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The call communicated multiple clear technical and commercial milestones — Eagle Line installation and initial QSE-5 production, AI-enabled quality improvements, first ecosystem billings, advancing OEM engagements and strong liquidity — which indicate meaningful progress toward commercialization. At the same time, the company remains early in monetization: Q1 billings are small relative to substantial GAAP losses and ramp/partner scale-up risks remain. On balance, the transcript conveys cautious optimism driven by operational momentum and ample liquidity but acknowledges significant near-term execution and financial challenges.
QuantumScape reiterated detailed financial and operational guidance: in Q1 GAAP operating expenses were $109.2M, GAAP net loss $100.8M and adjusted EBITDA loss $63.2M (in line with expectations), and for full-year 2026 management reiterated adjusted EBITDA loss guidance of $250M–$275M; Q1 capital expenditures were $10M with full-year CapEx guidance of $40M–$60M, and ending liquidity was $904.7M. Operationally, customer billings were $11M in Q1 (FY2025 billings were ~$19.5M) and the company reiterated it expects year‑over‑year billings growth in 2026; Q1 also recorded the first ecosystem partner billings, the Eagle Line installation was completed with initial QSE‑5 cell production in Q1 and a planned ramp in Q2, and PowerCo has ~5 GWh of capacity to serve markets beyond automotive.
Completed installation of the Eagle Line and commenced start-up operations in Q1; producing initial volumes of QSE-5 cells with plan to ramp production in Q2. Integrated advanced AI models into Eagle Line operations and reported substantive progress on cell quality and reliability.
Recorded first customer billings from ecosystem partners in Q1 totaling $11.0 million, demonstrating partner investment in QS technology and an early revenue-related cash inflow source from the capital-light ecosystem model.
Shipped cells to an automotive JDA partner for testing, completed technology evaluation with another top-10 OEM and moved that engagement into joint development; management noted that 4 of the top 10 global automotive OEMs are actively engaged across Europe, North America and Japan.
Ended Q1 with $904.7 million in liquidity, providing runway to fund continued development, ramp activities and ecosystem investments.
Reaffirmed full-year 2026 adjusted EBITDA loss guidance of $250 million to $275 million and reiterated full-year 2026 CapEx guidance of $40 million to $60 million; Q1 CapEx was $10 million (primarily final Eagle Line payments).
Reported strong inbound customer interest from AI data-center operators and global players in military, aerospace and government sectors; management positioned the technology as a natural fit for 800V DC in-rack energy storage and last-meter power delivery.
Q1 customer billings were $11.0M versus approximately $19.5M recorded for the full fiscal year 2025 — Q1 billings represent roughly 56% of FY2025 total billings, indicating accelerating partner/customer activity early in 2026 and management reiterated a year-over-year increase in billings guidance.
Good day, and welcome to QuantumScape's First Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, today's program is being recorded. And now I'd like to introduce your host for today's program, Sam Kamara, QuantumScape's Senior Director, Investor Relations. Please go ahead, sir.
Thank you, operator. Good afternoon and thank you to everyone for joining QuantumScape's First Quarter 2026 Earnings Call. To supplement today's discussion, please go to our Investor Relations website at ir.quantumscape.com to view our shareholder letter. Before we ,I want to call your attention to the safe harbor provision for forward-looking statements that is posted on our website as part of our quarterly update. Forward-looking statements generally relate to future events, future technology progress or future financial or operating performance. Our expectations and beliefs regarding these matters may not materialize. Actual results and financial periods are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. There are risk factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from the content of our forward-looking statements for the reasons that we cite in our shareholder letter from 10-K and other SEC filings, including uncertainties posed by the difficulty in predicting future outcomes.
Joining us today will be QuantumScape's CEO, Dr. Siva Sivaram; and our CFO, Kevin Hettrich. With that, I'd like to turn the call over to Siva.
Thank you, Sam. First, an update on our Eagle Line. This is our highly automated...