GlobalWafers and the Sino-American Silicon Products Inc. I'm Leah Peng, the spokesperson for GlobalWafers and the SAS. Joining us today is Doris Hsu, the Chairlady of both companies. Here's how today's call will unfold. Doris will begin with executive comments, providing insights into overall performance and the strategic direction. I will walk you through key company highlights and the financial performance. We will then address investors' questions received in advance, followed by an open Q&A session. The call will last for 90 minutes and conclude at 4:30 P.M. Before we begin, a quick reminder. To ensure everyone has the opportunity to participate, we kindly ask that each participant limit your questions to two. Please also keep your audio on mute.
To ensure a smooth and interactive session, we have established two methods for you to post questions during the event, using the Slido feature for written questions and utilizing the Webex hand-raising function for live spoken inquiries. First, Slido, which is the text-based questions. Throughout the meeting, you can input your questions using the Slido feature in Webex. Simply access Slido and type in your question. Our presenter will monitor Slido regularly to address your written questions. To ensure the efficient use of time, we encourage you to type in your questions as the meeting starts. The second method is live voice questions. Towards the end of the meeting, we will open the floor for live voice questions. If you wish to speak directly, please use the Webex raise hand function to indicate your intention.
Once you raise your hand, kindly be ready to accept the host's invitation to unmute your microphone when prompted. This will allow you to verbally pose your question to the panel. 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 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 for the executive comments on both GlobalWafers and SAS. Doris, please.
Thank you, Leah. Now, let me begin with GlobalWafers. 2025 marked a pivotal year for GlobalWafers. After three years of active global expansions and capacity deployment, our operational focus in 2025 began to shift from construction to execution, as multiple expansion projects started to translate into tangible operational progress. While the semiconductor industry continued to face fluctuations, geopolitical uncertainties, and foreign exchange volatilities and underlying fundamentals of our business remaining quite stable. Progress across our global manufacturing footprint, continued advancement in advanced and specialty wafer products, and steady customer qualification milestones have further strengthened the foundation for GlobalWafers' mid- to long-term growth. With this context in mind, I would now like to walk you through GlobalWafers' overall operating performance in 2025. First of all, let's take a look at our financial highlights.
GlobalWafers reported consolidated revenue of NTD 60.6 billion for the full year 2025, representing a year-over-year decrease of about 3.2%. As the company operates globally with a significant foreign currency exposure, revenue measured in U.S. dollar provides a clearer view of underlying performance. On the U.S. dollar base, full year revenue reached $1.947 billion, which was largely flat compared with 2024, including stable operating performance. In terms of gross margin, full year 2025 gross margin was 24.1%, while fourth quarter 2025 gross margin rebounded to 25.7%. The improvement reflects easing margin pressure from the third quarter, as well as improving process stability and operational efficiency at newly added capacities.
Certain one-off and non-recurring items also supported the quarterly margin performance. As these new capacities remain in the trial production now in the ramp-up stage, short-term margin may still fluctuate with changes in utilization and also the cost structure, energy costs, etc. Further details will be provided by Leah later in her presentation. Next, let's move to operating income and net profit. In terms of overall profitability, the full year operating margin for 2025 was 14.3%. The fourth quarter 2025 operating margin reached 16.4%. For net profit after tax, the full year net margin was 12.1%, with the fourth quarter 2025 net margin improving to 15.2%.
In terms of EPS, full year EPS for 2025 was 15.29 NTD per share. Fourth quarter EPS was NTD 4.6 per share. In terms of dividends, the board resolved to distribute the cash dividend of NTD 5.7 per share for second half 2025, with the payment scheduled for August 14th, 2026. Including the NTD 2 per share dividend already distributed for the first half 2025 in January 2026. Our full year 2025 cash dividend amounts to NTD 7.7 per share, representing a full year payout ratio of 50.4%. Okay. Next, let me share a little bit about our view of the industry overview.
AI continues to drive the development of the global technology industry and is contributing to a structural increase in semiconductor silicon content as system integration rises. Emerging applications such as humanoid robots, which integrate computing, sensing, controlling, power management, and communication, all the functions together, are driving demand not only for advanced nodes, but also across mature node and specialty processes. This underscores the continued importance of mature nodes in the semiconductor ecosystem and supports the industry mid- to long-term growth. At the same time, geopolitical shifts and global trade dynamics are prompting governments to strengthen semiconductor supply chain resilience and promote localized investment.
With its global footprint and localized manufacturing capabilities, GlobalWafers is well positioned to provide customers with a stable supply of critical materials while benefiting from long-term growth in the AI era. Global trade policies and tariff environments remain very uncertain. GlobalWafers treat the tariff as a market reality and incorporates these tariffs into our long-term planning. We also expect Section 232 semiconductor tariffs to be announced very soon and have been preparing accordingly. The United States continues to strengthen semiconductor supply chain resilience and promote localized investment, which aligns with GlobalWafers' long-term strategy. GlobalWafers operate fully integrated 12-inch wafer fabs across Asia, Europe, and the United States, located near major semiconductor clusters to ensure stable supply of critical materials.
In addition, the company strengthens supply chain resilience through multiple sourcing and localized alternatives, supporting stable production and delivery even amid policy changes or market volatility. AI is reshaping the growth dynamics of the semiconductor industry. Demand from AI and high-performance computing is concentrated in high specification, high value products. However, longer customer lead time, this is very important. Longer customer lead time means that this demand has not yet fully translated into wafer shipments, creating temporary lag. As inventories normalize and utilization improves, the operational impact is expected to become increasingly visible. Demand for advanced process technologies remain supported by cloud and AI deployment. Meanwhile, as inventories are gradually absorbed, the mature node market is also showing signs of improvement, supported by power and specialty applications.
Looking ahead to 2026, the wafer market is expected to recover moderately, with AI-related demand supporting higher utilization for 12-inch advanced wafers, SOI, and also gallium nitride. With a global footprint spanning nine countries, GlobalWafers is well positioned to capture AI-driven demand and advanced technologies. At the same time, demand for 6-inch, 8-inch, and compound semiconductor products is gradually improving now. The company's scale in small diameter wafers and long-term customer partners allow flexible capacity allocation, supporting higher utilization and long-term growth resilience. Next, let me present our view of the end market trends. The global macro environment remains uncertain, with factors such as geopolitical tensions, exchange rate fluctuations, and adjustment to U.S. tariffs and trade policies potentially affecting supply chains and market demand.
Therefore, our observations are based on current condition and may evolve as the broader environment change. First, in AI and computing infrastructure, large-scale data center continue to expand. While customers accelerate in adoption of custom ASIC chips as a result, AI-related investment remains structurally resilient and less dependent on traditional cyclical demand. In the memory market, demand from HBM and AI applications is shifting capacity toward higher value products, supporting continued upgrades in the overall product mix. For smartphone and PC, shipment growth remains moderate as replacement cycle lengthen. However, rising BOM costs and AI integration are driving OEMs toward higher-end products, helping support overall ASP resilience for semiconductor.
In the automotive and industrial sectors, the market has passed its inventory peak but remains in a mid-recovery phase. While EV adoption varies across regions, growth in hybrid vehicles and software-defined vehicles, SDVs, continue to support demand for automotive electronics. In advanced packaging, semiconductor packaging has evolved from a protective function into a key driver of value creation now. As AI, high-performance computing and silicon photonics continue to develop, demand for advanced and specialty wafers is increasing. In addition to 12-inch polished and epi wafers, GlobalWafers is strengthening its SOI 300-mm and silicon photonics capabilities while investing in 12-inch silicon carbide and square silicon wafers to support high-power applications, advanced thermal management, and 2.5D or 3D packaging technologies. These are our overall product and market trends in our product strategy.
As global expansion projects come online, GlobalWafers' overall operational focus has shifted from capacity construction to ramp-up in shipment growth. Over the past few years, the company made substantial investments to expand its global capacity, capital expenditure peaking at about NTD 48.3 billion in 2024. As major projects were completed, CapEx declined to about NTD 31.9 billion in 2025, representing a 34% year-over-year decrease. Although depreciation from new capacity may create short-term pressure on profitability, operations are gradually entering a stage where expansion benefits translate into revenue growth. The global expansion program is gradually delivering results with several key operational sites and product lines achieving strong revenue performance in 2025.
Our brownfield expansion in Asia and Denmark recorded record high revenue, while new fabs in Italy and the United States benefited from localized supply advantage, accelerating customers' qualification in trial production. Our operation in Texas, GWA, at the U.S. GWA site's phase I equipment installation is expected to be completed in April. Prior to this, GWA has shipped qualification samples to multiple customers and has, quote, "obtained a high volume manufacturing qualification with a Tier 1 customer." Capacity ramp-up is expected to start in Q2 2026. Customer engagement has increased, supported by an improving memory market environment and also strengthening relationship with key customers. As a result, GWA is currently experiencing requests from multiple customers to accelerate qualification timelines. Our operation in Missouri, St. Peters, the 12-inch SOI production line continues key equipment qualification.
While RF SOI and silicon photonics products have entered the production ramp stage, with capacity and revenue expected to grow throughout 2026, and local Missouri incentive have been received. In our Italy facility, all equipment has been installed with mass production expected in second half 2026 as customer qualification progresses. The first tranche of IPCEI subsidy, EUR 29.9 million, has just been formally dispersed. We just received the money, EUR 29.9 million the day before yesterday. The second tranche is currently under review and is expected to receive by end of 2026. Providing meaningful support to cash flow and financial structure of our Italian sites.
As Novara FAB 300 is dedicated to the EU market, operations have not been impacted by the conflict to date. Any potential impact would mainly related to energy prices, energy costs if the situation were prolonged, which is being mitigated through increased renewable energy usage in Italy, in our fab in Italy. Also, let me move to Japan. Our expansion in Utsunomiya, Japan, turned to profitability in Q4 2025 and has already begun repaying borrowings from last quarter and continues to maintain high utilization after securing qualification from advanced node customers. Overall, the company's expansion program is steadily translating into operational momentum right now. That's our Japan status. Driven by demand from AI, high performance computing, and silicon photonics, visibility for the company's advanced and specialty wafers demand has become increasingly clear.
Currently, all qualified 12-inch capacity, excluding newly added expansion capacity, is fully utilized, fully loaded. While utilization of 6-inch and 8-inch silicon wafers has also recovered, signaling gradually improving demand across mature node markets. In the compound semiconductor segments, gallium nitride capacity continues to operate at full utilization. This year we have already completed about a 30% expansion in gallium nitride capacity, with all newly added capacity fully recovered by customers' orders. For silicon carbide, SiC, rush orders for existing 6-inch and 8-inch products continue to increase. Meanwhile, 12-inch SiC and square silicon wafers have entered the customers' sampling qualification stage, with volume ramp-up expected to begin this year, depending on market conditions. Square silicon wafers have also completed development design and are currently in verification in pilot production right now.
Overall, with 12-inch advanced wafers fully utilized, small diameter demand recovering, and high value added products such as SOI, gallium nitride, and silicon carbide continuing to advance, GlobalWafers is seeing stronger product mix and demand visibility. The company's role as a key material supplier for AI, high performance computing, and advanced packaging applications is expected to continue strengthening. Finally, I would like to share a piece of good news with everyone. Recently in an article discussing Apple's effort to build a domestic semiconductor supply chain in the United States, The Wall Street Journal specifically highlighted GlobalWafers' new wafer fab in Texas, identifying it as one of the important upstream supply bases in the ecosystem.
This report once again demonstrates that as global supply chain continue to accelerate toward localization, our investment and presence in the United States are gradually demonstrating their strategic value. The Wall Street Journal also visited our U.S. facility to conduct on-site filming and interviews. If you are interested, we welcome you to take a look at the related article and the video coverage. Next I will move on to SAS. 2025 marked a year in which the long-term strategy initiatives of SAS gradually translated into tangible results, with overall operating momentum continuing to build. In the renewable energy segment, service-related revenue grew nearly sevenfold year-over-year from the service.
While the manufacturing business gradually improved from a challenging start to the year and expanded into overseas market, the group's affiliated companies also delivered strong performance. Actron and TSCC, Taiwan Specialty Chemicals Corporation, both achieved record high revenues, while TSCC recorded positive growth for four consecutive quarters, continuing to contribute growth momentum to the group. GlobalWafers maintained stable operation on its existing foundation, providing important support to the group. For the full year 2025, SAS reported a consolidated revenue of approximately NTD 78.2 billion, representing a 1.89% YoY decline. On a U.S. dollar basis, however, revenue reaches $2.51 billion, representing 1.24% YoY growth, reflecting the group's overall stable operating performance. Let me move to profitability.
For gross margin, the full year gross margin in 2025 was 25%, slightly lower than lower than 2024, primarily reflecting increased operating costs related to capacity expansion at the affiliated company, GlobalWafers. Operating margin was 13.8% for the full year 2025, and 17.3% in Q4, while net profit margin was 11.9% for the full year and 16.6% in Q4. The higher net profit in Q4 was mainly driven by valuation gains from from the increase in Siltronic's share price held by GlobalWafers. Regarding earnings per share, EPS for the full year 2025 was NTD 6.71 per share, and EPS for the fourth quarter was NTD 2.63 per share.
In terms of dividend policy, SAS's Board of Directors has approved a cash dividend of NTD 3.5 per share for 2025, including NTD 1.0 for the first half and NTD 2.5 for the second half. The overall payout ratio is approximately 52.2%, which is higher than the industry average. Next, I will briefly go over the operational highlights of several key subsidiaries and affiliate companies within the group. First, regarding SAS itself, the company completed a strategic organizational repositioning in 2025, focusing on two core areas, manufacturing and energy service, which are respectively led by SUN and SGE, enabling a more focused operational structure to respond to market developments in the global energy transition.
On the energy service side, SGE's electricity retail subsidiaries, SES and ANEW, reported combined revenue growth of nearly sevenfold in 2025 compared with the previous year. The cumulative volume of signed green power contracts has already exceeded 18 billion kWh. Supported by strong market demand for renewable electricity, the business expected to further grow, further enhance its market visibility and influence. SGE has now established a comprehensive renewable energy integration platform covering power generation, electricity retail, energy storage, and energy efficiency service, providing enterprises with one-stop energy solutions to support their net zero transition. On the manufacturing side, SUN's solar cells have achieved a conversion efficiency of 26%. This ranks among the industry leaders and has successfully passed multiple stringent reliability tests.
In addition to maintaining stable development in the Taiwan market, the company is also actively expanding into overseas high reliability niche applications, including U.S. solar market and low Earth orbit satellite applications. Turning to GlobalWafers in 2025, company reported total revenue and profit of NTD 60.6 billion. I'm not going to repeat this part, so just like what I presented at the very beginning of the report. Next, let me move to Actron. Actron reported revenue of NTD 8.11 billion in 2025, reaching a record high, marking the fifth consecutive year of growth.
In terms of product strategy, the company continues to strengthen its portfolio of silicon carbide, GaN, and high voltage power device, while actively expanding into high-growth application markets such as AI, energy, and electric vehicle, laying stronger foundation for future growth. AWSC reported the revenue of approximately NTD 4.12 billion in 2025. The company continues to deepen its technological capabilities in compound semiconductor, while actively expanding into emerging high-growth applications such as AI, drones, robotics, and autonomous driving. At the same time, in its core mobile and wireless communication markets, order momentum for power amplifiers and Wi-Fi related products has gradually recovered with demand improving since the fourth quarter of 2025 and continuing into the first quarter of 2026.
TSC reported consolidated revenue of NTD 1.99 billion in 2025, reaching a record high in market, marking the fourth consecutive year of growth. As advanced semiconductor process technologies continue to evolve, demand for disilane in AHF has increased, becoming an important growth driver for the company. In addition, through the acquisition of HJT, TSC has further strengthened its materials plus service integrated platform, expanding into semiconductor equipment components, cleaning and refurbishment service, and creating new growth opportunities for the future. As for HJT, revenue also reached a record high in 2025, with a December monthly revenue exceeding NTD 200 million, record.
For the first time, and with order visibility continuing to improve, the company has also secured a new facility to expand capacity, positioning itself well for future growth. Overall, the group's diversified strategic portfolio has begun to demonstrate synergies in 2025, laying a solid foundation for sustainable growth going forward. From an overall industry perspective, global renewable energy development continues to demonstrate strong momentum. According to the IEA, global renewable energy capacity is expected to increase by 4,605 GW between 2025 and 2030. In the United States, driven by demand from data centers and other power intensive industries, nearly 250 GW of additional renewable energy capacity is also expected to be added.
In Taiwan, supported by the government's policy target of increasing the share of renewable power generation to 30% by 2030, along with the introduction of carbon pricing mechanism and rising corporate decarbonization demand for solar energy and green power has gradually evolved into a structural and long-term growth trend. In terms of trade policy, the United States has recently adjusted tariffs on certain solar products. Under the current trade environment, Taiwan's supply chain maintains a relative favorable tariff position compared with other Asian countries. Leveraging its high conversion efficiency technology, stable product quality, and relatively advantageous tariff position, SAS will continue to position itself flexibly to capture the opportunity arising from ongoing market adjustment for solar cells, solar products.
Last but not least, I would like to share a little bit comments about SAS valuation. SAS serves as a strategic driver and enabler in enhancing synergies across the group through forward-looking investments and strategic alliance. The company has long been deepening its presence in three core sectors, semiconductor, automotive components, and renewable energy. Supported by precise industry positioning and long-term management, many of the company's affiliated investment have delivered stable and strong operational performance, gradually forming strategic synergies within the group. At the same time, in the renewable energy sector, SAS continues to expand its energy service platform and green power initiatives, creating diversified and long-term growth value for the group.
However, the market's current valuation of SAS has not been fully reflected in its underlying growth potential and intrinsic value. Based on share price, as of March 9th, 2026, if the market value of the affiliated company is aggregated according to SAS's respective shareholding ratios, the implied valuation of SAS would reach approximately NTD 118.5 billion, corresponding to an estimated share price of around NTD 185 per share. This represents a discount of approximately 42.9% compared with the market price at that time, suggesting that the group's overall value and growth potential have not yet been fully reflected in the current share price. We will keep presenting our company to the public and the shareholders.
I hope that SAS value can be recognized. Next, Leah will present the industry outlook and review SAS and GWC's 2025 performance forward, followed by a discussion of some key investor questions. Leah, please. Thank you.
Thank you, Doris. I will quickly update GlobalWafers and SAS recent development and answer questions we have received so far. Like what Doris just explained, that the semiconductor industry growth model is gradually shifting from the traditional shipment driven cycle. Now it's towards a more structural growth pattern driven by high value products and applications. AI applications have become the primary growth driver for advanced nodes, with incremental demand mainly from AI related logic and memory. Meanwhile, in mature nodes, supply demand conditions continue to improve as inventories are digested and the capacity adjust. As a result, the global semiconductor market is expected to approach $1 trillion by 2026, which is much earlier than the previously anticipated 2030 milestone. This growth is largely driven by AI- related products.
Next, we will outline GlobalWafers capacity deployment under the trend of global regionalization, driven by government support and the need for supply chain resilience, semiconductor investment expanding beyond Asia to North America and Europe. McKinsey estimates that accumulated semiconductor equipment spending between 2024 and 2030 could reach approximately $1.1 trillion. Against this backdrop, GlobalWafers has established a multi-regional manufacturing platform across Asia, United States and Europe to support the local demand and strengthen our supply chain resilience. Our key expansion projects are advancing as planned. New fabs in U.S. and Italy moving through ramp-up and qualification. Ongoing upgrades at existing sites, improving efficiency to support future growth. In parallel, upgrades at existing site have been completed to enhance our operational stability and efficiency to support our future growth.
In high technological barrier specialty wafer segments such as FZ and SOI, products require extremely high purity, stringent specs and long qualification cycles, resulting in a limited number of qualified suppliers and a strong structural demand. In the SOI segment, GlobalWafers' Missouri fab is the only fully integrated IP-independent layer transfer platform in the U.S.. With 12-inch capacity, it enables the company to reliably fulfill customers' old commitment. As demand for high value specialty wafer expands, GlobalWafers expects this business to grow approximately at 10%-15% CAGR over the next few years. Next, I would like to add more color on our gross margin. Gross margin in the fourth quarter of 2025 increased by 7.3 percentage points quarter-over-quarter, mainly driven by improved operations at new capacity, inventory valuation recovery, and several non-recurring and seasonal factors.
First, our Japan MJL facility improved from a gross loss position in the first three quarters to break even in the fourth quarter, contributing to about 3.2 percentage points. This reflects improving process stability and the production efficiency as the new facility gradually moved beyond the early trial production phase. MJL also began repaying borrowings in this quarter, indicating improving cash flow and operational stability. Next is LCN, a partial reversal of inventory valuation allowance contribute to about 2.7 percentage point, thus improving market conditions and higher utilization reduced the actual cost structure compared with our previous assumption. Next is our Italy subsidy. Government subsidy for the Italy facility met our accounting recognition criteria in the fourth quarter, contributing about 0.8 percentage points in the fourth quarter.
The first tranche of the subsidy, amounting to EUR 29.9 million, has been successfully disbursed. The second tranche is currently undergoing review. We expect to receive that by the end of 2026. The next, positive factor is electricity cost. Seasonally, lower electricity costs after the summer peak also supported the margins, contributing about 0.4 percentage points. Overall, our gross margin improved notably quarter-over-quarter, so margins may still fluctuate as new capacity continues to ramp up. Okay, for the full year 2025, GlobalWafers reported revenue of NTD 60 billion, gross margin of NTD 24.1 billion, net profit margin of NTD 7.3 billion, and EPS of 15.29 per share, reflecting that the new capacity remains in the ramp-up phase and profitability is still adjusting.
In terms of capital expenditures, GlobalWafers is nearing the end of its previously global expansion cycle. Most projects have been completed and have entered into the qualification and ramp-up stage. CapEx peaked in 2024, while 2025 CapEx totaled NTD 32 billion, representing a 34% YoY decline, and is expected to decline further in 2026. Operational focus will shift toward ramping up the existing capacity, improving yield and enhancing efficiency to strengthen operating leverage and the cash flow. However, as expansion projects initiated between 2022 and 2025 gradually move into mass production, our depreciation expenses will continue to rise. Depreciation as a percentage of revenue increased from 30% in 2024 to about 15% in 2025, and we expect that to still increase further in 2026.
Over time, depreciation pressure should gradually ease as government subsidies are recognized, as deduction from fixed assets and the utilization rate improves. Looking ahead, if trade policies and the global geopolitical development further strengthen local demand visibility, the company does not rule out the additional capacity expansion. Any such decision will be considered only if existing expansion projects demonstrate profitability and are supported by customers' commitment and government incentives while maintaining financial discipline. Next, I will explain how recent capacity expansion has affected our financial performance. The income statement also presents a simulation, assuming we do not undertake the recent global expansion. In that scenario, our short-term profitability would appear higher, with 2025 gross margin reaching about 31.4% compared with the actual gross margin at 24%. However, revenue scale would have been so much smaller.
Under that simulation, our 2025 revenue would have been about only NTD 58 billion, lower than the actual one. More importantly, without these investments, GlobalWafers would have had limited ability to participate in the mass production opportunities related to advanced process technologies and next-generation product platforms, which could weaken collaboration with key customers and reduce our long-term competitiveness. By contrast, proactive investment in capacity and the process capabilities positions us to capture the demand as advanced technology scale, laying the foundation for future growth. Therefore, also expansion place short-term pressure on financial performance. As new capacity ramps up and the utilization improves, these investments are expected to translate into revenue growth and stronger, longer term profitability.
Next, I will explain the balance sheet. As of the end of 2025, we have about NTD 19 billion in cash, including time deposit and restricted cash. Actually, our total cash related asset will exceed NTD 48 billion, reflecting strong financial flexibility. The change in PPE primarily reflects the impact of accounting recognition related to certain government subsidies and tax incentives. Based on auditor's professional judgment and in accordance with applicable accounting standards, the company has estimated and recognized the effects that are reasonably supported by current available information by reducing the carrying amount of relevant equipment.
As a result, both PPE and the total assets declined accordingly. The final amount of such subsidy remains subject to approval by the relevant authorities, and any differences will be accounted for in accordance with accounting standards. On the liability side, our short-term and long-term borrowings have increased because we have advanced our global expansion. However, we continue to maintain positive net interest income of about NTD 1.1 billion, reflecting the effective treasury management and the capital allocation.
Okay. Next, let me introduce SAS. Within the group, SAS plays a strategic role in integrating resources across subsidiaries, enhancing cross-industry synergies, and driving long-term growth. Through a forward-looking investment strategy, we have identified and partnered with companies with strong growth potential, gradually building a diversified portfolio spanning semiconductors, automotive components, and renewable energy. This portfolio provides SAS with multiple and resilient growth drivers, so we could strategically expose to key emerging applications such as AI, HPC, EV, power management, and advanced semiconductor materials. Historically, SAS revenue was mainly generated from renewable energy related business.
However, as our strategy has evolved, our revenue structure has become gradually more diversified and balanced, reducing reliance on single industry while creating new growth drivers. With the addition of affiliates, we have also seen a clear shift in our revenue mix. Supported by the stable operation of GlobalWafers, contribution from affiliate have contributed to an increase, rising from less than 1% in 2020 to 17.5% in 2025. This has further diversified SAS revenue base and reflects how our strategic investments and the industry positioning over the past years are gradually translating into new growth drivers. Next, this is the highlight of our key group companies. Overall, the group's major affiliates have maintained stable operations. Among them, Actron and TSC, Taiwan Specialty Chemicals, delivered a particularly strong growth, with both companies reaching record high revenue in 2025.
AWSC has also demonstrated solid growth momentum in recent years. Next, I would like to briefly introduce SAS renewable energy business. In response to global energy transition and rapid growth in corporate demand for green electricity, SAS repositioned the organization of its renewable energy business in 2025 to further strengthen its overall deployment strategy. Currently, the renewable energy segment focus on two key areas. First is integrated renewable energy solutions platform centered on SGE, and the second is the solar cell manufacturing business led by SAS. SGE has established the integrated service covering power generation, power sales, energy storage, and energy efficiency solutions. SUN, on the other hand, continues to expand into high-end applications such as U.S. solar market and the low Earth orbit satellite, supported by its high quality and high reliability products.
Through this dual structure of manufacturing and the energy services, the group continues to capture long-term growth opportunities arising from the global energy transition. Next page is the highlight of SGE, which has built a one-stop RE100 platform combining diversified renewable energy portfolio with energy management. In 2025, revenue from retail electricity subsidiary, SES and ANEW grew by 7 times YoY, with over 18 billion kWh of green power contracts signed, and REC trading ranking top three in Taiwan. As corporate demand for green power rises, the platform is set to be a key growth driver for SAS group's renewable energy business. Corporate demand for renewable energy is rising, driven by policy and structural factors. Taiwan's carbon fee will take effect in 2026, accelerating corporate decarbonization effort, while initiatives such as RE100, SBTi, and ESG supply chain requirements further support renewable energy adoption.
In addition, Taiwan's large electricity user renewable energy obligation, covering users with contracted capacity above 5,000 kW, provides a regulatory underpinning for the sustained green energy power demand. Together, these factors point to a long-term structural growth in renewable energy demand. Regarding U.S. solar tariff policy, the U.S. DOC has imposed anti-dumping and countervailing duties on solar products from four Southeast Asian countries, and has further issued a preliminary CVD duty determinations on solar cells and modules from Indonesia, India, and Laos. Overall, competition in the U.S. solar market is gradually shifting from price-based competition toward the supply chain compliance. Under this tariff framework, Taiwan solar supply chain maintains a relatively favorable tariff position, which also provides SAS with certain competitive advantages. In terms of profitability, SAS net income attributable to the parent remained solid in the fourth quarter of 2025.
SAS and most of its affiliated companies recorded YoY growth, and the overall earning structure continued to improve. From a business segment perspective, both the semiconductor and the renewable energy segments delivered a positive growth in Q4 2025, reflecting continued improvement in overall operating momentum. For the full year of 2025, consolidated revenue reached NTD 78 billion, representing a slight decline compared to 2024. From a business segment perspective, the semiconductor segment remained solid overall, while GlobalWafers' performance continued to reflect the ramp-up phase of its new capacity expansions. Both TSC and AWSC delivered strong operating results. Automotive component segment continued to grow, supported by record high revenue from Actron. Also, the renewable energy segment experienced a relatively slower performance. Quarterly results have shown continuous improvement. Next, I will add more color on SAS income statement.
On this slide, we also simulated figures to exclude the impact of GlobalWafers' global expansion. While these investments weigh on near-term results, they are expected to support long-term growth and profitability. Under the simulation, 2025 gross margin would have been approximately 30.8%, operating margin at nearly 20%, and net profit margin at 19%, underscoring the resilience of the company's core operating profitability. Okay, let's go to the balance sheet of SAS. On the asset side, PPE decreased year-over-year. This also reflects the accounting adjustment related to GlobalWafers' government subsidies. On the liability side, both short-term and long-term loan increased, mainly due to GlobalWafers' global expansion. Now, I will address both the questions we have received from investors recently and those we anticipate to be raised. Okay, the first is GlobalWafers.
What is our revenue outlook for 2026, and how do we view the future trend of gross margin? Okay, so looking at the operating environment for 2026, we think the overall signals we currently observe suggest that 2026 will likely to be a year of gradual improvement. In terms of overall revenue, when measured in original currency, which is USD, revenue is expected to be slightly higher than or broadly in line with 2025. AI-related applications remain a key driver. Meanwhile, certain non-AI segments, including power management, automotive, and industrial applications, have begun to show early signs of recovery after a period of adjustment. As a result, demand dynamics are gradually shifting from a previously AI-dominated pattern toward a more diversified growth profile, which could provide a multi-pillar support going forward. Overall, we maintain a cautiously optimistic outlook for the market environment this year.
As customers continue to digest inventories, more positive signals have gradually emerged. However, the global macroeconomic environment remains subject to uncertainties, including geopolitical tensions, tariffs, foreign exchange fluctuations, in particular, the developments in Middle East, which may have broader implications on transportation, energy costs, and overall consumer trends. We will continue to closely monitor the long-term market momentum. From a long-term perspective, we are still very positive and optimistic about the semiconductor industry structural growth trajectory. End market applications continue to evolve. The increase in silicon content has become a clear structural trend. Emerging applications derived from AI are expected to offer significant long-term potential, given their highly integrated system architectures, encompassing computing, sensing, control, power management, and communications.
This kind of application, they will require a lot of and very different of semiconductor components, and the demand is not limited to advanced nodes, but also includes a meaningful share of mature node and specialty technologies. We think this technology continue to advance, and we will consume a lot more silicon and semiconductors. In terms of gross margin trend, the improvement in gross margin in the fourth quarter compared with the third quarter mainly reflects the gradual easing of the factors that previously pressured margins in the third quarter. Nevertheless, as capacity utilization gradually increase, process stability improves, and the product mix shifts toward a higher-value-added offerings. Gross margin structure is expected to begin showing signs of improvement.
In addition, if relevant government subsidies are recognized according to schedule, they may help partially alleviate cost pressures and provide a further support for margins. Overall, in near term, gross margin may still fluctuate alongside ramp-up progress and cost structure. However, as subsidy recognition progresses, new capacity ramps up, utilization improves, and the product mix upgrades, we think the positive effects are expected to gradually emerge, supporting a progressive recovery in long-term gross margins. Next is about our capital increase proposal. On March 3rd, GlobalWafers announced that the board approved the issuance of unsecured corporate bond, as well as potential domestic cash capital increase through issuance of common shares or GDRs. Could the company share whether there are any specific execution plans or timelines for these initiatives? The proposal is our routine annual authorization arrangement.
The primary purpose is to maintain financial flexibility and funding options under different market conditions, and they do not indicate that we are going to issue bonds or issue shares in the near term. In general, when Taiwanese companies establish such authorizations, it is typically from the perspective of capital structure planning and risk management, allowing the company to prepare for potential future growth opportunities, such as possible M&A or adjustment in operating scale under different business scenarios. At the same time, given that the current international political and economic environment remains highly uncertain, company will also seek to preserve more cash on hand buffer to reduce potential financial risk and cost in the future. The above explanation reflects the general market practices and corporate governance considerations, rather than any indication of specific or near-term actions by GlobalWafers.
From an execution standpoint, the current authorization serves as a standby arrangement, and it is part of our annual planning process, which will be reviewed and resubmitted every year. The object is to maintain our financial flexibility and operational resilience rather than announcing any predetermined capital market decisions. The next is LTA execution. While some customers remain cautious in advancing new LTA agreements due to ongoing inventory adjustment, macroeconomic uncertainties, and the evolving tariff policies, we are also seeing a constructive shift in customer behavior. Against the backdrop of increasing supply chain localization requirement and more fluid policy environment, several representative international customers, they have proactively engaged with us to discuss the new LTA cooperation frameworks. These discussions are aimed at early planning for local supply, mitigating policy-related risk, and ensuring supply stability.
Okay, the next is what is the impact of Italian government subsidy on your financial results? The Italian grant we have obtained, a government subsidy, with the first tranche fully approved and the related cash amount of EUR 29.9 million. We received that in early March. In accordance with accounting standards, this one-time recognition of subsidies was completed in the fourth quarter in 2025. Of the total amount, a portion was recognized as other income while the remaining amount was recorded as reduction of PPE, which in turn led to a decrease in depreciation expenses. As a result of a reduced carrying value of fixed assets, depreciation expense is expected to decline by approximately a few million NTD per quarter going forward, thereby continuing to provide a modest improvement in gross margin.
In terms of gross margin impact, the subsidy in Q4 is about 0.8 percentage point, while the impact of full year 2025 is about 0.2 percentage point. Next is our outlook of mature node technologies. Looking into 2026, we think the mature node market will show gradual and positive recovery, although the path of recovery remains uneven across different segments. From a regional perspective, Europe's recovery is driven more by improvement in pricing and product mix. Momentum likely concentrated at the second half of the year. In North America, the demand remains relatively stable, so still influenced by tariff and the pricing dynamics. In China, domestic demand has been relatively moderate. Exports of new energy vehicles and hybrid vehicles continue to provide support.
In Japan, automotive demand has begun to rebound from its bottom. Overall, we think the market is moving in a gradual upward direction, although the recovery remains uneven. Okay. Next is the recent geopolitical situation in the Middle East affected GlobalWafers' logistics delivery schedules or your operations? As of now, the situation in the Middle East has not a material impact on GlobalWafers' shipments, delivery schedules, or overall operations. From a risk management perspective, we adjust our logistics strategy several months ago. We avoid the higher risk route and adopting alternative shipping lanes that are safer and well established. In parallel, we have completed a comprehensive review of our key inventory, key materials in use, including helium. Based on existing inventory levels and confirmed supply, these materials are sufficient to support multiple years, and we have ample supply inventory in our supplier site.
There is no near-term supply issues. We continue to closely monitor developments such as energy price volatility, potential shipping risk related to the Strait of Hormuz, and the possible impacts on certain semiconductor materials and logistics costs. Okay. This is the question for GlobalWafers. Next, I will answer the questions regarding SAS. The investor would like to know SAS' outlook in 2025 and outlook for 2026. Overall, the 2025 marked an important year for SAS because we have optimized our group structure and operational model, with impact of this adjustment gradually reflected into our stability of operations. In 2026, we think that semiconductor industry will gradually recover.
Renewable energy service is likely to grow and overseas manufacturing expansion progress, so we think the overall operating performance will develop toward a more stable and resilient trajectory based on its existing foundation. Next is the Iran related conflict. Does it have any impact on SAS operation? At this stage, the related tension has not resulted in any material impact on SAS as well. Because from a cost perspective, while we are monitoring the potential fluctuation in certain raw material and the shipping prices, such impacts are managed through our commercial arrangements with our customers. In addition, our shipment do not transit through the Strait of Hormuz. As a result, the overall impact on SAS cost structure remains limited. Overall, we will continue to monitor the development in the region, including the freight cost and the energy cost. Next is regarding SAS deployment in solar.
In LEO, the low Earth orbit. In LEO application, the marketplace has extremely high requirements on material reliability, durability, and long-term performance stability. The entry barrier is actually very high. SAS leverages its material PERC process as a technological foundation. Compared with the traditional material, this approach provides advantage in cost efficiency and production flexibility. Also, through our proprietary MWT back contact cell design, we are able to effectively mitigate performance degradation caused by space radiation. I think it's all about the questions anticipated. Now we would like to answer the questions we received from the Slido.
The first from Stanley from SinoPac. "What is the revenue contribution from SOI wafer in 2025? How is the revenue distributed across different wafer sizes? The second is to consider the license deal with Soitec will terminate at mid-2026. Are you still able to ship SOI wafer using the backside grinding SOI, a Smart Cut SOI for 8-inch and 12-inch SOI wafers?"
Let me answer this question. The revenue contribution from SOI wafer in 2025 is below 10% of GWC total revenue, and 100% of the revenue is 200 mm. In 2025, we start 300 mm SOI wafer from 2026. Basically, we have maybe a little bit sample of a 300 mm SOI last year, but super majority of the revenue in 2025 was from 200 mm SOI. BESOI, I don't know you mean BGSOI or what. Stanley, maybe correct me or send me some message about BESOI.
No matter what, we don't have any issue to deliver the SOI wafer we are supplying to customer and developing for customer for now. I need to double-check with our engineers about maybe we use different nickname, BESOI. We use BGSOI , but let me clarify BESOI, and we'll get back to you. In general, a very straightforward answer for your question is that there is no limitation. We have our own IP. We have the whole full IP production and substrate turnkey supply for SOI wafer, no matter for 200 mm or 300 mm. That's my answer to your question. Thank you, Stanley for your question. Next?
Next is Katie Chung from Economic Daily. "Could you please provide an update on your company's progress regarding perovskite solar business development?"
Yeah, perovskite is definitely a new material for solar. It's very different from the silicon-based solar wafer we are producing today. SES haven't started the production or any investment for perovskite solar yet. Our R&D team and all of our market team monitor this very closely. Not only looking at the technology, but also we are studying how China is developing this or how they use this for BIPV or how Japan provide the incentive to perovskite solar. That's Japan's status. We are evaluating, we are monitoring the market progress, and also we are checking the technology.
We know that there are some pros, but also, there are some weak points of this technology, so we are evaluating. What's even more critical is that payback analysis. That's very critical because if we enter this business, it's totally different from the silicon-based solar wafer we've been working for over 20 years. That's totally new stuff. That means that you have to develop the whole thing. Maybe the only thing you don't have to reinvest is clean room. You just use the existing clean room, but you have to develop a lot of things. For this product, a quick answer is that no, we don't have any business or big investment for this now.
Number two is that we are monitoring the market, and also we are visiting a lot of perovskite solar companies, checking that any synergy we can develop. Up to now, we are still trying to work out some solution to overcome the technology weak points and also try to work out a reasonable payback analysis. That's where we are. Thank you. Next.
Next is Phelix Lee from Morningstar. "Can you provide an outline of 2026 CapEx budget and the trend of 2027, given the tight logic and memory markets today? Geographically, how will this CapEx be split?" Phelix, I think I already answered part of your question in my introduction of GlobalWafers because we are already past the peak. The CapEx peak is 2024. In 2026, we just have a little engineering or construction that we need to complete. I think the overall 2026 CapEx amount will be much less than 2025. This is under the precondition that we do not kick off any further expansion.
Because we have sensed a lot of positive momentum in our local customers especially during the war and during the shortage of memory and the AI chips, they all want to secure local supply. There are some preconditions for any further expansion. One is the profitability of the current expansion. The second one is customer's commitment, which is prepayment and the LTA. The third one is government support. If there is no further expansion, I think 2026 and 2027, the CapEx will go down further.
Thank you, Leah. Yes, that's exactly right. And let me share a little bit about the current status of our- we receive a lot of invitation from our customers, especially American customers, inviting us to make further expansion. In the U.S., in Texas, we're in phase I, but we are requested by some customers to make further expansion for phase II or even phase III. Phase III means building two. We have a lot of discussion with our customer, but again, just like what Leah said, that we have some precondition. The condition has to be met before we really trigger the further expansion.
I think by end of this year, maybe we'll make a decision for phase II expansion, go or no go. We'll make a decision for that. Not only Texas 300 mm advanced silicon wafer, I think our SOI, 300 mm SOI wafer, we receive a lot of requests from our customer to expand our 300 mm SOI capacity as well, and we are still evaluating. No firm decision yet, but we're still working on this. That's just for your information. Thank you. Next.
Next is to follow up on CapEx. "What is the approximate depreciation YoY growth in 2026 for GlobalWafers without factory and government grants? What is the peak depreciation for GlobalWafers?" In 2025, I think the depreciation to revenue is about 15%. In 2026, the depreciation will go up. I think that will be 16%-20%, much closer to 20%. That is 2026. Without factoring in government grants, what is the peak depreciation? I think that would be 2027.
Yes. Roughly.
Yeah. Thank you. Okay, the next is Erica Chen: "Could you explain the tariff structure currently applicable on SAS solar cells and your relative, competitive position compared with peers under the current trade, framework?" Okay.
I think this is talking about U.S. market, right?
Yeah.
The tariff.
This is about solar.
Solar U.S. market?
U.S. market.
Yes. Yeah.
I think in Taiwan, we have relatively favorable tariff structure because now in SAS, our AD/CVD tariff rate is 2.57%. This is quite advantageous.
Yeah. For SAS or?
For SAS only. I think SAS has a pretty low AD/CVD rate among all Taiwan peers. Taiwan peers is close to 20%.
Yeah, right. In overseas South Asia's countries, many of them are even higher than 100%. In China, also higher than 100%. That means that SAS first of all, Taiwan is very advantageous, and SAS among all the other, compared with all the other Taiwanese solar companies, I think we're doing pretty okay. We're very competitive. Not only the tariff, but also efficiency. Our efficiency is now already achieved exceeding 56%. That's our strength as well. Thanks for your question.
Oh, thank you. The next is from an investor that has China's recent export control measures targeting certain Japanese entities had any impact on GlobalWafers' operation or supply chain? Actually, we do a clear review on everything that is listed in the China customs. We do not use any of the materials, so there is no impact to GlobalWafers for now.
Yes. The recent export control announced by China was to 40 Japanese companies, so we review one by one, because those 40 companies are very important material company or a semiconductor-related company. We review one by one to make sure that we no impact to GWC group. The answer is positive, that we're okay for this, for those 40 companies export control. Thank you. Next?
Okay. Next. "Could you help us understand the subsidy application update for OBBA in the U.S., and could you help us understand the pricing trend of 8-inch and 12-inch wafer?" Okay. The main change in OBBA that affects GlobalWafers is that it has increased the tax incentive from 25% - 35% for facilities that place in service in 2026. This is additional 10% tax incentive for GlobalWafers, so we are very grateful for that.
Yes. The pricing trends. Let me add a little bit color for the OBBA. Yes, the advantage, the benefit for us is that, because of the OBBA, our AMIC, Advanced Manufacturing Investment Credit increase from 25% - 35%. That means that, as I already said, our investment is meet the criteria, it's eligible, then we can get 35% grant from U.S. government. We just filed the very first time for OBBA 35% aid right now. We haven't got the payment yet, so that's the current status. We're going to do this every year, so we'll review. We'll keep working on this one.
The current pricing trend for 8-inch and 12-inch, I think, right now is. Or I should put it this way, that Q4 and Q1 should be the bottom of the pricing 8-inch, 12-inch because rush orders pop up more and more. Actually, price right now I won't say that we're seeing very good price improvement. No, it's again, it's uneven. For some advanced ones, we do see much more much better price improvement. But for the ordinary products like ordinary or mature- node, I think price is still flat. Because demand is strong, utilization is very high right now especially for 12-inch.
We have a little bit better position and better chance to improve our overall product mix and our ASP, starting from now. Q4 last year and Q1 is the bottom of the whole ASP trend. That's our view.
Okay, thank you. Now the floor is open for live questions. If you have any questions, please use the Webex raise hand feature. Once acknowledged, please be ready to accept the host invitation to unmute your microphone and share your thoughts. Okay. Let me think. Is there any questions? Okay, I see Sunny Lin from UBS. You have already raised your hand, so please accept our invitation to unmute yourself. Hi, Sunny. Sunny, can you hear us?
Hi, Leah. Hi, Doris. Could you hear me okay?
Hi. Hello. Good afternoon, Sunny.
Thank you very much for taking my question. Number one, I want to double-check with you on your 2026 outlook. Earlier you mentioned total revenue could be flat or up a bit for 2026. But you also mentioned pricing is stabilizing, product mix should improve, and then you are also adding more capacity. Does that imply your guidance of a flat or up a bit growth for this year could be a bit conservative?
Yes, that's a good question. Actually, we do see a lot of recovery, a lot of rush orders, and it seems that demand is getting stronger. The point is then, our customers, I mean, our customers are still pretty conservative. They can tell you that, "Yeah, Q1, I need this rush order." We ask, "How about Q2? How about Q3? Can you give us some forecast for the coming three quarters?" Many of our customers are relatively conservative. They wanna make sure that this is just not, you know, because the inventory, some products' inventory is really pretty low. Is that just because they want to increase their DOI a little bit, or it's real demand driven? We're still monitoring this.
I think we'll be able to give you a better answer, maybe in a couple months. The points that we wanna see is this a real demand driven increase or just inventory is too low, so they just want to improve their inventory level a little bit. That's what we need to figure out. For example, just the past couple weeks, we receive a lot of rush orders of silicon carbide, and I ask our customer that yeah, we're very okay to make further expansion, the tools we want to install more tools to increase our silicon carbide capacity. We ask our customer to commit and tell us that how many wafer capacity you want.
The customers are still pretty conservative, and part of the reason is that geopolitics is another issue. They don't know how long the geopolitical constraint will be lasting. Also, how much the oil price and energy cost will fluctuating. I think demand is here right now, but customers are a little bit conservative now. Leah, you wanna add something?
Yes. We actually in Lunar New Year, all the Taiwan colleagues, they have to do the overtime regardless which diameter it is according which includes both small diameters and big diameters. We have seen some good improvement. We have also seen rush orders in the U.S. or in different regions. But like Doris said, we are still monitoring if the momentum that could sustain a few more quarters. Yeah.
Got it.
Thank you, Sunny.
Yeah. Well, maybe a quick follow-up in terms of your revenue mix. Would you be able to quantify how large cloud AI related, combining advanced logic and advanced memory, is overall within your total sales?
By products, it's hard, but by diameter, I think over 2/3 of our revenue is from 300 mm. Over 2/3 or close to 70% is from 300 mm. How much is for logic, how much for memory? We don't have the detail yet.
Got it. Okay, sure. Maybe a second question on gross margin. Earlier, you mentioned depreciation could peak in 2027. Does that refer to depreciation as a percentage of sales or in terms of absolute amount?
I think both.
Yes, both.
Well, for your absolute depreciation amount to start to drop, does that mean some of your current capacity, the depreciation will start to roll off pretty substantially from 2027? Since you are still ramping new capacity globally.
I think our depreciation right now, because some of the tools we have already installed, but they haven't passed the final acceptance confirmation yet. That means that we have the tools. We're testing using them, trying to run, but haven't started the depreciation. We believe that within the next couple quarters, more and more tools will pass the qualification, and we'll start ramping up. By our internal definition, we have our criteria when you have to start the depreciation. That's why we are expecting to see more depreciation in the coming quarters.
Got it.
Also, as I said, that, you know, many of our customers are requesting us to add more capacity. That means that even in phase I, they want us to add a little bit more advanced tools here, there. It's very likely that we will increase our scale of phase I. Even that's still phase I, but we will add several. For example, maybe we add some advanced epi reactor, advanced lapping tools, and advanced, like, SP1, some special measurement tools. All of those discussions, we're still talking with our customers, so it's very likely that we'll add some more tools, much more than our original plan. That was why we believe that our depreciation will increase a little bit in the coming quarter.
I see. You mentioned for GWA the first phase will be as large as 300,000 wafers per month?
Correct.
Is there a timeline, that you'll get to the full capacity?
Yeah.
I think the installation has or will be completed in April. You said the ramp-up schedule, when we will get a full capacity. Not all our customers, because actually GWA, it doesn't only serve USA customers. It has the ability to serve worldwide customer. Just now we sense a very strong momentum and demand from local customers. They ask GWA to accelerate the qualification process much so much faster than our original schedule.
Our original schedule is that GWA phase I, 300,000 wafer a month, should be able to fully load it by end of 2027. It's very likely that it will be pulled ahead.
I see. Got it. Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Thank you, Sunny. Next is Donnie from Nomura. Donnie, please accept our invitation to unmute yourself. Hi, Donnie. Can you hear us? We cannot hear you yet.
Hello, Donnie.
Please accept our invitation.
Hello, can you hear me?
Yeah. Great. Hi, Donnie.
Hi, Chairlady. Hi, Leah. Thank you for taking my question. Just two-
Glad to, Donnie. Yes.
Good afternoon. Yes, just two very short questions. The first one is regarding your outlook on the semi-wafer industry, supply-demand dynamics. When will you expect the sufficiency rate to improve further to maybe over 90% or even higher in the coming quarters? Second question is regarding to Chairlady. I think you have become the Chairlady of AWSC as well. Can you give us more color on whether you have any kind of strategic consideration in terms of you know, improving AWSC's operation or business opportunities in the future? Thank you.
Okay. Let me answer the second question first. Yeah. AWSC is a very good team, and they focus on RF semiconductor compound material foundry. It's a very unique company, and I believe that, Donnie, as you know, that GWC has a lot of compound material as well, so there is some synergies. I believe that if these two companies work much closer together, we'll be able to generate. We can leverage with each other, and AWSC will be able to develop more new products, accelerated launch schedule, of the new product to their customer. That's our plan. I'm expecting further synergy, leverage, of both companies, AWSC and GWC for the compound material.
You know, GWC focuses, AWSC focuses on 6-inch, GWC Taiwan is very good at 6-inch compound. I think that's another reason that we work together. I'll put it this way, that up to now, AWSC is almost very high percentage of AWSC's material is gallium arsenide. But after, I think in the next several quarters, I think AWSC will accelerate their non-gallium arsenide compound material as well, deliver the material to the market. That's my answer to the second question.
Okay, Donnie, the first sufficiency rate. Do you mean our U.S. fabs, they have.
For the industry.
Yeah.
Meaning industry-wise.
Okay. For the industry, I think it should be over 90%. I mean I'm talking about 12-inch only. It should be over 90% in the second half 2027 because more and more advanced packaging 2.5D -3D advanced packaging technology will need more wafers. Will need the whole production more demand more wafers as well, including some wafers some special designs they need two wafers per device or even over two wafers per device. So we think that for the whole industry, 300 mm overall utilization rate will be over 90% by end of 2027. That's our view. For small diameter, I mean for 200 mm is currently it's over capacity.
I don't think that it will be. It's recovering. You'll be getting over 85%- 88% very soon, maybe by Q1 next year. I mean, the whole industry will improve. Right now it's about low 80s or even high 70s something, 8-inch. But you will be getting better. But I think maybe it's not. It will take some time to really get back to 90%, if it can make it that way. Because for the industry, it's that if you have a little bit bigger volume 8-inch device, then the best, the most cost competitive way is that you migrate to 12-inch. That's a better way. As long as that 8-inch capacity is available in the market, then everyone, those 8-inch main runners will be migrated to 12-inch.
That will be the direction. You will see 12-inch increase the utilization rate before you see 8-inch improve. That's the current status. That's our view. I hope you find this okay. If you need more details, feel free to reach out to us.
Yeah, I could add more color to this. Like what we just discussed with every investor and stakeholder that we have seen, quite a lot of improvement in utilization rate recently. If we exclude all the new expansion lines, actually GlobalWafers, 12-inch wafer, the utilization is fully loaded. Some sites even more than 100%.
Correct.
Yeah. In terms of eight-inch and six-inch wafer utilization, actually it also improved quite a lot, by 10%-15% this quarter. I think there, this is a sign of recovery, just that this might be uneven, and we need to monitor whether this is sustainable.
Understood.
Yeah.
Very clear. Thank you, Leah and Chairlady.
Thank you, Donnie.
Thank you. 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. Bye-bye.
Thank you. Bye-bye.