| | | Now turning to our outlook for the fiscal first quarter. Fiscal Q1 gross margin is projected to improve sequentially primarily on better pricing and portfolio mix. Recall that, in fiscal Q4, HBM remained accretive to both DRAM and overall company gross margins. We project changes in our portfolio mix to continue to be an important and favorable contributor to gross margins over time.
We forecast operating expenses to be flat to slightly up in the fiscal first quarter compared to fiscal fourth quarter levels. For the full fiscal year 2025, we see operating expenses growing by a mid-teens percentage versus fiscal 2024. Growth in operating expenses is planned to be second half weighted, as we ramp necessary R&D program investments, including for HBM, to capture the substantial growth opportunity ahead.
For fiscal Q1 and fiscal 2025, we estimate our non-GAAP tax rate to be in the mid-teens percentage range. We project days of inventory outstanding to decline in fiscal 2025 and for DIO to approach our target by the end of fiscal 2025. In fiscal Q1, we forecast capital expenditures to increase sequentially to approximately $3.5 billion.
As Sanjay mentioned, we expect fiscal 2025 CapEx to be around mid-30s percentage range of revenue based on our current CapEx and revenue expectations. We remain circumspect with all capital spending and disciplined with WFE investments in order to grow bit supply in line with industry demand.
With all these factors in mind, our non-GAAP guidance for fiscal Q1 is as follows. We expect revenue to be $8.7 billion plus or minus $200 million. Gross margin to be in the range of 39.5% plus or minus 100 basis points and operating expenses to be approximately $1.085 billion plus or minus $15 million.
As mentioned, we expect the fiscal Q1 tax rate to be in the mid-teens percentage range. Based on a share count of approximately 1.14 billion shares, we expect EPS to be $1.74 per share plus or minus $0.08. |
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