Chunghwa Telecom Co., Ltd. (2412) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to Chunghwa Telecom Conference Call for the company's second quarter 2026 operating results. [Operator Instructions] For your information, this conference call is now being broadcasted live over the Internet. Webcast replay will be available within an hour after the conference is finished. Please visit CHT IR website, www.cht.com.tw/ir under the IR Calendar section. And now I would like to turn it over to Ms. Angela Tsai, the Vice President of Finance. Thank you. Ms. Tsai, please go ahead.

Thank you. I'm Angela Tsai, Vice President of Finance at Chunghwa Telecom. Welcome to Second Quarter 2026 Earnings Results Conference Call. Joining me on the call today are Chunghwa's President, Rong-Shy Lin; and our Chief Financial Officer, Audrey Hsu. During today's call, management will begin by sharing our recent strategic achievements and providing an overview of our second quarter business results. This will be followed by a discussion of our segment performance and financial highlights. We will then open the floor for questions and answers. Please turn to Slide 2 to review our disclaimers and forward-looking statement disclosures. Now without further delay, I will turn the call over to President. President Lin, please go ahead.

Thank you, Angela, and hello, everyone. Welcome to our second quarter 2026 results conference call. We are excited to announce robust second quarter and first half results with revenue, operating income, net income and EPS all exceeded the high end of our guidance. Notably, total revenue for the second quarter climbed to its highest for any second quarter since 2010, driven by the solid business growth. In addition, our ICT revenue reached its highest second quarter level since 2021. Based on our outperformance in the first half, we are confident in achieving our full year performance targets. In 2026, we continue to invest in AI and see concrete results. In the morning today, we announced the kickoff of the operation of our newly built AI data center in Lunping, Taoyuan, which is expected to add up to 36 megawatts to our total IDC capacity upon full build-out. In July, we were pleased to sign a memorandum of understanding with Taiwan Stock Exchange to provide dedicated colocation capacity within our new AI data center in Taichung, currently under construction, further expanding our market-leading financial colocation ecosystem in Taiwan. Both achievements demonstrate our ability to convert AI infrastructure investments into long-term financial return. Furthermore, leveraging our leading AIDC infrastructure and Sea-Land-Sky network deployment, we are positioning Chunghwa Telecom as the region's unique AAA Hub for the AI era. Powered by our IOWN network and distributed AIDCs, the AAA Hub delivers 3 core values: assurance, providing resilience sea-land-sky connectivity, All-Photonics, enabling ultra-high capacity, low latency and energy-efficient networking through IOWN and AI Hub connecting distributed AI, computing resources across the Asia Pacific to support customers' AI development. In addition, in terms of IOWN, we would like to highlight the IOWN AI Fund, which is the financial instrument we jointly established with global partner in June. The fund aims to not only build the IOWN ecosystem, but also create new business opportunities through technology investments as all investors believe the optical ecosystem is essential to the AI development. Our subsidiaries also continue to seize AI-related opportunities. In the second quarter, Chunghwa Telecom Precision Tech commenced new factory construction to meet growing AI semiconductor testing demand, while Chunghwa Telecom -- Chunghwa leading photonics tech, which stands to benefit from potential opportunities in the AI supply chain. Began trading on the emerging stock exchange in June. Finally, we are delighted to report thast ESG recognitions received in the second quarter, including the CDP's top A-List rating for the supplier engagement and the Best Issuer for Sustainable Finance and the Best Sustainability Bond award from The Asset. And the top 5% of Taiwan Stock Exchange listed companies for the corporate governance. Additionally, we are proud to report that despite continued revenue growth in 2025, we remained on track with our SBTi commitments reducing Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas emission by 24.5% from our 2020 baseline and Scope 3 emissions by 10.8% from our 2021 baseline. Now let's move on to our second quarter 2026 results. In the second quarter, we continued our market share leadership in Taiwan's mobile market. Our mobile revenue market share continued to increase, climbing to a record high of 41.2%, while our subscriber market share rose to 39.8% according to our telecom regulator. We would particularly like to highlight the strength of our premium revenue base as our revenue share continued to exceed our subscriber share. Our 5G performance was equally impressive. The 5G market share in Taiwan reached 39.4% maintaining #1 status, while 5G penetration rate among smartphone users increased to nearly 49% as of June. The average monthly fee uplift from 5G migration remained stable at 36% and the postpaid churn rate stayed at a low level of 0.36%, reflecting strong customer loyalty. Thanks to the market-leading subscriber base, growing 5G adoption and the increased roaming revenue on a year-over-year basis, our mobile service revenue grew by 3.2%, outperforming the industry average. Meanwhile, postpaid ARPU increased by 2.4% or TWD [ 13 ]. Notably, we observed our roaming revenue increased 19% year-over-year in the second quarter with inbound roaming revenue growing 42%, benefiting from the robust tourism demand and increasing international travel activities. Let's move on to Slide 6 for our fixed broadband business update. In the second quarter, we were glad to see the number of the subscriber adoption services speeds of 300 megabits per second and above reached 42% of our total fixed broadband subscriber base and the number continued to increase quarter-over-quarter. Among them, subscribers adopting 1 gigabits per second and above increased 61% year-over-year, supporting by the continued of our broadband promotion package. As a result, fixed broadband revenue in the second quarter posted a 3% increase year-over-year, while the ARPU rose year-over-year by TWD 20 to TWD 824 per month. Fixed broadband subscriber also continued to deliver positive growth year-over-year. We will continue to keep the business up and sustainable. Page 7 highlights the performance of our million subscriber consumer services. In the second quarter, signs up of our multiple-play offering, which integrates mobile fixed broadband and Wi-Fi services continued to grow year-over-year for the 18th consecutive quarter, representing a 14% increase year-over-year and driven up over our overall telecom revenue growth. Notably, our Wi-Fi penetration among fixed broadband subscribers reached 57% as a solid basis for the smartphone connectivity. As the 2026 FIFA World Cup kicked off in June and ran through July, it successfully boosted video subscription number to their annual peak in July. At the same time, the introduction of data payment, real-time match data and highlights feature during this FIFA World Cup helped drive total views of tech-supported broadcast across MOD and Hami Video up 24% compared with the previous tournament. As a result, we are glad to see our total OTT revenue in the second quarter increased 20% year-over-year. With the upcoming Asia games in the third quarter, we are optimistic about our video performance through the next quarter. Lastly, our digital services continued to deliver solid growth. The subscriber number of our consumer cybersecurity services maintained over 1 million and delivered 11% year-over-year growth, supported by the rising awareness of digital security. Meanwhile, the number of transacting users of our Digital Carrier Billing or DCB increased by 4.7% year-over-year as customers continue to adopt digital net content, gaming and AI application tool. We continue to see the potential growth in DCB services going forward. Slide 8 illustrates the key developments in our Enterprise ICT business. Through the collective efforts across the group, our ICT business delivered another strong quarter with revenue increasing 32% year-over-year, driven by the continuous expansion of emerging services. Recurring ICT revenue also grew by 9%, maintaining solid momentum across major service lines, particularly IDC, cybersecurity and international public cloud services. Among our core ICT service pillars, Big Data, Cybersecurity and IDC are the key growth driver drivers, posting year-over-year growth of 167%, 34% and 14%, respectively. Big Data revenue surged and Cybersecurity revenue grew strongly, driven by the recognition of large-scale projects for public sector customers, while IDC revenue growth was supported by the installation project for the manufacturing companies. Notably, a key highlight is our second high ICT order intake built on the strong momentum in ICT contract acquisitions during the first quarter, our ICT order intake remained robust in the second quarter with contract value increasing by 30% year-over-year. As a result, the total ICT contract value secured in the first half of the year has already matched full year's total amount achieved in 2025, reflecting a strong project pipeline and reinforcing our confidence in future growth. As of June, our major contract win in the second quarter include large-scale AIDC projects, which are expected to further increase AI-related revenue. Flagship Taipower energy storage project positioning us with us for additional smart grid opportunities and multiple smart surveillance projects from correctional institutions, demonstrating our ability to replicate successful deployment across the sector. In addition, we became the first telecom operator to provide cloud-based encryption sharing services to the financial industry, further reinforcing our differentiated ICT market leadership. Slide 9 highlights the robust performance of our international subsidiaries and the global network performance. In the second quarter, our international subsidiaries delivered impressive performance as aggregate revenue increased 242% year-over-year, particularly due to the large-scale ICT project deliveries across the United States and the Southeast Asia. In the United States, revenue increased more than 11-fold year-over-year, mainly due to the delivery of the large-scale AI supply chain projects in Texas. Meanwhile, revenue in Southeast Asia doubled on year, supported by the ongoing construction project for key customers in Singapore and Vietnam. Encouragingly, with our proven overseas IC integration expertise, we have successfully secured new projects across the United States, Singapore and Thailand, providing strong visibility into future growth. In addition to the strong momentum of overseas ICT business, our network resilience business continued to expand with our Asia Pacific AAA Hub strength. Satellite services revenue increased 14% year-over-year, supported by increasing adoption of satellite connectivity solution across industry. Notably, satellite-related ICT contracts secured in the first half exceeded TWD 200 million, highlighting the growing demand for the diversified communication infrastructure. Another key growth driver from AAA's Hub, strength is International Private Leased Circuit business, whose revenue increased 8% year-over-year, mainly driven by SJC2 and Apricot submarine cable. Looking ahead, given the run-up of the AI-driven data traffic and the growing international connectivity demand resulting from the geopolitical uncertainty, we are well positioned to capture these opportunities, supported by continued investment in submarine cable and satellite projects. Now let's move on to the Page 10 for the financial performance of our 3 business groups. In the second quarter, our core telecom business remained strong. Growth in mobile services, fixed broadband and handset sales drove Consumer Business Group revenue up 4.8% year-over-year, while income before tax increased a solid 3.6%. Beyond our core telecom business, ICT business continued to be a key growth engine. Strong ICT demand, along with the growth in mobile and broadband services lifted the Enterprise Business Group revenue by 3.7% year-over-year, while income before tax increased 2.1%. In the second quarter, the strongest performance came from our International Business Group, which saw growth across every segment, resulting in an approximately 79% increase in the revenue on year and a 31% increase in income before tax on year, respectively. This was propelled by rising demand for ICT integration projects, mainly driven by the relocation of AI supply chain, contribution from the SJC2 and Apricot submarine cables as well as the strong roaming revenue increase. That concludes the business overview for the second quarter. Now I would like to hand the call over to Audrey for the financial update.

Thank you, President. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. I'm pleased to walk you through our financial performance for the second quarter of 2026. Please turn to Slide 12. In the second quarter, we delivered record high performance for the period. Consolidated revenue reached TWD 61.36 billion, representing an 8.2% increase year-over-year and making our highest Q2 top line since 2010. This strong momentum was driven by 3 primary engines. First, our ICT business achieved its highest Q2 revenue since 2021. This is also propelled by our overseas subsidiaries fulfilling major AI supply chain projects in the U.S. and Southeast Asia, alongside the domestic growth in the Big Data, Cybersecurity and AIDC capacity. Second, product sales grew behind elevated handset ASPs at Chunghwa and strong AI testing contribution from Chunghwa Precision Test. Third, our core telecom service continued their steady expansion, reinforced by ongoing high-tier 5G migration and broadband speed upgrades. Moving to operating profitability. Income from operations rose 5.7% year-over-year. Beyond top line scale, this operating growth reflects high margin flow-through from our core telecom business, supported by 5G adoption and fixed broadband speed upgrades, paired with margin accretive contribution from Chunghwa Precision Test. On the bottom line, EPS expanding to TWD 1.38, up from TWD 1.31 in the prior year period makes our highest second quarter EPS in 10 years. EBITDA also increased 4.1% to TWD 23.52 billion, maintaining a healthy EBITDA margin of 38.32%. Turning to our year-to-year performance shown in the final column, H1 revenue increased 7.8% year-over-year, driven by broad-based growth across ICT, mobile sales and core telecom service. Operating income rose 5.2% to TWD 26.36 billion. Net income grew 3.9% to TWD 20.75 billion, and EPS reached TWD 2.68, up from TWD 2.57 last year. EBITDA expanding 3.8% to TWD 46.82 billion underscoring our recurring cash flow strength. Overall, this balanced result gives us strong confidence in achieving our full year targets. Please turn to Slide 13 for an overview of our balance sheet position. Total asset increased by 3.3% year-to-date, primarily driven by current assets. This was mainly due to growth in cash, time deposits, NCDs and inventories, reflecting higher investment in ongoing ICT projects. On the liability side, total liabilities rose 27.1% compared to year-end 2025, largely driven by the seasonal recognition of dividend payable. As of June 30, 2026, our reported debt ratio stood at 31%. Excluding dividend payable, our adjusted debt ratio improved to 23.72%, down from 25.21% at year-end 2025. More importantly, our interest-bearing debt ratio remains very low at approximately 5%, reflecting minimum financial leverage and prudent balance sheet management. Our core financial health remains robust with a current ratio of 122.3% and a net debt-to-EBITDA ratio standing at 0, underscoring our solid financial position. Moving to Slide 14 for our cash flow summary for the first half of 2026. Net cash provided by operating activities remained healthy over the 6-month period. Working capital was mainly impacted by higher inventory spending for ongoing ICT projects, but this was largely offset by strong cash inflows from contract liabilities and lower payable outflows. On the investment side, first half total CapEx was TWD 9.85 billion, down 14.3% year-over-year. Mobile CapEx declined 9%, reflecting the normalization of investment following the peak phase of 5G network deployment, while nonmobile CapEx decreased 16.3%, primarily due to a higher comparison base last year. We also expect a greater portion of CapEx this year to be deployed in the second half of the year. As a result, our 6-month free cash flow reached TWD 21.89 billion. Our overall cash position improved year-over-year and remains very solid continuing to comfortably support both ongoing business expansions and shareholders' returns. Turning to Slide 15 for our performance relative to guidance. As our President noted at the beginning of our call, we delivered outstanding second quarter results with top line revenue exceeding our expectations. This outperformance was supported by continued ICT momentum, steady core telecom growth and stronger-than-expected product sales. Importantly, revenue growth outpaced operating expense growth, reflecting solid operating leverage and cost discipline. Although project-related costs grew alongside higher ICT revenue recognition, total expenses remained well within target. Consequently, all key profitability metrics, operating income, net income, EPS and EBITDA came in above the high end of our guidance. That concludes my financial overview. Thank you for your time. I will now hand the call back to the operator for Q&A.

[Operator Instructions] Firstly, we'll have Charlie Bai of HSBC for questions.

Congratulations on this very strong result. I saw spectacular growth in the international sector. May I know more about the long-term guidance and visibility in this segment, because I know that some could be project based and how do we see the long-term demand? And would you mind breaking down for different regions such as U.S., Southeast Asia, et cetera.

Charlie, thank you very much for your question. I guess the question is you want to look at the outlook for the international sector and long-term guidance and visibility in the segment. As we see the global trend of the AI development, we continue to see growing interest from international customers, particularly in AI infrastructure, international connectivity and data center service in the U.S. and also in Southeast Asia. While our primary market remains Taiwan, we believe that this AI expansion across the Taiwan, U.S. and Southeast Asia is continued in -- aligned with the AI development growth. Is there -- do you need any -- I mean, is there anything that you want me to add on for this issue?

Yes. Maybe more color on the project type. Are they mostly AI data center build-out or any kind of more color is really appreciated.

Okay. Charlie, maybe I can give you some information. As the projects we acquired, we see in the United States market, actually, we -- so far, we see just like Audrey said, we see a lot of opportunities related with the AI supply chain, right? Actually, for the opportunities, actually, I think in this year or next 2 to 3 years, the opportunities is like several billion NT dollars.

Next one, Ranjan Sharma, JPMorgan Singapore.

I have 3 questions. Firstly, on the AIDC, what is the required investment to build out the 36 megawatts of the data center capacity? And what is your projected IRR? The second question is on IOWN. You talk about expanding investments. Can you help us understand what you're doing here? What is the required investment? And what is the impact that you see on your financial outlook going forward? The last question is, if you can remind us on the enterprise ICT side, there seems to be a lot of volatility in the revenues from one quarter to another quarter. If you can help us understand the drivers of that?

Ranjan. Thank you very much for the issue about the AIDC. For the question about AIDC that as we mentioned earlier that our Lunping AIDC and Taichung AIDC are under construction to provide AIDC service for our confirmed customers. While you are interested in this IRR, we don't usually disclose the expected IRR for individual projects. However, just to give you some idea that regarding the Taiwan's IDC market, we would like to highlight our leading position. On a group basis, combining the capacity of Chunghwa Telecom subsidiary, Chief Telecom, our IDC market share in Taiwan reached 78% as of the second quarter, maintaining our position as a market leader. I think this information may give you some idea about our value of the IDC in Taiwan. Also another point is that while we don't disclose the detailed IRR for individual projects, each investment is subject to our very disciplined capital allocation framework and investment evaluation. We only proceed with projects that meet our financial and strategic return requirement and can help create long-term shareholder value, then we will consult the project. I hope this is helpful for your question about the first question.

Yes. Can you help with like the amount of investment required to build out 36 megawatts of capacity?

Okay. Ranjan, are you asking the total capacity of IDC and AIDC right?