First Solar, Inc.

earnings call. This call is being webcast live on the investor section of First Solar's website at investor.firstsolar.com. All participants are in a listen-only mode, and please note that today's call is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to your host, Byron Jeffers, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead, sir.

Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us on today's earnings call. Joining me are our Chief Executive Officer, Mark Whitmar, and and our Chief Financial Officer, Alex Bradley. During this call, we will review our quarterly results and share our outlook for the remainder of the year. After our prepared remarks, we'll open the line for questions. Before we begin, please note that some statements made today are forward-looking and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from management's current expectations. We undertake no obligation to update these statements due to new information or future events. For discussion of factors that could cause these results to differ materially, please refer to today's earnings press release in our most recent annual report on Form 10-K, as supplemented by our other filings with the SEC, including our most recent quarterly report on Form 10-Q. You can find these documents on our website at investa.firstsolar.com. With that, I'll turn it over to Mark.

All right, good afternoon. Thank you for joining us today. Beginning on slide three, I will share some key highlights from Q3 2025. Since our last earnings call, we secured gross bookings of approximately 2.7 gigawatts at a base ASP of 30.9 cents per watt, including 0.4 gigawatts of series seven modules impacted by previously disclosed manufacturing issues booked at an ASP of 29 cents. We terminated 6.6 gigawatts of bookings under multi-year agreements defaulted on by affiliates of BP, a European oil and gas major, at a base ASP of 29.4 cents per watt. As a result, total debooking since the last earnings call were approximately 6.9 gigawatts, And our current expected contracted backlog is approximately 54.5 gigawatts. We delivered a record 5.3 gigawatts of module sales and reported Q3 earnings of $4.24 per diluted share, both near the midpoint of our previous earnings call forecast. Gross cash increased to $2 billion, supported by improved working capital, new bookings deposits, and accelerated customer payments ahead of the effective date for the new beginning of construction guidance. Alex will walk through our financial results in more detail later in the call. From a manufacturing perspective, we produced 3.6 gigawatts of modules in the third quarter, 2.5 gigawatts from our US facilities, and 1.1 gigawatts from our international operations. In Q3, we produced production in Malaysia and Vietnam, primarily due to lower demand driven by the customer default previously mentioned. We continue to advance our domestic capacity expansion, notably at our Louisiana facility, where we initiated production runs and started plant qualification. We have also continued to pursue the enforcement of our intellectual property rights. During the quarter, we made three separate filings requesting that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, or PTO, denied petitions filed by affiliates of Canadian Solar, Jinko Solar, and Munda that seek to invalidate our U.S. Topcon patents. Our filings include a reference to comments made earlier this year by the acting director of the PTO who stated, quote, the longer a patent has been in force, the stronger and more settled the patent owner's expectations should be. We believe our ongoing vigorous enforcement of our decade-old U.S. Top 10 patents, which we consider fundamental to producing that technology, is a prime example of a patent holder having settled expectations of the integrity of its IP rights. The view that module manufacturers and their customers and financing parties should strongly consider The potential hurdles of producing, selling, or purchasing modules employing TopCon cell technology is not one held just by us. For example, earlier this quarter, the CEO of ES, Sandri, explained that his company's decision to focus on manufacturing PERC technology was due, at least in part, to the, quote, legal troubles that would be encountered by TopCon producers. Lastly, we're pleased to continue building on our commitment to responsible solar, not simply by exceeding industry norms and sustainability and human rights, but by continuously improving on our own performance. Our Ohio facilities, which previously earned a silver rating in the Responsible Business Alliance's Validated Assessment Program, have progressed to a gold rating in its 2025 audit, which was completed this past quarter. Turning to slide four, I will now provide an update on our manufacturing operations. As it relates to our Alabama facility, two of our domestic glass suppliers faced manufacturing disruptions that limited our ability to operate at full capacity, which impacted Q3 production by approximately 0.2 gigawatts. The primary supply chain issue resulted from throughput limitations due to insufficient initial facility readiness at a new factory, while simultaneously a different supplier experienced unplanned downtime. Corrective actions have been implemented at both suppliers, and our U.S. glass supply base is again positioned to meet our requirements. While now resolved, this resulted in a temporary shortage of cover glass supplied to our Alabama which led to reduced production and increased underutilization charges in the third quarter. Our Louisiana factory has initiated integrated production runs, started plant qualification, and the early stage ramp is slightly ahead of expectations. We anticipate receiving required production certificates in Q4 and will begin shipment at that time. As it relates to our international capacity, We have previously indicated the implementation of the Reconciliation Act earlier this year, as well as the evolving universal and reciprocal tariff environment could potentially support a business case to establish one or more lines in the U.S. to finish front-end production initiated within our international fleet. We have made the decision to establish a new production facility in the United States allowing us to onshore the finishing of Series 6 modules initiated by the company's international factories. While the location is subject to final negotiations, with an announcement expected in the coming weeks, the planned capacity will be 3.7 gigawatts. Production will start at the end of 26 and ramp through the first half of 2027. As we previously noted, Such an investment is expected to enable additional production in the U.S. market that we expect will be fully compliant with forthcoming FIAC guidance, as well as improve the gross margin profile of our sales by reducing tariff charges and logistics costs associated with importing finished goods. Furthermore, we expect that the modules produced at this facility will provide domestic content points benefits for our customers and qualify for 45X module assembly tax credits. We continue to evaluate options for the remainder of our international Series 6 capacity, including options related to long-term U.S. market demand, U.S. market supply, and the global tariff environment. Shifting to the current policy landscape, the U.S. policy and trade environment remains generally favorable. As we have long stated, one of First Solar's key competitive differentiators is the ability to provide certainty to our customers, both in terms of pricing certainty and the certainty of timing the producing and delivering product. These attributes are particularly valuable in the US solar market, where Fiat-compliant suppliers who have domesticated their supply chains and localized their production capabilities provide the surest pathway to enable developers to realize tax benefits and to mitigate the exposure of project pro formas to both the imposition of tariffs and the risk to project schedules associated with relying on imported products. A number of trade and policy developments over the quarter amplified these competitive indicators. In August, the U.S. Court of International Trade ruled that The Biden administration's two-year suspension of circumvention-related anti-dumping and countervailing duties was unlawful, paving the way for possible retrospective duty payments on solar imports brought into the United States between June 22 and June 24. Also during the quarter, the U.S. International Trade Commission issued a preliminary affirmative determination in an anti-dumping and countervailing duty case known as Solar 4. Bad imports of crystalline silicon cells and modules from India, Indonesia, and Laos are causing material injury to the U.S. solar industry. In addition to a range of alleged illegal subsidies, the petitioners identified dumping margins of approximately 90% for Indonesia, approximately 247% for Laos, and approximately 215% for India. Also during the quarter, U.S. Customs and Border Protection issued a notice of initiation of investigation and interim measures against an affiliate of Wahwe Solar in response to a claim submitted by the American Alliance for Solar Manufacturing Trade Committee, of which First Solar is a member, that Wahwe has effectively trans-shipped Chinese solar cells and modules into the United States through India. In addition, we, together with the rest of the industry, are awaiting the results of the administration's 232 polysilicon and derivative investigation, including the potential for incremental tariffs impacting the crystalline silicon supply chain. From a policy perspective, the industry also awaits guidance from the administration related to project impacts from foreign entity of concern or fiat procurement, which may be delayed as a result of the ongoing government shutdown. In short, there continues to be mounting headwinds or uncertainties for U.S. developers associated with procurement dependent on Chinese crystalline silicon supply chain, which we believe enhances the value proposition of our vertically integrated production capabilities. It also validates our approximately $4.5 billion investment strategy of expanding our U.S. manufacturing production and reshoring supply chains, which began in the first Trump administration and continues through the current Trump administration with our most recent facility currently ramping in Louisiana and the announcement of our new U.S. finishing line. This activity places us uniquely at the intersection of several of the administration's key priorities, including those related to domestic manufacturing job creation, American energy and energy affordability, and serving among the generation solutions that enable the U.S. to win the artificial intelligence race against China. Turning to India, since our last earnings call, there have been several notable policy deployments. First, significantly, the application of tariff rate for imports of finished models into the U.S. was increased to 50%. We continue to monitor dialogue between the U.S. and Indian government related to a potential bilateral trade treaty easing of tariffs between the two countries. As it relates to the country's domestic market, the Indian government continues to promote its domestic renewable energy value chain by progressively including cells, and the remit of the approved list of models and manufacturers under a recently announced List 2. Inclusion in the list becomes mandatory for solar OEMs to sell into key segments of the domestic market, effective June of 26. Notably, First Solar was automatically qualified in this list, which was released in August of 25. The Indian government also released stakeholder consultation in September of 25 related to a further extension of the ALMM regulations to include domestically made wafers for potential deployment after June of 2028. Once again, First Solar India's production is expected to automatically qualify. We anticipate that these regulations will progressively strengthen our position in the Indian market by leveling the playing field. And I'll turn the call over to Alex to discuss shipments, bookings, Q3 financials, and guidance.