Canadian Solar Inc. (NASDAQ:CSIQ) Q3 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Yan Zhuang: The US. US, we’re actually in the — we have set up our team and in the process of site selection. We plan to secure a site that long-term-wise can support 5-gigawatt of module capacity. But at the same time, we also strike actively assessing the economic viability, policy-wise as well on upper stream capacity such as ingot, wafer, and cell. But still, we’re in the process of clarifying a lot of details on IRA with the DOC. So, it’s running changing process. So, on module side on execution, we may execute in phases. So, this is the plan.

Brian Lee: Okay. Thank you. I’ll pass it on.

Yan Zhuang: And on CapEx-wise, we have a customer support. Yes, we have customer support, a lot of down payment also helps.

Operator: Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Philip Shen with Roth Capital Partners. Please proceed with your question.

Philip Shen: Hi everyone. Thanks for taking my questions. First one is on the IPO in China. I was wondering if you could give a little bit more color on the timing of that. I know in the deck and you guys talked about maybe Q1 of 2023, but in addition to that, do you still expect to bring your poly plant online by mid-2024. What’s the update on how that development is going? And how the IPO might be tied to some of your capacity expansion plans? Thanks.

Shawn Qu: Huifeng, do you want to address this question?

Huifeng Chang: Sure. Hi, Phil. Let me first talk about what that short procedural pause in our IPO process. So on September 30, Shanghai Stock change on its website, they changed the status of our IPO application to pause awaiting update the financial information. And we submitted the request information to the stock exchange in early October. And as a result, on October 27, the stock exchange after reviewing our documents and also on its website, changed our IPO status back to in registration. And with the message CSI Solar has submitted updated financial information. So since then, we are not receiving any more requests. So our application is back on track. So that process is about like four weeks. Now yes, the process is slower than our expectation.

But at this point, I don’t have a clear answer to why because in general, it is hard to know behind the same details inside the government office. And in our case, it’s much harder due to the COVID restriction on travels. But for management, we focus on managing business and deliver the better results. Now the good news is that there is more deadline for our IPO. We just wait there. If there is question from CSRC, we answer that. Also, let me share with you some statistics. There are over 30 companies applying for starboard listing are in the same status with us called registration. And actually, one-third of that submitted application before us. And there are also 50 companies in the pause status. So we continue to wait for the completion of registration and meanwhile, many JV business and make the company better for the listed.

Thank you.

Philip Shen: Great. Thanks, Huifeng. And — hey, Shawn go ahead.

Shawn Qu: Hi, Phil, So you also asked about the schedule of our polysilicon project and whether that investment is tied to the IPO proceeds. The answer is yes. Polysilicon is a big project. And then as we answered the questions in the last earnings call. We will only proceed with the polysilicon project after we complete our IPO.

Philip Shen: Okay. Thanks, Shawn. In your

Shawn Qu: In other capacity, I will say that the other capacity projects not really tied to the IPO financing for other capacity project, the new module cells or even wafer, more and less secure. So not really tied to the IPO.