At a glance. A third-highest-ever second quarter on NT$16.0bn of sales, with the margin eaten by new-plant depreciation and power bills — and, in the prepared remarks, an unusually plain 800V sentence for a wafer house: AI demand includes GPU, HBM, cooling, 800-volt power supplies and AI-server cabinets. Compound split the other way: GaN full, capacity +30% by year-end; SiC in a price collapse, and the company said it was staying in.
What changed this quarter
The top line held; the margin did not, on the company's own terms. Q2 sales NT$16.0bn, +2.7% QoQ and +4.5% YoY, the third-highest second quarter on record. H1 NT$31.6bn, +3.9%, also a third-highest first half. Gross margin 25.8% in Q2 and 26.1% in H1 — "not good enough" versus GlobalWafers' own history, even if it looks ordinary versus peers. Two named causes: depreciation as the six-country build-out comes online, and high electricity in Taiwan, Korea and Japan.
In dollars the quarter was stronger. The spokesperson said that on a US-dollar basis Q2 sales grew nearly 10% sequentially. The NT$ print took a sharp second-quarter appreciation.
No new LTA prepayment landed. Customer prepayments were still NT$27.3bn (~US$0.93bn) at quarter-end. US customers were already talking about securing the new local capacity; none of that had become a prepaid long-term agreement in Q2.
The first CHIPS Act cash arrived. US$200m on 15 June, about 50% of the cash grant, already on the books as a reduction of US plant fixed assets. The US programme is two plants — Texas 12-inch from crystal to epi, Missouri 12-inch SOI — described as about US$4bn, with 10% CHIPS cash and 25% tax credit (rising to 35% for 2026-placed facilities under the One Big Beautiful Bill).
The numbers
| Q2 2025 | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue | NT$16.0bn (~US$508m) | +2.7% QoQ, +4.5% YoY |
| Gross margin | 25.8% | −0.6pp QoQ (H1 26.1%) |
| Operating margin | 15.2% | H1 15.9% |
| Net margin | 10.5% | H1 about 9.9% |
| EPS | NT$3.52 (~US$0.11) | after FX losses; H1 NT$6.56 |
Interest-bearing debt NT$67.3bn (~US$2.14bn), −6.4% QoQ. A large slice of total liabilities is customer prepayments, which do not carry interest.
A company simulation that strips out the expansion programme and the Siltronic mark-to-market put H1 EBITDA margin at 37.2% versus a reported 26.9%, and EPS at NT$10.91 versus NT$6.56. That is a management exhibit, not the statutory P&L.
NVIDIA 800V read-through
The chair named 800-volt power supplies in the same breath as GPU, HBM, cooling gear and AI-server cabinets — the AI pockets she said were carrying semiconductor demand. That is a market list, not a wafer SKU.
GlobalWafers sits under the switch. If an 800 V conversion stage uses SiC or GaN, someone has to grow the substrate. What this call actually printed on compound:
- GaN — demand still full; capacity guided another 30% by the end of 2025; orders already in hand.
- SiC — "price collapse," "still very large market pressure." The company said it had not exited and still believed the material would find its applications.
There is no 800V mix figure, no named hyperscaler, and no claim that the SiC wafers on the book are HVDC wafers. The 800V sentence is why this wafer house belongs on the map. The P&L that moved the quarter is 12-inch silicon, US and European depreciation, and FX.
Segments that moved
Silicon is the company. After the current build-out, 12-inch is guided to about two-thirds of capacity, half of that for advanced nodes. Japan and Taiwan 12-inch epi shipments had already been hitting record highs. Italy 12-inch was still being built and had started sampling, with volume aimed at the end of 2025. Texas GWA and Missouri 12-inch SOI were sampling; 2025 US revenue from those lines was described as small — samples and test-monitor wafers at GWA, "a few hundred million NT dollars" of 300 mm SOI.
Inventory correction, as a market story, was declared over. The chair said more customers now report healthy inventories; what the recovery is waiting for is political uncertainty to settle and new end demand — not another destock. AI is the exception that is already strong. Everything else, including cars, looked dull.
RE100 was pulled forward from 2050 to 2040, framed as a customer requirement on a low-carbon supply chain.
Guidance
- Q3 2025 sales under some pressure: customers pulled what they could into Q2 to get ahead of possible reciprocal tariffs, a lot of it in June. Gross margin still pressed by rising US and European depreciation. Overall "about like Q2, or a bit of operating pressure."
- 2026 US sales "will definitely grow a lot" versus a tiny 2025 base, once GWA and the SOI plant contribute for a full year. US plants are named as one of the largest 2026 growth sources.
- Depreciation as a share of sales: 12–13% in 2024, 16–20% in 2025, a plateau in 2026, with US subsidies able to cut the future charge once they hit the asset register.
- Italy and the US plants expected to start contributing from 2H 2025 into 1H 2026.
Management Q&A
Q: What is the US expansion progress, and have the subsidies been received?
A: Two US plants are expanding: Texas 12-inch from crystal to epi, and Missouri 12-inch SOI, together about a US$4bn programme. 10% is CHIPS Act cash, paid on milestones; 25% is a tax credit. The first cash grant — about 50% of the cash piece, US$200m — arrived in June and is already on the financials. The One Big Beautiful Bill lifts the tax-credit rate from 25% to 35% for facilities placed in service in 2026.
Q: Do peers have wafer plants in the United States, and does that give GlobalWafers a pricing advantage?
A: The last new 12-inch wafer plant in the US was 21 years ago. Apart from GlobalWafers' two plants under construction, nobody else is building one. Some long-term contracts signed before construction already price in a local-production premium. If Section 232 makes imported wafers more expensive, customers would, quality equal, prefer the local plant even at a slightly higher wafer price. Pricing talks have not started; work is still in qualification, and some customers are discussing how much capacity they will need.
Q: Outlook for Q3 revenue and gross margin? ASP gap between advanced and mature 12-inch? US sales growth this year and next?
A: Q3 sales should see some pressure, because customers pushed June shipments forward to get ahead of possible tariffs, and the company cannot pull as much again. Depreciation at the new US and European plants is still rising month by month. Taken together, the quarter looks about like Q2, or with a bit of operating pressure. The advanced-versus-mature ASP gap is more than 10%, but specs vary too widely for a single number. 2026 US sales will grow a lot versus 2025: GWA this year is only samples and test-monitor wafers, and 300 mm SOI is only a few hundred million NT dollars; both should contribute through the year in 2026. US plants are one of the largest 2026 growth sources.
Q: Which way does 2026 depreciation go?
A: The NT$100bn capex plan announced in February 2022 is concentrated in 2024 and 2025. Depreciation was 12–13% of sales in 2024 and is guided 16–20% in 2025. 2026 is a plateau. Once the US plants are in the fixed-asset register, subsidies reduce the depreciable base and can pull the charge down.
Q: How are the US tax incentives booked? Do they wait until the US plants are profitable?
A: Two pots. CHIPS Act cash is US$406m in total; US$200m arrived on 15 June and is a reduction of US-plant fixed assets. AMIC, the Advanced Manufacturing Investment Credit, is 25% through 31 December 2025 and 35% next year. It does not have to wait for US-plant profit: the company can take it as a direct cash form. This year's 25% filing is already in; first cash is expected next year, and the next filing would be at 35%.
Q: What is the long-term tax rate, and what is the dividend payout?
A: The tax rate is usually in the low 20s. Recent 30%-plus quarters came from the overseas subsidiary that holds Siltronic shares. The charter pays at least 50% of distributable earnings after legal and special reserves. In an expansion year the payout is expected to sit near 50%.
Q: Where does the Section 232 investigation stand?
A: Taiwan's reciprocal tariff is 20%. Semiconductor wafers are still on the exemption list, so wafers entering the US carry no duty for now. Section 232 will set the country-by-country rate; the chair said a final rate was expected in about two weeks and that figures of 100–300% had been mentioned but were not decided. GlobalWafers' hedge is nine producing countries and customers already qualifying more than one site — the same playbook it says kept sales rising through 2023. Polysilicon, the melt stock, is on a separate inquiry; the company has qualified suppliers in Asia, Europe and the Americas.
Disclaimer
English notes on GlobalWafers' investor conference of 18 August 2025, covering Q2 2025. Figures and statements are as presented by management, are unaudited, and have not been independently verified. USD equivalents are approximate at about NT$31.5 to the dollar. For reference only; not investment advice. Later public calls, including 4 November 2025 and 4 August 2026, are not in this archive and are not covered here.