Xu Xiulan, chairman of the silicon wafer manufacturer Global Crystal, said that the performance of this quarter is a trough, the second quarter is flat or slightly increased, the demand in the second half of the year will be better than the first half of the year, it is estimated that the annual revenue will be flat or a single digit slight growth, the gross profit margin will be flat or slightly reduced, and the outlook for next year will be better.
In view of this year's business outlook, Xu Xiulan put forward the above views.
Global Wafer is the world's third largest semiconductor silicon wafer factory, and silicon wafers are important materials in the upstream of semiconductors.
Even if the revenue of Global Crystal does not rise this year, its profit has also encountered challenges.
However, Xu Xiulan saidThe outlook for the silicon wafer industry from this year to 2026 is still optimistic, and AI will drive demand recovery. Driven by factors such as the application of IoT sensors, the popularization of high-speed 5G technology, the expansion of satellite networks, and the rise of data centers and AI, the industry expects the semiconductor market to continue to grow strongly until 2030.
There are three performance drivers of silicon wafers this year, mainly 12-inch wafers, polished wafers, and compound semiconductors. In terms of gross profit margin, the main factors are the increase in depreciation and the expected possibility of electricity prices in many regions around the world**.
In view of the fact that customers are prioritizing the digestion of existing inventory, Xu Xiulan expects that the revenue in the second half of the year will be healthier than the first half of the year, but compared with the downstream industry, the economic recovery will be delayed by one to two quarters.
As of the end of last year, the total amount of pre-payment received by Global Crystal was about 11$600 million, a slight decrease from the $1.2 billion revealed at the previous legal conference.
Based on the fact that the vast majority of customers continue to fulfill long-term contracts, and although they continue to sign new contracts, they will not be as many as in the previous two years, Xu Xiulan estimates that the total amount of prepayment will decline this year and next year, but there will be a new wave of long-term contracts and prepayment in 2026.
Global Crystal expects to spend about 100 billion yuan on the expansion of existing plants and new plants, of which about 30% has been spent last year, 50% will be spent this year, and about 15% and 5% will be spent next year and 2026 respectively.
The new factory in the United States is currently under construction according to the plan, and it is planned to send samples before the end of this year, and the first phase of production capacity can be mass-produced next year.
Global Crystal has previously announced last year's financial report, with a consolidated revenue of 706500 million yuan, an annual increase of 05%, three consecutive years of growth, and continued to hit a new high, net profit after tax of 197700 million yuan, an annual increase of 286%。
Talking about the development of the semiconductor industry, Xu Xiulan pointed out that from 2023 to 2027, it is estimated that AI will continue to maintain the largest proportion of terminal applications in the semiconductor market, and ** will have the highest compound annual growth rate.
Global Crystal also mentioned that according to Gartner's latest**, the market share of AI PCs will increase from 10% in 2023 to 43% in 2025, while the market share of generative AI application mobile phones will increase from 1% to 32%.