AEye (LIDR) Q4 2025 Earnings Call Transcript

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Date

Monday, March 16, 2026 at 5 p.m. ET

Call participants

• Chief Executive Officer — Matt Fisch
• Chief Financial Officer — Conor Tierney
• Investor Relations Manager — Keaton Olson

Takeaways

• Cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities -- $86.5 million at period end, providing runway "well into 2028."
• Q4 GAAP operating expenses -- $8.3 million, rising from $7.8 million in the prior year due to higher engineering spend and one-time payroll costs.
• Q4 Non-GAAP operating expenses -- $7.5 million, up from $6.1 million in the prior quarter, driven chiefly by increased engineering and payroll expenses.
• Q4 GAAP net loss -- $7.3 million, or $0.17 per share, a reduction from $9.3 million and $0.30 per share in the prior year, attributed mainly to lower fair value adjustments and note repayment.
• Q4 Non-GAAP net loss -- $6.8 million, or $0.15 per share, compared to $5.4 million and $0.17 per share in the prior quarter, primarily reflecting increased contract development and payroll costs.
• Q4 cash burn -- $7.5 million, up from $6.4 million last year, primarily related to engineering costs, professional services, insurance, and component purchases.
• New capital raised in Q4 -- $10 million, including a "well-known institutional investor."
• Convertible notes fully repaid -- All 2025 convertible notes repaid; legacy warrants eliminated, leaving the company "virtually debt-free."
• Customer base -- Expanded to 16 active customers from 12; active engagements rose over 40% and active quotes rose over 30% quarter over quarter.
• Apollo sensor shipments -- Highest number of units shipped to date in Q4, reflecting greater execution and demand.
• Manufacturing capacity -- Secured annual capacity for 60,000 Apollo units via global Tier 1 partner LiteOn.
• Non-automotive sector traction -- Management expects non-automotive to become a "meaningful contributor to near-term revenue," citing smart city, rail, and infrastructure wins.
• Commercial pipeline -- Multiple new RFQs, new strategic distributor partnership for ex-U.S. markets, and ongoing engagements in defense, aviation, and industrial applications.
• Product launches -- Launched Optus (physical AI solution) and Stratos (ultra–long-range third-generation LiDAR); Stratos delivers a 1.5-kilometer detection range and resolution over twice that of Apollo, maintaining 500-meter range behind glass.
• CES 2026 lead generation -- Over 130 high-quality leads generated, now converting into evaluations and proof-of-concept opportunities.
• Major OEM program -- Ongoing deployment with a global transportation OEM for a program representing a $30 million revenue opportunity, with broader rollout expected in 2026.
• 2026 full-year cash burn guidance -- Expected to be between $30 million and $35 million, reflecting increased investment in sales, marketing, and operational scaling.
• Business model -- Capital-light with reliance on external Tier 1 manufacturing partners for cost and CapEx control; management expects CapEx for 2026 below $1 million.
• Revenue composition -- Currently predominantly hardware-based; Optus is driving initial software revenues, with management anticipating software upsell opportunities and growth.
• Strategic partnerships -- Strengthened NVIDIA collaboration: Apollo demonstrated with DRIVE AGX Thor, joined HALOS AI Systems Inspection Lab; ecosystem partnerships include FlashEye, Blue Band, Black Sesame Technology, and VuRun.

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Risks

• Fourth-quarter cash burn rose to $7.5 million from $6.4 million in the prior year, primarily due to increased engineering, professional services, insurance, and component purchases, which management cites as drivers of higher expenses.
• CFO Tierney cautioned that the $30 million program with a global transportation OEM will deliver only "What I would say is, you know, there is an assumption that it is going to contribute some revenue here in 2026. And as Matt alluded to, we are really going through the kind of validation steps right now, and we expect, obviously, kind of back half of this year, to do some initial deployments. I do not think we are going to see a meaningful amount of revenue probably until 2027. But that said, there will be some contribution, and that is sort of baked into the cash guidance numbers that we gave," reflecting extended customer validation cycles and staged deployments.

Summary

AEye (NASDAQ:LIDR) emphasized significant financial reinforcement, including a virtually debt-free balance sheet and ample cash reserves extending well into 2028. Management described accelerating momentum across customer engagements and a record shipment of Apollo sensors in the quarter. Active customer count increased from 12 to 16, contributing to a pipeline with over 40% more engagements and over 30% more quotes quarter over quarter. Strategic product launches and integration with high-profile partners like NVIDIA and LiteOn position AEye for deeper market penetration across automotive, industrial, and infrastructure sectors.

• Management reports diversification with non-automotive solutions, citing smart infrastructure deployments and a Letter of Intent with an ITS solutions provider for APAC region expansion.
• Optus and Stratos sensors target high-performance and long-range use cases in defense, rail, and trucking, aiming to displace legacy sensing and drive higher-margin software revenue streams.
• Major OEM engagement began initial rollout for a $30 million opportunity, but leadership signaled true scale will occur after extended validation, likely not before 2027.
• Capital-light model keeps 2026 CapEx expectations below $1 million, with cash burn projected at $30 million–$35 million to support commercial ramp and expanded sales operations.

Industry glossary

• LiDAR: Light Detection and Ranging; sensor technology that measures distance by illuminating a target with laser light and measuring the reflection to create precise 3D maps for autonomy and ADAS.
• POC: Proof of Concept; an initial pilot project or demonstration to validate a product’s suitability for a specific application.
• ITS: Intelligent Transportation Systems; technology solutions designed to improve the efficiency and safety of transportation networks, including smart intersections and traffic management.
• RFI/RFQ: Request for Information/Request for Quotation; formal processes where prospective customers seek technical or pricing information to evaluate potential suppliers.
• APAC: Asia-Pacific; geographic region encompassing Asia and Oceania, cited here in the context of market expansion and strategic partnerships.
• CFO: Chief Financial Officer; senior executive responsible for managing the company’s financial actions.
• OEM: Original Equipment Manufacturer; company that produces parts and equipment to be marketed by another manufacturer, here referring to automotive and transportation sector clients.

Full Conference Call Transcript

Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. My name is Desiree, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the AEye, Inc. fourth quarter 2025 earnings conference call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press star followed by the number 1 on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, press star followed by the number 1 again. I would now like to turn the conference over to Keaton Olson, Investor Relations Manager. You may begin.

Keaton Olson: Good afternoon, and thank you for joining AEye, Inc.’s fourth quarter 2025 earnings call. I’m Keaton Olson, Investor Relations Manager for AEye, Inc. And with me today are Matt Fisch, Chief Executive Officer, and Conor Tierney, Chief Financial Officer. Earlier today, AEye, Inc. announced its financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2025. A copy of the press release is available in the Investor Relations section of the company’s website. Before we begin, today’s discussion may include forward-looking statements as defined in securities laws and regulations of the United States with reference to future events, operating results, or performance and are based on our current expectations and assumptions.

Any forward-looking statements are subject to inherent risks, uncertainties, and changes in circumstances. Our actual results may differ materially from those contemplated by these forward-looking statements. You can find more information about the risks, uncertainties, and other factors in the reports AEye, Inc. files from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including in the most recent periodic report. The statements to be made today are as of today only. AEye, Inc. does not intend to update any forward-looking statements regardless of any new information, future developments, or otherwise, except as may be required by law.

In addition, we will be discussing non-GAAP financial measures on this call, which we believe are relevant in assessing the financial performance of the business. These measures are presented as supplemental information only and should not be considered a substitute for financial information presented in accordance with GAAP. You can find reconciliations of these metrics to the most directly comparable GAAP measures within the press release. I will now turn the call over to Matt.

Matt Fisch: Thank you, Keaton. And thank you all for joining our fourth quarter and full year 2025 earnings call. 2025 marked an important year for AEye, Inc. as we continued building the foundation for commercial scale. Over the course of the year, we expanded our customer base, increased engagement activity, and delivered revenue growth as customers progressed through their evaluation cycle. At the same time, we significantly strengthened our balance sheet, ending the year with nearly $87 million in cash, and we believe we are funded well into 2028. Importantly, we are also seeing broader market interest, including new RFIs, new strategic partnerships, and additional autonomous trucking evaluations.

We began 2025 with a plan to demonstrate that our technology, business model, and balance sheet all position us as one of the most innovative companies in the LiDAR industry. And we executed against the key milestones we set out for the year.

With momentum in our business accelerating each quarter, throughout the year, we made continuous progress against our growth strategy, including launching multiple products, Optus, our fully integrated physical AI solution, and Stratos, that firmly sets the industry bar for detection range. Executing on our commercialization strategy, keeping our spending under rigorous control while investing in sales, marketing, and operations, and we built a financial foundation that offers the long-term stability that partners in our sector look for. We believe AEye, Inc. is emerging as a differentiated provider in long-range LiDAR, with capabilities that address some of the most challenging perception problems in autonomy.

The LiDAR sector has undergone significant consolidation over the past several years, and AEye, Inc. has emerged from this period with a stronger balance sheet, a capital-light operating model, and a growing commercial pipeline.

Our Apollo sensor with near-infinite software programmability and a one-kilometer detection range is driving increased engagement with a growing set of prospective customers. We are also advancing several commercial discussions that stem from successful POCs, which are creating clear pathways toward higher-volume programs. In defense and aviation, we are now engaged across multiple opportunities, including repeat business with an existing defense customer. We are also supporting programs in UGV, UAV, and counter-detection applications, where our long-range performance and ability to tune scan patterns in software are particularly valuable. We have seen this momentum translate into concrete activity.

We have received multiple new RFQs, and we entered a new strategic partnership with a distributor which strengthens our positioning and helps unlock opportunities outside of the United States. Taken together, these developments validate the inroads we have made in sectors where our performance advantages matter most.

We are also seeing promising traction in commercial and ground mobility, including early conversations in long-haul trucking and rail, where long-range sensing and software-defined field-of-view control are increasingly important for next-generation safety systems. In the transportation and infrastructure sectors, our momentum is equally strong. As announced in June, we were selected by a major global transportation OEM for a program representing a $30 million revenue opportunity. We are now in the first stage of deployment, and based on the current outlook from the customer, we expect to enter a broader phase of deployment in 2026. We recently completed a successful intelligent transportation system POC in Australia and are now discussing commercial terms.

Multiple smart intersection deployments are in progress across the U.S., and we also signed an LOI with an ITS solutions provider which we expect will unlock opportunities in Korea and the broader APAC region. These engagements reinforce the strength of our diversified go-to-market strategy and support our expectation that non-automotive will be a meaningful contributor to near-term revenue.

This increased deal flow is feeding directly into our POC and quoting pipeline, and we expect this level of activity to continue throughout the year as our technology becomes increasingly visible across strategic markets. As these engagements progress, we expect to see increased conversion into deployment phases, which is where revenue can begin to scale. CES 2026 served as a barometer of strong market interest, and as a result, we generated over 130 high-quality leads across automotive, trucking, and a broader set of physical AI–driven markets. The physical AI market is estimated to represent a $5 billion market today and, according to a recent analysis by Barclays, a potential trillion-dollar opportunity by 2035.

AEye, Inc.’s software-defined LiDAR architecture positions us as a core enabling layer of this emerging ecosystem.

The launch of Stratos, our ultra–long-range third-generation LiDAR sensor, set the tone with its unprecedented detection range at a disruptive price point. Stratos is not merely an addition to our portfolio; it is a value multiplier for our software-defined architecture. By delivering a 1.5-kilometer detection range and resolution greater than twice that of our flagship Apollo sensor, Stratos redefines the boundaries of high-performance sensing while maintaining a form factor automotive OEMs can fit behind a windshield. By preserving a 500-meter range even when placed behind glass, we offer OEMs a streamlined packaging solution that simplifies weather mitigation and avoids the aesthetic compromises required when employing roof-mounted sensors.

Apollo and Stratos are built around a 1550-nanometer architecture which allows higher power transmission while remaining eye safe. The result is improved long-range detection and more reliable classification of low-reflectivity objects at distance—capabilities that are increasingly important for applications such as highway autonomy, industrial automation, and defense.

Through our global Tier 1 manufacturing partner, LiteOn, we have secured dedicated manufacturing capacity of 60,000 Apollo units annually. Our supply chain is globally diversified, giving us the flexibility and resiliency to mitigate geopolitical risk and shifting trade policy. Our tech stack was derived from off-the-shelf components from the telecom industry, allowing us to compete on cost while providing mass manufacturability and high performance to customers. Our partnership with NVIDIA remains a cornerstone of our automotive and industrial market opportunity. We have demonstrated Apollo LiDAR integrated with NVIDIA’s next-generation Drive AGX Thor platform, the future centralized brain of NVIDIA-equipped autonomous vehicles.

This helps ensure compatibility with leading autonomous compute platforms and meets rigorous standards and transparency with regard to sensor performance. I am also very excited to confirm that we are joining the NVIDIA HALOS AI Systems Inspection Lab, which bolsters our commitment to build products that meet the safety and robustness requirements of the automotive industry.

Beyond automotive, our Optus platform powered by NVIDIA Jetson Orin is transforming legacy infrastructure. By providing a turnkey vision-to-action pipeline, we are delivering real-time detection and analysis to sectors that lack the resources to build their own AI perception stack. We have expanded this ecosystem through strategic partnerships with software partners like FlashEye for ITS, airport security, and other applications; Blue Band for smart city traffic management; Black Sesame Technology for high-speed rail; and, most recently, VuRun for dynamic perception required by moving vehicles such as rail and truck. Together, these partnerships are turning technological opportunity into actionable revenue pipelines today.

I will now turn the call over to Conor Tierney, who will review our fourth quarter results and our uniquely strong capital position in the performance LiDAR sector.

Conor Tierney: Thank you, Matt. We closed the year with strong commercial momentum. In Q4, we shipped the highest number of Apollo units in our history, demonstrating increased customer readiness and execution capability. Customer traction also continues to deepen. Since our last earnings call, our active customer count has grown from 12 to 16. Active engagements are up over 40%, and active quotes are up more than 30% quarter over quarter. We are seeing broad activity across both automotive and non-automotive opportunities. Repeat business amongst customers is emerging as a bright spot, reinforcing product-market fit and validating the performance advantages of our architecture.

While we are in the early stages of this revenue ramp, our underlying metrics provide clear visibility into future growth.

Fourth quarter GAAP operating expenses were $8.3 million, up from $7.8 million in 2025, primarily due to increased engineering spend and one-time payroll costs. Fourth quarter non-GAAP operating expenses were $7.5 million, an increase of $1.4 million compared to the prior quarter of $6.1 million, primarily driven by the same cost drivers just discussed. We reported a GAAP net loss of $7.3 million, or $0.17 per share, in the fourth quarter, compared to a GAAP net loss of $9.3 million, or $0.30 per share, in 2025.

The decrease was primarily due to smaller changes in the fair value of our convertible note and warrants, as we fully repaid the note in the fourth quarter and had fewer outstanding warrants this quarter. These decreases were partially offset by the increased costs noted earlier. On a non-GAAP basis, our net loss was $6.8 million, or $0.15 per share, compared to a non-GAAP net loss of $5.4 million, or $0.17 per share, in the prior quarter. The increase in non-GAAP net loss was driven primarily by increased contract development expenses and one-time payroll costs.

Excluding net financing proceeds, fourth quarter cash burn increased to $7.5 million from $6.4 million in 2025, primarily related to increased engineering costs, professional services, and insurance premiums, as well as purchases of certain long-lead components.

During the fourth quarter, we raised an additional $10 million, which included funding from a well-known institutional investor. By leveraging Tier 1 manufacturing partners, instead of making heavy investments in internal infrastructure, we continue to maintain the lowest burn rate amongst our peers. We ended the year with cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities of $86.5 million. This war chest provides us with an operational runway well into 2028. And importantly, we have simplified our capital structure. We have fully repaid our 2025 convertible note and eliminated legacy warrants associated with our convertible notes, leaving AEye, Inc. virtually debt-free, establishing the company as a reliable long-term partner for leading automotive OEMs and high-performance industrial partners demanding multiyear production cycles.

Moving on to our cash burn outlook on Slide 8, we expect full-year 2026 cash burn to be within the range of $30 million to $35 million, reflecting increased investment in sales and marketing to support our go-to-market efforts, scaling our operational capabilities, and executing on customer deployments as we transition from evaluation into commercial programs. Apollo continues to be the foundation of our competitiveness and growth strategy. Apollo’s core architecture, paired with software flexibility, allows us to rapidly tailor performance, field of view, and feature sets without requiring a hardware redesign. This scalability is central to our rapid roadmap expansion, which enables us to continue to lead the high-performance market at significantly lower development costs.

A prime example is Stratos, which leverages Apollo’s core architecture and software definability to allow us accelerated access to a broader set of customers. Stratos demonstrates how we can keep development costs low while maintaining the performance profile that differentiates us, and this approach is resonating strongly with OEMs and industrial customers who require flexibility without sacrificing capability.

We expect 2026 to show increasing momentum towards our revenue generation inflection point as our technical engagements begin to translate into volume commitments and a durable revenue ramp. Apollo’s differentiated performance and software-defined flexibility continue to deepen engagements across markets, while our capital-light model and cost-competitive tech stack allow us to scale efficiently and maintain one of the most attractive cost structures in the industry. I will now hand it back to Matt to wrap things up.

Matt Fisch: Thank you, Conor. As we enter 2026, we believe AEye, Inc. is positioned on a much stronger foundation than a year ago. Our customer base is growing, engagement activity continues to increase, and our balance sheet provides the runway needed to execute our strategy. The focus now is converting these engagements into deployments and building a durable revenue ramp. We look forward to updating you on our progress throughout the year. Operator, we are now ready to open the floor for questions.

Operator: Thank you. We will now begin the question-and-answer session. If you have dialed in and would like to ask a question, please press star then 1 on your telephone keypad to raise your hand and join the queue. If you would like to withdraw your questions, simply press star then 1 again. If you are called upon to ask your question and are listening via speakerphone on your device, please pick up your handset to ensure that your phone is not on mute when asking your question. Again, press star then 1 to join the queue. Our first question comes from the line of Poe Fratt with Alliance Global Partners. Your line is open.

Poe Fratt: Yeah. Good afternoon, Matt. Good afternoon, Conor. Hey. Can you just talk about the big jump in your customer base this quarter? I think you mentioned it jumped to 16, and can you give me any more detail on, sort of, your pipeline, if you will? You know, you are talking about a lot more engagement. If you can sort of give us a little more color on that, that would be helpful. And then are there any new developments on the NVIDIA partnership? And then can you just talk about how you see that adding value in 2026 and beyond?

Matt Fisch: Hey. Thanks, Poe. This is Matt, and I will take that, and happy 2026 to you. Thank you for joining us. So I hope you got a strong impression from the script earlier that there is a lot going on at the company right now. And the 16 active customer number that we talked about is just really reflective of our growing activity and growing business opportunity in our non-automotive pipeline. If you take that 16 and now you start looking back upstream, we really saw a sizable jump not just in customer interest, but the number of outbound proposals to customers.

These translate into this increased customer base and really look at this as a feeder from these proof-of-concept projects. And so we have got a lot more in the pipe coming behind these, by the way, across all the market segments we had mentioned in the call. That is the thing. The interest is very broad across the market segments. And so, therefore, what we can expect to see going forward is a corresponding jump in the number of customers—in other words, the number of paid POC projects.

On your question about NVIDIA, you saw the press release earlier. Our relationship with NVIDIA continues to deepen. There were two things that we spoke about in the call earlier. Number one, during CES, we were the only LiDAR vendor to show Apollo integrated with NVIDIA’s Drive AGX Thor platform—their latest and greatest autonomous platform for ADAS and autonomous driving—and we are out there on the cutting edge showing that with Apollo. And secondly, we have joined the HALOS AI Lab with NVIDIA. I think the way to look at this is it shows NVIDIA’s interest in our strength and commitment to the automotive process.

There is an unbelievable amount of rigor—functional safety and so on—and this partnership deepening with NVIDIA with HALOS really increases our momentum and our commitment to the quality, safety, and readiness that is required and, in our opinion, shows NVIDIA’s continued broadening interest in Apollo and the products we have here at AEye, Inc.

Poe Fratt: Okay. And then, you know, you said you were at CES, and can you talk about, sort of, any pull-through that you see from LiDAR from, you know, being at that conference?

Matt Fisch: It was incredibly positive for us, Poe. Conor and I were both there personally. We had a full team on the floor at CES, and the amount of interest in LiDAR, in my view, is off the charts. I mean, there were two or three days there in a row where it was hard to even leave our booth because we had people backed up. The OEMs are back out on the floor, and I am talking about automotive OEMs and also, in particular, trucking OEMs.

Even though they may not have had large booths at the conference, their ADAS teams and their engineering leaders and purchasing leaders were definitely out on the floor, and we could see a huge spike and jump in interest, especially in the auto OEM passenger vehicle market and trucking. I think there was one thing that really stood out to me above and beyond that, as we were approached by the leaders of these organizations that were really asking about readiness for mass manufacturability. And I think this is where our partnership at LiteOn really struck a positive chord.

In fact, we had our partner LiteOn there at the conference, and we felt that the OEMs were really impressed by our approach by using a seasoned Tier 1 automotive supplier to supply into this market and really help increase our credibility.

Conor Tierney: I would just add to what Matt said there. Hey, Poe. Good to talk to you here. I would just say, aside from the traction in automotive and trucking, we walked away with something like 130 leads out of the event, and even with some of those leads right now, they are maturing into evaluations. So this is feeding directly into our funnel and actually feeding downstream in terms of POC momentum. So I think that was just a great outcome all in all.

Poe Fratt: Great, Conor. And then, Matt, you emphasized the balance sheet not only cleaned up with the converts and some of the legacy warrants gone, but you have a, you know, cash runway into 2028. Can you just talk about your capital raising—should you be pretty quiet for 2026, or, sort of, what is your capital strategy or capital raising strategy as we look at ’26?

Matt Fisch: Yeah. Sure. We will have Conor jump in on that one.

Conor Tierney: Yeah. It is a great question. And look—what I would say is we are well capitalized at this point. You mentioned the fact that we had, you know, $87 million or so in cash, and that really kind of gives us enough runway well into 2028, just assuming we maintain a similar burn rate to what is projected here in 2026. What I would say is the question is not really when will we raise capital. It is more about strategic optionality. And what I mean by that is, you know, we are really pushing commercial traction this year. We have a number of opportunities.

You can see the strength in the pipeline, the momentum, the increase in quoting activity and POCs. And so, you know, we will be out evaluating opportunities for growth, and if that is in the company’s best interest and delivers shareholder value, then that is something that we may consider.

Poe Fratt: Great. That is helpful. Thank you, both Matt and Conor.

Conor Tierney: Thanks, Poe.

Operator: Our next question comes from the line of Greg Musnier with Kingswood Capital Partners. Your line is open.

Greg Musnier: Yes, thank you. Two quick questions. What kind of CapEx range are you modeling for 2026?

Conor Tierney: Yeah. I mean, we have not given specific guidance on that, Greg. What I would say, it should be relatively low—probably at least under the $1 million range. So not a huge amount, and that is just purely because of our business model—this capital-light business model. We are working with our contract manufacturer and their Tier 1 partner, LiteOn, so they really do bear the brunt of a lot of that heavy capital investment. So that is one of the upsides of our business model.

Greg Musnier: Sure. And when you look at your existing and new customers that you are adding, the current systems you are delivering to them, can you give us some idea of the percentage split between hardware and software and how that may change over time? Thanks. That is for you as well, Conor.

Conor Tierney: What I would say is we are probably predominantly hardware-based right now, because this is really about selling sensors. Now, we have started to shift into the software piece with Optus, and that is where we think we can add a lot of value going forward, and we are starting to see some revenue there, but I would say the vast majority of it is still hardware revenue. One thing that I am really enthusiastic about is, just because of this software definability of the sensor and the flexibility there, what we are seeing is there are opportunities to upsell for customization.

And so this could be working with—we will take the defense industry as an example—upselling on customizations to enhance range or to enhance certain feature sets. So there is a lot of flexibility there. So I think we are really just scratching the surface in terms of the revenue-generating opportunities there.

Greg Musnier: Thank you. I have no other questions. Thank you.

Matt Fisch: All right. Thanks, Greg.

Conor Tierney: Thanks, Greg.

Operator: Next question comes from the line of Richard Shannon with Craig-Hallum. Your line is open.

Richard Shannon: Well, hi, Matt and Conor. Thanks for letting me ask a couple of questions here. Apologies, jumped on the call a little late here. The flight was delayed here today. And I think there was an earlier question that I sort of missed the answer on that, so I hope this is not a repeat. But your announcement today, coincident with the earnings here, about partnership with NVIDIA and this HALOS ecosystem—would love to understand what application or application sets this is addressing here. How does it overlap or extend what you have been doing with NVIDIA to date? And I know at points in the past, you talked about NVIDIA’s Hyperion platform.

Is this any relationship to that as well?

Matt Fisch: Yeah. Thanks, Richard. Yeah. Just a quick recap from earlier. This is a deepening and broadening of the relationship with NVIDIA. Specifically, it is targeted at the automotive space. But one of the things that we are collaborating with NVIDIA on through HALOS is increasing our commitment to that—essentially, bolstering our commitment to the amount of robustness, focus on functional safety, resiliency, reliability in the automotive space. So, yeah, I mean, it is really positioned under the broader umbrella of Hyperion, and yet checking another box on the level of rigor that is required to be ready for automotive shipments.

Richard Shannon: Okay. Okay. Thanks for that here. Guess my second question is, I cannot remember which one of you made the comment in the prepared remarks here, but your nice win you talked about last summer, the $30 million global transport win here—you talked about, probably use my wording here, a pickup in the second half of the year. Just would love to get a sense here of what that really means, if you have any way you can quantify what kind of magnitude we are talking about here. And then, ultimately, do you see the $30 million eventually being realized by this within that three-year time frame that I think you are expecting?

Matt Fisch: Yes. I am going to start this one off, and I will hand the quantitative piece over to Conor. But this is, as you well know, not a commodity off-the-shelf technology, and it just takes time for an OEM in this space to properly test and evaluate. And as they gain more confidence in their use case, they will do broader deployments—broader and broader. It builds over time. And that is why, you know, the process is stretched out over two to three years here, which just really has to do with the newness of the technology and the need for the OEM to really, you know, start in a modest way and then start expanding their deployments over time.

Conor, why don’t you comment on just a little bit more detail on the quantitative part of it?

Richard Shannon: For what it is worth, I do not hear them on here. Do you hear him, Matt?

Matt Fisch: No. I can hear you, Richard. So, again, why don’t I pick it up, and if we get Conor back? But, look, the short answer is—

Conor Tierney: Sorry. I am back online here. Yeah. Sorry, Richard. What I would say is, you know, there is an assumption that it is going to contribute some revenue here in 2026. And as Matt alluded to, we are really going through the kind of validation steps right now, and we expect, obviously, kind of back half of this year, to do some initial deployments. I do not think we are going to see a meaningful amount of revenue probably until 2027. But that said, there will be some contribution, and that is sort of baked into the cash guidance numbers that we gave.

Richard Shannon: Okay. Perfect. I will ask one more question and jump out of the line here. It is regarding both Optus and Stratos. I am going to ask kind of a two-part question. The first part of it is backward-looking, and then the second part is forward-looking here. So in terms of backward-looking, were any of the customers that you gained—the 16, I think you mentioned here—any of those related to Optus and Stratos in ’25? And then how should we think about kind of milestones or the number of customers you might be expected to gain in 2026 from both Optus and Stratos?

I guess I would be particularly interested in Stratos given what looked like some great performance metrics here. Love to hear some comments on both. Thank you.

Matt Fisch: Yes, sure. And I think Conor touched on this a little bit earlier. Let us hit Optus first. The numbers we talked about earlier absolutely include Optus numbers. And as Conor mentioned earlier, we have a modest portion of the revenue driven by software today, but we do expect that to grow over time. On the Stratos side, it is definitely also baked into what we talked about earlier in terms of active customers and POCs. I will say a little bit more about it.

If you think about those really high-speed applications that you might see in defense or you are attached to a vehicle that is moving very quickly, and also it could be something like a locomotive or a long train that carries a lot of weight—it needs extreme stopping distance—I would say those are most definitely related to our inspiration to build a product like Stratos. And, again, I would expect it to be expanding here later this year and into next year as well, but we will let Conor comment on any specifics.

Conor Tierney: Yeah. I mean, I think that is correct. You know, we only really truly launched Stratos in January, so we are still at the early stages of the opportunities there. But what I would say is, yeah, most of the sales in 2025 were driven by Apollo and Optus. And I think the opportunities were pretty broad. Right? They were a mix of defense-related opportunities, ITS applications—a wide variety of sectors—and rail, as Matt mentioned, as well. And what we are really seeing is some common denominators there. Range is obviously critical, but the software definability piece is really resonating.

And, you know, in some sectors, that is just a must-have—just the flexibility to be able to tune and change scan patterns. And it really gives us an edge on legacy sensing modalities such as radar and camera and even traditional fixed LiDAR-type scanners. So we are very enthusiastic coming into 2026 now that we have Stratos in the portfolio as well. That is going to open up a lot of other opportunities for us, too.

Richard Shannon: Okay. Perfect. That is all for me, guys. Thank you.

Operator: Next question comes from the line of Casey Ryan with WestPark Capital. Your line is open.

Casey Ryan: Thank you. Hi, Matt, Conor. Great update. I was hoping to go back to the future a little bit, and I just wonder if you would comment a little bit about automotive. I think we are hearing there is some reset in the industry about LiDAR and automotive, but L3 plans being recast. But do you see that benefiting you as maybe those solutions are rethought at a lot of the major OEMs?

Matt Fisch: Yeah. Sure. Happy to take that one, Casey. Good to hear from you again. Look, I will just start with CES this year, and also that kind of bleeds into Q4 as well. The OEM guys are back. So if anything, our interest level that we are seeing has jumped. So I would say over the last few months, we have seen two RFIs inbound in that space. And so if anything, activity has increased. I mean, yeah, we are not fully dependent or solely dependent on the automotive industry—we are diversifying nicely. But I would say the interest has gone up and the engagement level has gone up over the last few months.

The thing that I really like about it is now we are having these conversations—those OEMs are leading with, “Hey, we are thinking about getting more serious and going more broadly. Do you really have the manufacturing chops to deliver in mass production?” And this is where our relationship with LiteOn has really paid dividends in those conversations. So I would say interest level up.

Casey Ryan: Okay. Terrific. And then one just, you know, second question on automotive. Do you see L3, L4, L5 kind of roadmaps across both, I guess, propulsion types? It feels like a lot of the early ADAS stuff was done on EV platforms. But I know there is no tech reason why they cannot be done on, sort of, ICE vehicles as well. But have you seen that proposed, I guess, for both types of vehicles moving forward?

Matt Fisch: Yeah. So in general, I am just saying we do not have that level of visibility necessarily. This is, you know, sensitive OEM roadmap stuff, but the technology is surely agnostic—that much we know. And, again, I think to your question about L3, L4—both camps—the OEM piece is a lot about L3, and then we have seen, coming out of the trucking space from CES especially, a lot of interest in the L4 space, but the technology is agnostic.

Casey Ryan: Okay. Yeah. Great. And then, sort of, with this new long-range product, are there opportunities, I guess, especially in trucking or, you know, as you mentioned, train and rail, where you guys maybe have made some traction on the short range and now, you know, obviously, prior to having a long-range sensor, maybe they were using someone else, but maybe you are, sort of, getting two opportunities instead of one, I guess.

Matt Fisch: Yeah. Actually, it is great that you mentioned that. I will give you an example—a conversation that came out at CES. Just as an example, as the trucking guys are getting out there on the road and getting some miles under their belt, they are finding new use cases that are being exposed. For example, you know, you have got a truck that maybe is pulling off on the side of the freeway. It has to merge safely back into traffic, and that involves looking backwards into the side. And that is where we are seeing a demand, which I will call for a medium-range LiDAR, that became known to us at CES through this trucking OEM visit.

And Apollo was a really good fit for those medium-range applications. So definitely interest there in the Apollo solution for things like that.

Casey Ryan: Okay. Terrific. And then just the last question, because I know we have covered a lot of the financial questions. But what are your thoughts about—I think other people in the LiDAR space are now combining cameras, most specifically, into their solutions, but maybe potentially setting themselves up to integrate multiple sensors. What are your thoughts about the product roadmap? You know, does that matter? Is that, sort of, people future-proofing, or is that not that important today in today’s market? You guys are obviously making great progress. So—

Matt Fisch: No. Thanks for that. And look, one of the things we are seeing with all these topics we discussed about our pipeline growth—what we see very, very clearly in terms of what is driving that pipeline growth are the new use cases that LiDAR is enabling. And so we are just focused on building great LiDAR and LiDAR that is really easy to integrate. And, as you know, in the case of Optus, ensuring that, for those customers who cannot build their own AI layer, that integrates very simply and easily.

So for us, it is about focusing on the magic that LiDAR unlocks in terms of new use cases and new levels of performance that camera does not provide today, and we are incredibly busy with that alone.

Casey Ryan: Mhmm. Okay. Terrific. Thank you. That is it for my questions. That is a fantastic update today. Thanks.

Conor Tierney: Thanks, Casey.

Matt Fisch: See you, Casey. Thank you.

Operator: And again, if you would like to ask a question, press star then the number 1. There are no further questions at this time. I would like to turn the call over to Matt Fisch for closing remarks.

Matt Fisch: I just want to take a moment to thank everybody for joining us today. I really enjoyed the dialogue and am grateful for all of you following our journey as things are really starting to get exciting here. So, looking forward to updating everybody next quarter. Thank you, and have a great evening.

Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes today’s call. Thank you all for joining in. You may now disconnect.

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