Canadian Solar Inc. (CSIQ) Q4 2025 Earnings Report, Transcript and Summary

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to Canadian Solar's Fourth Quarter 2025 Earnings Conference Call. My name is Melissa, and I will be your operator for today. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference is being recorded for replay purposes. I would now like to turn the call over to Wina Huang, Head of Investor Relations at Canadian Solar. Please go ahead.

Thank you, operator, and welcome, everyone, to Canadian Solar's Fourth Quarter 2025 Conference Call. Please note that today's conference call is accompanied with slides, which are available on Canadian Solar's Investor Relations website within the Events and Presentations section. Joining us today are Dr. Shawn Qu, Chairman and CEO; and Colin Parkin, President of Canadian Solar and President of e-STORAGE; Ismael Guerrero, Corporate VP and President of Canadian Solar subsidiary, Recurrent Energy; and Xinbo Zhu, Senior VP and CFO. All company executives will participate in the Q&A session after management's formal remarks. On this call, Shawn will go over some key messages for the quarter. Colin and Ismael will review business highlights for Manufacturing and Recurrent Energy, respectively, and Xinbo will go through the financial results. Colin will conclude the prepared remarks with the business outlook, after which we will have time for questions. Before we begin, I would like to remind listeners that management's prepared remarks today as well as their answers to questions will contain forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties. The company claims protection under the safe harbor for forward-looking statements that is contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ from management's current expectations. Any projections of the company's future performance represent management's estimates as of today. Canadian Solar assumes no obligation to update these projections in the future unless otherwise required by applicable law. A more detailed discussion of risks and uncertainties can be found in the company's annual report on Form 20-F filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Management's prepared remarks will be presented within the requirements of SEC Regulation G regarding generally accepted accounting principles or GAAP. Some financial information presented during the call will be provided on both a GAAP and non-GAAP basis. By disclosing certain non-GAAP information, management intends to provide investors with additional information to enable further analysis of the company's performance and underlying trends. Management uses non-GAAP measures to better assess operating performance and to establish operational goals. Non-GAAP information should not be viewed by investors as a substitute for data prepared in accordance with GAAP. And now I would like to turn the call over to Canadian Solar's Chairman and CEO, Dr. Shawn Qu. Shawn, please go ahead.

Thank you, Wina, and thank you all for joining our fourth quarter earnings call. 2025 was another challenging year, marked by persistent market headwinds and a shifting regulatory landscape. Through these turbulence conditions, we demonstrated strategic resilience and operational discipline. We prioritized margin and diversified our profit drivers particularly in energy storage. Now let's review our operating and financial results. Please turn to Slide 3. In the fourth quarter, we shipped 4.3 gigawatts of solar modules bringing total shipments to global customers to 24.3 gigawatts for the year. In response to the prolonged solar downturn, we have pivoted away from industry's traditional focus on shipment volumes. Instead, we are concentrating on strategic high-value markets. Notably, in U.S. market, we continue to build on our historically strong track record. In 2025, we delivered a record 8.1 gigawatts to the United States. In energy storage, the volatile tariff environment shifted some shipment volumes into 2026. Even so, we ended the year with a record 7.8 gigawatt hours of global shipments, including 3.9 gigawatt hours delivered to the United States. Given downward adjustments in both solar modules and energy storage volumes, along with lighter project sales from Recurrent Energy. Our total revenue of 2025 was $5.6 billion. Gross margin improved by 160 basis points year-over-year. This was driven by a higher mix of module shipments to high-value regions and a larger shares of storage volumes delivered under third-party contracts. We maintained tight control over operating expenses and achieved operating income of $43 million for the full year. However, our volatile macro environment increased FX losses and interest costs grew as we increase the debt to support our IPP build-out. As a result, we recorded a net loss attributable to Canadian Solar of $104 million or $2.5 per diluted share. Canadian Solar has continuously evolved over more than two decades in the renewable industry. Global opportunities have shifted over time and we have built a strong global track record across solar manufacturing, storage manufacturing and project development. Today, we see a compelling opportunity to create value by returning to our home base in North America. In December 2025, we announced a strategic initiative to resume direct oversight of our U.S. operations by forming our new U.S. manufacturing platform, CS PowerTech. For an update on our U.S. manufacturing road map, please turn to Slide 4. Canadian Solar is spearheading the effort to reshore manufacturing to North America. In Mesquite, Texas we have successfully ramped our solar module factory to an annual production run rate exceeding 5 gigawatts, supported by 1,500 local employees. As we have previously noted, we believe the United States is best served by resilient domestic supply chain. Consistent with this view, we are doubling our nameplate capacity to 10 gigawatt peak by the end of 2026. This expansion is expected to increase our local workforce to 1,700 employees. This will make us the largest crystalline silicon solar module manufacturer in the country. We are also pleased to report progress as our flagship solar cell factory in Jeffersonville, Indiana. In response to strong customer demand, we're expanding our initial nameplate capacity beyond the originally planned 5 gigawatt peak as we install and commission additional production lines through 2026. Phase 1 will have a nameplate capacity of 2.1 gigawatt peak and will use state of art, heterojunction technology or HJT. Trial production is scheduled to begin next month. Phase 1 will represent the only commercially operational HJT solar cell facility in the United States. Phase 2 will add 4.2 gigawatts of capacity, bringing our total U.S. solar cell nameplate capacity to 6.3 gigawatt peak. This will make us the largest crystalline silicon solar cell manufacturer in the country. We expect the trial production of Phase 2 to begin by the end of 2026. We recognize the significant value of adding Phase 2 to our solar cell facility and we believe the market does as well. This was demonstrated by our recently completed $230 million convertible bond issuance. Demand for storage in U.S. also continues to grow strongly. The rapid build-out of data centers to support AI growth is driving increase in power demand for data center infrastructure. Our OBBBA compliant storage solutions produced in Southeast Asia have seen very strong demand. As a result, we plan to scale the resources there to increase both system and battery cell capacity throughout 2026. Hence, we will be both expanding our Southeast Asia and the storage manufacturing capacity and advancing Phase 2 of our U.S. solar cell factory in [ Tandem ]. Given the commercial priority of these two significant investments, we are strategically delaying progress at our battery cell and BESS production facility in Shelbyville, Kentucky. Given our long-term commitment to U.S. manufacturing, Recurrent Energy will proactively rebalance its business towards monetizing, in construction and operating assets in order to optimize cash flow and manage leverage. In conclusion, I'm proud of our team for delivering strong performance this year and I look forward to continue the momentum we are building in our U.S. manufacturing initiatives. With that, I will now turn the call over to Colin, who will provide more details on our manufacturing business. Colin, please go ahead.

Thank you, Shawn. Please turn to Slide 5. In the fourth quarter, we continued to operate against a challenging solar market backdrop upstream cost increases, particularly in silver, along with the costs associated with underutilization across our global solar supply chain required careful volume management to protect margins. As a result, we delivered 4.3 gigawatts of solar modules below our guidance. In storage, shipments were delayed into the first quarter of 2026, and due to construction delays at one of our customer sites. As a result, we delivered 2 gigawatt hours slightly below our guidance. These two volume shortfalls resulted in lower-than-expected revenue of $1.3 billion. Solar module ASPs remained at record lows throughout 2025, we have been an industry leader in pivoting away from volume growth towards value growth. By controlling shipments to less profitable markets and increasing shipments to the U.S. market, we maintain blended pricing above the industry average. In 2025, the U.S. accounted for approximately 1/3 of our global module shipments. Meanwhile, our storage business in 2025 faced challenges created by tariff volatility and the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. These policy uncertainties materially impacted customers' project planning. While we did not lose any opportunities, some volumes shifted into 2026 as we work closely with customers to navigate these trials. Margins normalized in the second half of the year as we delivered more recently signed contracts with the increase in lithium carbonate prices, we are actively managing our exposure. Today, the two most important drivers of our manufacturing margin are the mix of solar module shipments to the U.S. and the performance of our storage business. Within U.S. module shipments, domestic manufacturing is becoming increasingly important to margin as we reshore production and deliver a greater portion of our strategy through our own domestic capacity. Now let me walk you through the latest updates on our battery energy storage business. Please turn to Slide 6. We delivered 2 gigawatt hours in the fourth quarter, corresponding to $297 million in revenue after accounting for volumes delivered to our own projects. Despite the delays caused by policy changes, we ended the year with a record 7.8 gigawatt hours of energy storage shipments delivered globally, a year-over-year increase of 19%. Over the past 3 years, we have tripled our sales in this business. Our momentum is further reflected in our record contracting backlog of $3.6 billion as of March 13, 2026. This includes contracted long-term service agreements covering 29 gigawatt hours of projects. Today, we are the market leader in our country of Canada in terms of contracted volume with multiple gigawatt hours under contract. We maintain a strong presence in key markets, including the United States and the United Kingdom, while scaling delivery in new markets such as Australia and Latin America. At the same time, we continue to actively engage in markets such as Japan and Mainland Europe, where we see attractive new opportunities. In terms of applications, we see a significant opportunity driven by the rapid build-out of data centers. For example, the 2.5 gigawatt hour supply agreement we recently signed with a major U.S. utility reflects the sharp increase in electricity demand driven by AI and hyperscale data center development. Battery energy storage is playing an increasingly critical role in supporting the additional power requirements of data center infrastructure. By strengthening regional grid capacity, our storage solutions help ensure reliable power for these emerging loads. We have built a dedicated team focused specifically on the requirements of data centers and related infrastructure and we are beginning to see the strong results from that effort. Our focus is on delivering comprehensive power solutions, including support for data centers and long-duration applications. Our differentiation lies in providing compatible -- competitive and reliable total solutions. We combine strong execution capabilities deep experience in complex grid interconnection and commissioning and long-term service expertise with a proven product platform and track record. This allows us to deliver the value our customers are seeking as they navigate the changing demands created by rapidly growing electricity loads. Now let me hand the call over to Ismael, who will provide an overview of Recurrent Energy, Canadian Solar's Global Project Development business. Ismael, please go ahead.

Thank you, Colin. Please turn to Slide 7. In the fourth quarter, we sold a few small PV projects in Japan, bringing total full year 2025 sales to nearly 1 gigawatt. Revenues from operating solar and battery energy storage projects decreased sequentially due to seasonality, while power services performance remained stable. Two major project sales originally planned for the fourth quarter have now shifted into 2026. One of these projects has already been sold in the first quarter. Gross margin was further pressured by impairments to project assets within our pipeline. Moreover, without sufficient scale from project sales during the quarter, we were unable to cover operating expenses, resulting in an operating loss of $69 million. We continue to shift our business mix towards the monetization of operating and under construction assets in order to strengthen our balance sheet and improve cash flow. As we manage the pace of construction activities, we are also optimizing our pipeline for quality, focusing on generating value from existing opportunities. Please turn to Slide 8 for an update on our pipeline. As of December 2025, we have secured interconnections for around 7 gigawatts of solar and 15 gigawatt hours of energy storage globally, excluding projects already in operation. As part of our continued effort to streamline our pipeline, we have removed projects that have been impaired this quarter. Following these adjustments, our total project pipeline now stands at 24 gigawatts of solar and 83 gigawatt hours of energy storage. Now let me hand the call over to Xinbo, who will go through our financial results in more detail. Xinbo, please go ahead.

Thank you, Ismael. Please turn to Slide 9. In the fourth quarter, we delivered revenue of $1.2 billion, revenue was below guidance due to project sales delayed into 2026 and lower-than-expected volumes in both solar and storage. Gross margin was 10.2% impacted by project asset impairments and Recurrent Energy and inventory write-down in our manufacturing business. Selling and distribution expenses decreased 20% sequentially, primarily due to lower shipping costs associated with reduced shipment volumes. General and administrative expenses decreased 8% sequentially, driven by continued cost control measures. Net interest expense in the fourth quarter was $39 million, up $10 million from the prior quarter. This increase was driven by a modest rise in total debt balances. Net foreign exchange loss in the fourth quarter was $15 million, driven by a weaker U.S. dollar and a stronger Chinese renminbi. Total net loss for the quarter was $131 million. Net loss attributable to Canadian Solar shareholders was $86 million or $1.66 per diluted share. Now let's turn to cash flow and the balance sheet. Please turn to Slide 10. In the fourth quarter, net cash flow used in operating activities was $65 million, driven by a change in working capital, specifically an increase in project assets, partially offset by a decrease in inventories. As inventory in the prior quarter had increased in anticipation of higher input costs. Capital expenditures for the year totaled $962 million, slightly below forecast. This was primarily due to payment timing which we expect to occur in 2026. Net cash provided by financing activities was $22 million, as that increased incrementally to provide additional financial flexibility for the group. Of our $6.5 billion in gross debt, non-recourse debt under Recurrent Energy as of December 31, 2025, was $2.2 billion. We ended the year with a cash balance of $1.9 billion, which we will deploy prudently in line with our strategic priorities. Now let me turn the call back to Colin who will conclude with our guidance and business outlook. Colin, please go ahead.

Thank you, Xinbo. Please turn to Slide 11. For the first quarter of 2026, we expect our Manufacturing segment to deliver solar module shipments between 2.2 to 2.4 gigawatts. For energy storage, we expect shipments between 1.7 to 1.9 gigawatt hours. We forecast total revenue for the first quarter to be between $900 million and $1.1 billion, with gross margin expected to range from 13% to 15%. Margins in the first quarter are expected to remain soft across both the Manufacturing segment and Recurrent Energy. This reflects cost increases across the solar supply chain as well as delayed project sales at Recurrent Energy. For the full year of 2026, we are issuing new guidance. We expect to deliver 6.5 to 7 gigawatts of module shipments and between 4.5 to 5.5 gigawatt hours of energy storage shipments to the U.S. market. Our solar module shipments in the U.S. are expected to be slightly lower in 2026 compared with 2025. This is due to a limited supply of solar cells qualified as non-PFE under the OBBBA during the first half of the year. The elevated cost of these cells will also affect profitability. We believe this constraint will be temporary as our own domestic solar cell production ramps during the second and third quarters. Similarly, battery energy storage shipments are expected to be weighted towards the second half of the year. Within our project development business, our focus remains on rebalancing the portfolio towards asset monetization while continuing to optimize our cost structure. Overall, 2026 will be a transition year as we accelerate our U.S. manufacturing road map to further diversify our long-term profitability drivers. With that, I would now like to open the floor for questions. Operator?

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from the line of Colin Rusch with Oppenheimer & Company.

Congratulations on being able to shift the business so aggressively here. I'm curious about the pricing environment in the U.S. What are you guys seeing in terms of trend lines here and long-term support for pricing that supports the aggressive capacity expansion?

Yes. Colin, this is Shawn speaking. I guess you mean the solar pricing.

Yes. Correct.

Solar long-term pricing in U.S. is stable. And as a matter of fact, we see -- I mean we -- our main market in U.S. is the utility-scale project market, which are usually like large scale project, big orders and with a few quarters of lead time in general. So in this market, we have seen the pricing, the pricing per watt going up. And for example, for the beginning of the year to now, we have seen the U.S. pricing on average go up like USD 0.02 to USD 0.03 some more, mainly in response to, I think, number one, the tight supply of the so-called OBBBA compliant solar cell supply, but also response to the higher material cost, especially the silver cost. So I think this will allow us to sustain the margin in the U.S. market. Now for the storage, we also see the price stable and also respond to the higher lithium price, as you probably know, the lithium price, lithium carbonate price also went up along with other commodities, major commodity prices also went up, the lithium carbonate price also went up this year, since late December. So the current new price reflected this. And so this will allow us to maintain the gross margin more or less for the U.S. market, Colin.

That super helpful. And then just from an organizational perspective, as you look at a different strategy around revenue in margin. How should we be thinking about the operating expenses and the baseline there and how that allows for some significant operating leverage as you start to grow again on the top line?

Yes. In terms of operating expenses, we see it going down like proportional to the shipment volume because a large part of the operating expenses is the shipping cost and also the overhead cost to support the volume. So if the volume growth and the operating expenses also grow, but the volume go down, these operating expenses also go down. That's in case of. So in June, we will see some increase of operating costs for the energy storage. But meanwhile, we'll see operating cost reduction in the solar area. I think moving forward, the challenges in the solar -- if solar price continue to go down, then that will make the percentage of operating expenses for solar bigger. However, fortunately, I mean since Q1 -- I mean, since January this year, we don't see the absolute ASP of solar module going down anymore. We actually see it go up. And also, we don't see the energy storage price going down, and it is also going up. So I think as long as we can continue to control and operating expenses and make our operation will grow more efficient, we'll be able to grow the bottom line. I think that you will see that happen in -- starting from Q2, I believe.

Our next question comes from the line of Philip Shen with ROTH Capital Partners.

On the project delays, I'm sorry if I missed, but what drove the project sale delays from Q4 into '26? Can you give some additional color also on the impairments that you guys experienced?

Yes. I'll ask Ismael to address this question. And Xinbo to make any supplement necessary. Ismael?

Thank you, Shawn. Look, there were a couple of projects that delayed mainly due to permitting delays. One of them was already finalized, the other one is under exclusivity, so it should be finalized on, hopefully, mainly permitting delays. Look, the impairments are on -- I mean, the main reasons are twofold. One is change on legislation in some of the countries quickly and many projects that we were developing earlier stage, we believe, might not mean making sense anymore, and we stop putting capital into them with the changes on the regulations. So there were a bunch of them on that part. And some others on which interconnection suddenly, the interconnection cost went to the roof, and we don't see them viable not for us and not for anyone. We also decided to stop investing on. So those are the 2 main drivers.

Got it, Ismael. Can you share which countries and that had there -- where you might be downsizing your efforts, either due to legislation or to the interconnection cost?

The biggest bulk and solar in the U.S. because of the changes in regulation there. And Italy also because of the grid reform, also a little bit in France, so those are the main three. A little bit in Spain also, but not major.

Great. And then shifting over to the guidance. For -- if you can, can you explain a little bit more why the '26 guidance is only focused on the U.S.? Although Q1 has global numbers there. And so I was wondering if you could also share what the U.S. mix for Q1 might be? And then also what the 2026 CapEx might be?

Philip, again, this is Shawn. We have already provided a global guidance in November last year. And so we only added the new guidance for U.S., which we -- usually we mentioned during the call, but we don't put it in writing. So this time, we put it on writing for the U.S. guidance. In terms of CapEx, I'll let Xinbo to address. I want to mention that the new CapEx for 2026 is mainly in United States. We have some remaining payments for the capacity in the other places, but most of the CapEx in United States. But we also have a new CapEx in Southeastern Asia for the energy storage production and the lithium battery energy storage production, but those capacity are mainly prepared for U.S. Now Xinbo, would you -- do you have some new numbers to share?

Yes. It's not new number, it's the same as what we guided in the last earnings call, it's around $1.2 billion for this year, in the CapEx. There might be some uncertainties because of the -- hopefully, the lower tariff to the U.S.

Great. Okay. One more, if I may. As it relates to the Section 337 and that investigation, I was wondering if you might be able to provide some color on that as well as, I think, the USPTO recently projected your attempt to invalidate the First Solar TOPCon patent lawsuits. And so just if you can give us some perspective on the IP situation. It looks like you're focused more on heterojunction, so maybe it's not that relevant. Just wanted to touch on this for a bit.

First of all, Philip, we have decided to use heterojunction, HJT, technology for our U.S. domestic solar cell factory a few years ago. Before the legal challenge from First Solar. So we made a decision independently, because we believe we are a master of the HJT technology. And this technology has some very distinguished advantages. First of all, HJT has higher theoretical efficiency limit than the TOPCon solar cell. And second, although both TOPCon and HJT are N-type for the application on earth, it's N-type. For the operation in the space, some scholars believe P-type HJT has more advantage. But although the TOPCon and HJT are both N-type, HJT does have higher efficiency and also thinner wafers. It has the potential to go thin wafers, therefore, further reduce the cost. Also, there was another advantage of HJT technology which just appeared, become more significant recently, which is the low silver use. When we decided on the -- to use HJT for the U.S. factory, the silver cost was not that high like 2, 3 years ago, polysilicon cost is still #1, not like today, the silver cost all of a sudden become #1. But the HJT use the so-called low-temperature process, as you probably know, the processing temperature -- the highest processing temperature is around 200 degrees C rather than for N-type TOPCon, which have to go through some 800, 900 degrees C process. Because it's low temperature, we can potentially use less silver and more copper in the paste. Therefore, it will have very significant savings in terms of silver cost. Recently, I have called the R&D team in our company to focus on what I call the zero silver technology. And for zero silver, we can see that the HJT will go faster than the TOPCon technology. So because of those [ event ], also, HJT is more of -- is a more automated and equipment-dependent process than operators dependent. And its operator per watt capacity is much less than the TOPCon. So it will make -- reduce the initial operator training burden for us in U.S. That's why we do introduced HJT. And as I said in my remarks, we will see the first piece of HJT cells of our lines in Jeffersonville, Indiana by the end of this month. So next quarter, we will start the ramp-up process for the Phase 1. So I think that the result today, what happened today shows that we made the right decision on the technology selection, also showed our [ steps ] in the R&D and technology reserve in the company. Now turning to the -- on the legal patent side, I don't want to comment too much on the legal cases. But I do want to emphasize that USPTO pretty much rejected all the review request for patents. It's not specific to us, but it's rather a change of their practice. I don't think it affect or it will weaken our position in front of the court. We have -- we firmly believe that our technology is found. And also, we have not infringed any of other patents. Now in terms of 337, it's going to be approximately a 1-year process or more than 1 year. So it's a process in front of ITC. So we'll let the process go. But as I said, we are confident on our technology and our patent determination. And -- but meanwhile, we have -- also have flexibility as you see that we have the HJT technology going in U.S. already. And by the end of this year, we will be ramping up the Phase 2. So in Q1 next year, you will start to see 6 gigawatts, 6.3 gigawatts of nameplate capacity running in the United States. That will more or less cover a large part of our solar cell requirement of our Mesquite solar module factory. As I also said that our -- we increased our nameplate capacity of the solar module [indiscernible] factory in Mesquite, Texas to 10 gigawatt. So for the remaining 3 gigawatts, we will either use TOPCon to supplement or we might use PERC technology. So altogether, I'm confident that right now, what we are seeing right now is a transition process ongoing. But starting from second half of this year, overall, you will see the result of this transition. So I think we are the -- one of the most -- will be the most stable players in the global market, especially in the U.S. market.

Our next question comes from the line of Maheep Mandloi with Mizuho Securities.

On the HJT expansion and even the model expansion, could you just talk about like the capital needs or CapEx needs for those? And then separately, on the FEOC side or compliance with FEOC, can you just touch upon that with this new strategy that you still need the 45X? Or how do you plan to address the material assistance or any other rules around the foreign entity of concern language in the OBBBA?

Yes. This is Shawn. I also, as we said, in remark, we are more or less completed our restructuring necessary to be compliant to the OBBBA by December. Reformed a new entity, which is called CS PowerTech for U.S. manufacturing. This is the CS PowerTech. And all the subsidiary and [indiscernible] as have has 75.1% ownership from Canadian Solar. And Canadian Solar is headquartered in Kitchener, Ontario. And Canadian Solar -- I mean we actually just completed all -- we just had our first Board meeting of 2026 in Kitchener, Ontario. And we will have the second Board meeting in Kitchener, Ontario very soon by May. So as you see, the major decision-making and those corporate activities are wholly in Canada, which make Canadian Solar clear Canadian operating company. So which -- so with this structure, we believe we are compliant with the OBBBA. In terms of CapEx, most of happened for 2026 will happen in United States. There are some CapEx spending for the Mesquite factory in the solar module factory, we mentioned that we expanded the capacity there from 5 gigawatts to 10 gigawatt. That will add a little bit equipment, but the buildings there, most of the facilities there. So the expanding cost -- expansion costs as we lower proportional to compare with the historical spending. So that's a very -- I think there is a very efficient expansion. And for the Mesquite solar cell Phase 1 and Phase 2 altogether, the total CapEx will be over USD 1 billion. That's why you see the numbers most of the CapEx numbers for 2026 happened in -- occurred in Jeffersonville, Indiana for the solar cell Phase 1 and Phase 2. However, the Phase 1 is pretty much already there, all the equipment are there. Now we are adding the Phase 2 there. There are also some CapEx expansion in Southeastern Asia for the lithium battery energy storage factory. So those are where the expansion and new CapEx happening this year.

Got it. I appreciate the clarity there. And maybe just a follow-up on the manufacturing for the U.S. Any thoughts on what gross margins you are targeting for either the solar module or the battery manufacturing in the U.S.? And secondly, if you could just talk about any orders you've received for the manufacturing for '27 or '28 at this stage in the U.S. factories?

Yes, the U.S. factory, first of all, we typically don't guide the gross margin for future quarters and future years. However, I do share that -- I can share that for the solar module manufacturing, the typical gross margin. The gross margin demonstrated previous year in 2025 is more than 20% for the U.S., manufacturing and U.S. orders. This year, for this first half of the year, the margin might be a little bit tight because of the tight supply of the so-called OBBBA compliant solar cell supply, as I mentioned in my call and also because we are waiting for our Jeffersonville solar cell factory to contribute for the second part of the year. And so that tight supply caused a little bit reduced the volume in U.S., also as we guided and also a little bit high priced for the solar cell supply to the U.S. However, I think this is pure transitional. First of all, if I -- when I address the one of previous question, I said that the U.S. market seem to be able to respond total cost increase when we tell our customers that cost increase because of the silver and also because of the tight supply of OBBBA compliance sort of sales and our customers are willing to most of our customers are willing to shoulder some of these costs. But I also want to mention that from now on, it looks like we will see less tariff impact on the cost. I don't know how long it will last, but I do know that for at least in Q2 or the benefit of lower tariffs. But moving into the second half and move into next year, we start to switch more and more into our domestic manufacturer solar cell, the tariff will become a small question. So to repeat, historically, we do see over 20% gross margin for U.S. solar manufacturing. Now for the energy battery, we did say that we are targeting like 20% of higher gross margin. For global shipments, including U.S. and non-U.S. Now Colin, do you want to -- do you have additional comment on this topic? That's okay. I think we can just move on.

Nothing else on that. But like a quick clarification just on the 25 to 30 gigawatts of shipments which previously for '26. That's still implies? Or is that something that will guide later or the revise that later?

Can you repeat your question?

Yes, sure. The -- we previously guided 25 to 30 gigawatts of solar shipments for 2026, right? So does that still hold? Or that's something in revised in second quarter?

Well, first of all, we didn't provide any new guidance this year. However, as we see at this point, we think the volume target for 2026, yes, it's not our priority, but rather the profit is our priority. This is due to, number one, the increase of cost of the solar cell. And number two, you see that total volume in U.S. will go down a little bit compared with last year, but it's more due to the supply chain issue before we bounce back next year for the U.S. shipment. And the current conflict in Middle East will also, I think, impact the market, especially the demand from the Middle East. So it hasn't materialized yet, but we do expect some turbulence there. So for the volume -- the megawatt volume of solar, we think is getting challenging, and we are not focusing on that for this year. However, we are still early. We're still in March. I have been in the solar industry for 30 years and Canadian Solar has been operating for 25 years. So we do see in turbulent year, sometimes the volume can switch off and on very fast. So we will provide the annual global guidance on volumes in later quarters for we have more clarity.

Our next question comes from the line of Alan Lau with Jefferies.

Congratulations on winning a major orders in relation to a data center for energy storage. I would like to know -- so how does that project works like? Do you sell power to the utility company, which in turns house or where it is supplying the power to a data center? And do you know how big is the load for the data center?

I think you're asking the question about our new press release, right, on the 2.5 gigawatt hour order. Now Colin is the President for Canadian Solar as well as our subsidiary e-STORAGE. So Colin, do you want to comment on this question?

Sure. Thanks, Alan, for your question. That particular project, although we can't name the customer, is for a major U.S. utility. And it is part of their strategy to build-out power supply for a major hyperscale investments. That is a front-of-the-meter solution. And what we're seeing right now is luxury utilities and infrastructure is being formed around the additional power demands for data centers front-of-the-meter. We're also seeing trends for behind-the-meter and direct connected data centers, which this is not the case. This is an infrastructure support project. But we do expect to see the trend moving towards more behind-the-meter total power solutions for data centers, which is why we mentioned in our commentary earlier that we are focusing on providing total power solutions to address both front-of-the-meter and direct behind-the-meter connections for data centers. And part of that is the modeling, understanding the modeling and the requirements for the data centers, particular application, the load flow requirements and response requirements, which are very stringent and testing those requirements in advance doing hardware in the loop testing and configuring our total solutions to support the complex needs for data centers. But as I mentioned, we're seeing both front-of-the-meter and behind-the-meter, but more this particular one is a front-of-the-meter, and we'll see more of that as well. Did that answer your question, Alan?

That's clear. Just a quick follow-up on that. So for the behind-the-meter discussion ongoing, you mentioned about a total power solutions. So does it mean that you also have to consider the grid connection requirement to stabilize the load requirement from the data center storage parts from the grid. Is it part of the package on top of powering data center?

That's right. That's part of the total solution that we're looking at. We're in some cases, auxiliary equipment, power supply equipment and even potentially generation equipment completes the total power solution. And we can do some part of that with partners. But we're looking at the data center opportunities in a much more holistic power solution approach. And we think that's part of the value that we'll be adding as we look forward to participating in the AIDC markets. So I think you'll see more coming from us in terms of our advancement of technologies beyond just the known capabilities that we have with our battery technology. And the other thing that I think we've mentioned earlier is we're focusing on how to bring that additional value to our customer in terms of executing projects, servicing and supporting equipment with long-term performance and guarantees to meet the specific requirements for data centers.

Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes our question-and-answer session. I'll turn the floor back to management for any final comments.

All right. And thank you for joining us today and also for your continued support. And if you have any questions or like to set up a call, please contact our Investor Relations team. Take care, and have a great day.

Thank you. This concludes today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.