GCT Semiconductor Holding, Inc. (GCTS) Earnings Call Transcript

Today are John Schlaefer, GCT's Chief Executive Officer, and Edmond Cheng, CFO, to discuss our third quarter 2026 results. During the call, certain statements we make will be forward-looking. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, including those set forth in our safe harbor provisions for forward-looking statements that can be found at the end of our earnings press release and also in our Form 10-Q that will be filed today, which provides further details about the risks related to our business. Additionally, except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements. I would now like to turn the call over to John Schlaefer. Sir, you may begin.

Thank you, and thanks to everyone for joining us today for our third quarter 2026 earnings call. I'll begin with an update of our 5G shipments and customer progress during the third quarter, and then discuss where we stand in the commercialization of our 5G platform. Following my remarks, our Chief Financial Officer, Edmond Cheng, will review our third quarter financial results in more detail. Third quarter brought continued progress for GCT. We continued shipping 5G chipsets across multiple customers and applications, adding a new customer in an entirely new application and successfully expanded the total addressable market for our 5G platform. Every one of our existing customer programs continues to move forward, and our customer base is larger today than it was 3 months ago. In total, we shipped more than 3,200 5G chipsets during the third quarter, bringing our year-to-date shipments to over 11,300 units. The majority of third quarter shipments supported our new customers' proof-of-concept efforts, and we continue delivering 5G chipsets to existing customers in both our terrestrial industrial and satellite programs. As we noted last quarter, customer deployment timelines have become the primary variable in our 5G ramp, a matter of when, not if. Our customers continue to move their programs forward, but integrating our 5G chipsets into their own products is taking longer than originally planned, which has extended the path from development to purchase orders. Importantly, we have not lost any customers, and we are working closely with each of them as they progress through development and commercialization timelines. Our 5G pipeline continues to span our three strategic growth pillars: terrestrial broadband, satellite and non-terrestrial connectivity, and IoT and specialized networking applications. This quarter, we added a new dimension to that third pillar, and I'll walk through each, beginning with terrestrial broadband. Our fixed wireless access and customer premise equipment programs with carrier OEM and ODM partners continued to advance through engineering integration and certification. During the quarter, we advanced our ongoing terrestrial 5G development and integration work with a leading global telecom supplier and delivered additional 5G chipsets in support of that program. As operators continue investing in next-generation broadband infrastructure, we believe our technology is well positioned to participate in the long-term growth of the market. Within satellite and non-terrestrial connectivity, we continue to make progress on our program with one of the world's largest satellite communications providers as it develops next-generation user equipment for high bandwidth, high-speed communications across satellite and terrestrial networks using our 5G chipset. We continue to believe the convergence of satellite and terrestrial networks is one of the most compelling long-term opportunities for our technology, and we remain engaged with several partners developing direct-to-device and hybrid satellite cellular solutions. Our third pillar, IoT and specialized networking applications, is where the third quarter brought the latest development. We added a new 5G customer that is a leader in next-generation terrestrial-based geolocation solutions designed to augment or replace GNSS or GPS. Their service is intended to deliver precise 3D location, including vertical or Z-axis positioning in places where satellite-based positioning struggles: indoors, in dense urban canyons, and in environments where GPS signals are jammed. While we cannot name the customer today, we believe this relationship validates the flexibility of our platform and extends our 5G chipsets into a market we were not addressing at the start of the year. Further, within the quarter, we also received a large order, 150,000 units, for a private network wireless tablet application. 18% of this was shipped within the quarter with the balance planned for Q4 and later shipment. This is for one of our 4G products and is an example of continued life for these devices. We remain confident in our 5G platform performance, competitiveness, and the demand outlook. Quarterly shipment volumes may remain uneven as individual customers move from development into production, but the number of applications and customers using our 5G chipsets continues to grow. And with that, I'll turn the call over to Edmond to discuss our third quarter results. Edmond?

Thank you, John. As John discussed, shipment volumes in the third quarter reflected the extended timing of customer deployment rather than the reduced potential of 5G programs, all of which remain active. Our reported results continue to reflect a business in the early stages of commercialization, but they also show continued year-over-year revenue growth and a lower operating cost base. With that, I will now review our third quarter 2026 financial results. Further details can be found in the 10-Q that will be on file with the SEC. Net revenue increased by $0.6 million, or 149%, from $0.4 million for the three months ended September 30, 2025, to $1.1 million for the three months ended September 30, 2026. Product sales increased by $0.4 million, driven by a $0.2 million increase in 5G product sales and a $0.2 million increase in 4G product sales. Service revenues increased by $0.3 million, primarily due to a $0.5 million increase in 5G service revenue, partially offset by a $0.2 million decrease in LTE service revenue as our service portfolio shifted to 5G service offerings. Cost of net revenues decreased by $0.3 million, or 22%, from $1.5 million for the three months ended September 30, 2025, to $1.2 million for the three months ended September 30, 2026. Product costs decreased by $0.4 million, primarily due to a $0.7 million reduction in inventory write-downs and a $0.4 million reduction in allocated overhead costs, partially offset by a $0.6 million increase in direct manufacturing and related costs associated with higher 5G product sales and a $0.2 million increase in depreciation expense related to 5G photomasks. Our gross margin was negative for both the three months ended September 30, 2025 and 2026. Although our gross loss narrowed from $1.1 million to $0.1 million, our gross margin for the third quarter of 2026 is not representative of our expectations regarding profitability of our products and services in future reporting periods. We expect gross margins to improve as 5G product sales increase and contribute more significantly to overall revenue. Research and development expenses remained relatively consistent at $3.3 million for each of the three months ended September 30, 2025 and 2026. Sales and marketing expenses remained relatively consistent at $1 million for each of the three months ended September 30, 2025 and 2026. General and administrative expenses decreased by $1 million, from $3.9 million for the three months ended September 30, 2025, to $2.9 million for the three months ended September 30, 2026. The decrease was primarily due to a $1.3 million decrease in stock-based compensation expense related to equity-classified common stock warrants issued to certain investors in the third quarter of 2025, partially offset by a $0.4 million increase in other general and administrative expenses, primarily higher debt expense. Net loss decreased by $6.5 million, from $13.8 million for the three months ended September 30, 2025, to $7.4 million for the three months ended September 30, 2026. Net loss for the third quarter of 2026 included a $6.2 million gain from the change in fair value of common stock warrant liabilities, driven by decreases in the market price of our publicly traded warrants and common stock during the quarter, and a $5.4 million loss on foreign currency transactions as the Korean won appreciated against the U.S. dollar, affecting the remeasurement of our Korean won-denominated term loans. Adjusted EBITDA loss decreased by 8.1% from $7 million for the three months ended September 30, 2025, to $6.5 million for the three months ended September 30, 2026. Adjusted EBITDA loss also improved sequentially from $6.6 million in the second quarter of 2026. Shifting to liquidity, we entered Q3 with cash and cash equivalents of $17.2 million, net accounts receivable of $0.5 million, and net inventory of $3.3 million. We continued to manage our balance sheet proactively during the quarter, extending the maturities of $26.5 million of loans by one year. And the IRS abated a previously assessed excise tax, releasing a $3.6 million liability from other tax payable and a refund of approximately $216,000 of payment, including interest. We have also reduced net cash used in operating activities from $16.6 million in Q2 2026 to $8.5 million in Q3 2026. Entering the fourth quarter, our financial priorities are unchanged. However, the extended customer integration timelines shifted regarding when we expect 5G volume to build. We now anticipate the ramp in 5G shipments to extend into the first half of 2027. In aligning production investments and spending with that timeline, we have secured the necessary production capacity through the first half of 2027 and continue to align wafer commitments with customer demand. As John noted, these timing shifts do not reflect any lost customers. The focus going forward is on maintaining a disciplined cost structure, aligning production investment with customer demand, and converting a growing commercial pipeline into sustainable long-term revenue growth. Although the timing of customer deployment may continue to fluctuate in the near term, we believe the long-term opportunity across the three strategic pillars described remains significant, and the investment made today positions GCT well for the next phase of growth. With this, I will turn it back to John.

Thanks, Edmond. As we've discussed today, the third quarter demonstrated how broadly our 5G platform can be applied, from fixed wireless and satellite connectivity to precise terrestrial positioning, and it also showed that commercialization moves on our customers' product schedules. The fundamentals behind our pipeline are intact, and the range of opportunities in front of us is wider than it was at the start of the year. That said, our customers are taking longer than we expected to bring their products to market, and we now see volume shipments building in the first half of 2027. What gives us confidence in that ramp has not changed. The programs are progressing, the technology is ready, and new applications like the one we added this quarter continue to widen the opportunity. Our focus remains on execution. With wafer capacity in place into 2027 and a carefully managed cost structure, we are supporting customers through integration and certification and strengthening our strategic partnerships so that we are ready to scale production as the launches arrive. We believe the foundation we've built places GCT in a strong position as 5G chipset commercialization moves forward, and we remain excited about the opportunity in front of us. I'd like to thank our employees for their continued dedication, our customers and partners for their collaboration, and our shareholders for their continued support and confidence in GCT. I will now turn the call back over to the operator, who will assist us in taking your questions.

Thank you. [Operator Instructions] Our first question is going to come from the line of Rebecca Zamsky with B. Riley Securities. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

It was noted that the 5G ramp now extends into the first half as customers take longer to integrate. Could you provide some color on how many of the existing 5G programs have moved from development to purchase orders? And which milestones should we watch over the next several quarters to confirm progress?

Thank you. The purchase orders that we've received so far—and we quantified that, we've shipped 11,300 units so far this year—they've all been for pre-production samples, things like that, to get our customers ready with their products. There is one customer that has launched, and we announced that in Q4 last year, but these other customers, they're all in the pre-production or sampling phase. And there are, I think we mentioned, five customers like that. And so, the four others, the launch we're expecting would be in the first half of the year.

Thank you. And you've pointed to sequential revenue growth in the fourth quarter. Could you provide some color on what is driving that growth? Is it mainly the 5G product shipments, or is it driven by service revenue?

It'll be 5G revenue. We expect that we'll have some 4G revenue growth throughout 2027 as well. There's a possibility of service revenue as well because we're continuing to engage with customers, but we're really not forecasting that as a major portion of our growth. In fact, it'll remain a steady part of our revenue mix, so the growth is all coming from applied platform shipments.

Thank you. And I'll go back into the queue.

Thank you. And our next question is going to come from the line of Lisa Thompson with Zacks Investment Research. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Hi, I'm interested if you could talk a little bit more about this new customer in geolocation. How big is that market, and where are they in taking product? Did they jump ahead of any of the other current customers? How far along is it?

Yes, so we indicated that they're at the proof-of-concept stage, and the product shipments for that were related to that. So it will be a little while before we see further product there, but we think that's a very exciting area given the use for that application.

What are they doing now? Are these brand-new products, or are they in a different generation? How far along are they for their product?

I'm sorry, how far along are they for their... they will be doing their own service as well, and then there will actually be products that use that service. This is a 5G product, so it's brand new. It's a 5G project. They have some 4G prototype activity, yes.