Globalwafers Co Ltd Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.

Question: Sunny Lin - UBS Investment Bank - Analyst : So my first question is pretty simple. So everyone is trying to have best guess on your gross margin, especially into 2025 and 2026. So I wonder if you could provide us any guidance on depreciation, especially after you start to ramp the U.S. new fab?

Question: Sunny Lin - UBS Investment Bank - Analyst : So in Q1, you only recognize depreciation at about TWD 1.8 billion. So for the full year, TWD 9 billion to TWD 10 billion would imply for the coming few quarters, depreciation will likely increase quite a bit?

Question: Sunny Lin - UBS Investment Bank - Analyst : And so a follow-up on gross margin. I understand the U.S. subsidy is still to be released hopefully in Q2.

Question: Sunny Lin - UBS Investment Bank - Analyst : But U.S. CHIPS Act has a framework and the subsidy should not exceed 5% to 15% of the total investment for the fabs. And so based on that framework, based on your financial planning, with the subsidy, would the U.S. expansion, the margin be in line with your corporate average? Or before the depreciation start to roll off, there would still be a few years that the margin could be under a bit of pressure?