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spk01: Thank you for standing by. And welcome to Inovix Corporation's first quarter 2022 earnings conference call. Currently, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. As a reminder, today's conference will be recorded. And now I'd like to introduce your host for today's program, Charles Anderson, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.
spk05: Thank you. Hello, everyone, and welcome to Inovix Corporation's first quarter 2022 results conference call. With us today are President, Chief Executive Officer, and Co-Founder, Harold Rust, and Chief Financial Officer, Stefan Pitska. We will also be joined today by Chief Commercial Officer, Cam Dales, and Chief Technology Officer and Co-Founder, Ashok Lahiri, for the Q&A portion of the call. Harold and Stefan will review the operating and financial highlights, and then we'll take your questions. After the Q&A session, we'll conclude the call. Before we continue, let me kindly remind you that we released our first quarter 2022 shareholder letter after the market closed today. It's available on our website at ir.novix.com. A replay of this conference call will be available later today on the investor relations page of our website. Please note that the shareholder letter press release in this conference call all contain forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and and may differ materially from actual future events or results due to a variety of factors. For discussion of factors that could affect our future financial results in business, please refer to the disclosure in today's shareholder letter and our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All our statements are made as of today, May 11, 2022, based on the information currently available to us. We can give no assurance that these statements will prove to be correct, and we do not intend and undertake no duty to update these statements except as required by law. During this call, we will also discuss non-GAAP financial measures, which are not prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. You can find a reconciliation of the GAAP financial measures to non-GAAP financial measures in our shareholder letter, which is posted on the investor relations page of our website. I will now turn the call over to Harold to begin. Harold?
spk09: Thank you, Charlie. Hopefully, everyone had a chance to review our shareholder letter, which detailed our first quarter. I'll keep my comments high level around our progress in technology, manufacturing, and commercialization. Then Stefan will cover our financials, and we'll take your questions. As Charlie mentioned, we'll be joined by Cam and Ashok for that portion of the call. So let's dive in. Most important, our first production line at Fab One in Fremont is up and running, and we began shipping qualification cells in Q1. We expect to make our first shipments for product revenue to a technology leader in the wearable category in Q2. This marks a significant milestone and delivers on a commitment we made over a year ago, highly differentiating us from other advanced battery companies still working to develop and bring new battery technologies to market. Moving into commercialization has not gone unnoticed by our customers. We have engagements with leading companies that want our revolutionary battery in order to enable features, functions, and form factors not previously available. Last week, we announced that we received an order from one of the largest consumer electronics companies in the world for our smartwatch battery. What makes this engagement so exciting is the potential for our technology to proliferate across this customer's broad consumer electronics product portfolio. After touring our Fab One, a senior leader at this customer told us, quote, we need to move this technology into our mobile products quickly, and quote, the line proves you can scale. Bolstering our value proposition to industry-leading customers was our announcement in March of BreakFlow, a breakthrough technology in advanced lithium-ion battery safety. This innovation is enabled by our unique 3D architecture. and allows us to add a significant layer of safety as we boost energy density. All of us are aware of the restrictions we face checking luggage with lithium ion batteries when flying. And we've all seen the headlines of battery fires and the terrible impact they've had on our industry and consumers. With break flow, we are pioneering a new path in battery safety. Customer response has been extremely positive, and we look forward to making break flow available in our battery cells next year. Now let's talk about scaling our capacity beyond Fab 1. Many of you have been wondering where we stand on Fab 2, our second planned production facility. We recognize that we've taken longer than we previously communicated to announce a Fab 2 location, but it's for a very good reason. Our engineering team has taken the learnings from Fab 1 and designed a significantly improved production line we call Gen 2 that is designed to be faster and require far less space than our current generation. Major portions of the Gen 2 line will occupy half the space of Gen 1 with significantly higher output. This gave us the opportunity to reevaluate the optimum size for Fab 2. and caused us to shift gears and focus on smaller facilities than we had been considering. On that note, I'm pleased to share today that we have begun placing orders for our Gen 2 equipment and expect to have the full line ordered over the next several weeks. That will allow us to take delivery at a Fab 2 location in the first half of 2023, and we are confident in our ability to close on a site selection later this year that meets our needs. Our overriding goal remains the same, install capacity to scale to $1 billion in annual revenue with leading margins, and serve the tremendous demand we see forming in our funnel. We intend to further augment our direct capacity with strategic joint venture or licensing deals that allow us to capture battery markets that require more capacity than we can put in on our own. Now, I'll turn the call over to our CFO, Stephan, who will discuss our financials. Stephan?
spk03: Thank you, Harrod. Our detailed financials can be found in our shareholder letter, so I will spend my time covering a few high-level topics. First, starting this quarter, in addition to our GAAP reporting, we are providing a non-GAAP income statement that excludes stock-based compensation warrant mark-to-market adjustment, and other non-cash and one-time items. We use non-GAAP financial information to evaluate our ongoing operations and for internal planning purposes. We believe that non-GAAP financial information may be helpful to investors in assessing our operating performance and comparing our performance with competitors and other comparable companies. You can find a full reconciliation between our GAAP and non-GAAP metrics in our shareholder letter. Now turning to the results, we closed the first quarter of 2022 with net cash of $408 million, up from $385 million in the first quarter of 2021 due to proceeds from the exercise of our public warrants of $52.8 million, partially offset by $19.7 million of cash used operationally and $10.5 million of cash used on capital expenditures. We expect higher capital spending the rest of the year as we make payments for our Gen 2 production line and our new automated pilot line, which we refer to as the agility line. We did not recognize product revenue in the first quarter of 2022, consistent with our expectations. As Harold mentioned, we continue to expect to begin recognizing product revenue from the sale of our batteries in the second quarter of 2022, consistent with our previously reported goal. Our operating expenses in the first quarter were $25.1 million. Excluding stock-based comp, our non-GAAP operating expenses in the quarter We're $19.9 million down from non-GAAP operating expenses of $20.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2021, which also excludes stock-based comp. I want to highlight that once we begin shipping for product revenue, we will shift our factory headcount cost to cost of goods sold from R&D and start depreciating our production equipment also within cost of goods sold. Now let's discuss our expectation for 2022. For full year 2022, our outlook is unchanged. We expect to use between $190 million and $210 million of cash, of which we expect roughly 55% will be CapEx. We expect to generate revenue between $6 million and $12 million. As a reminder, our revenue will consist of both product revenue, and non-recurring engineering or NRE service revenue. To summarize, our balance sheet is strong, and we are investing in our commercialization engine, technology roadmap, and production capacity for scaling. I will now turn it back to Harold for closing remarks.
spk09: Thanks, Stefan. To summarize, the first quarter was one of excellent progress for Inovix. A little over a year ago, we told you we would bring up a first-of-a-kind factory making an industry-leading lithium-ion battery for shipment in the first half of 2022. We delivered on that promise and are hard at work ramping our production this year in Fab 1 and moving forward with our Gen 2 equipment destined for Fab 2. What we didn't tell you about a year ago were all the other innovations enabled by our unique architecture beyond just energy density. A first example of this is break flow, which we believe is a game changer in advanced lithium ion battery safety. Before we close, I thought I would pass along comments from some industry leaders that have recently tested our batteries. One said, quote, the best advanced battery we have seen, and, quote, we are ecstatic with the cycle life. Another said our battery is, quote, the best silicon-enabled cell we've tested by far, and, quote, most silicon cells fail after 100 to 200 cycles. As you can see, this is really an exciting time at Inovix and for our customers. With that, I'd like to turn it back to the operator for your questions. Operator?
spk01: Thank you. As a reminder, to ask a question, you'll need to press star 1 on your telephone. To withdraw your question, please press the pound key. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. Our first question comes from Gabe Dell with Calvin. Your line is now open.
spk07: Thank you. Afternoon, everyone, and thanks for all the prepared remarks. Maybe, Harold, just starting with the consumer electronic company that placed an initial order. So what are the steps to get that into an active design win, and then what kind of has to happen to have your battery be designed into other products across the portfolio? Yeah.
spk09: Yeah, I'll comment on that briefly and then have Cam give a little bit more color. You know, we're super excited about this customer. It's an industry leader in this space, and I think, you know, this first product they're working on with them is really a leader into a bunch of other opportunities and markets with that customer, and it's something that's very exciting for the company. I'll let Cam add a little bit more color to that.
spk06: Sure, Harold. Happy to do that. So, yeah, as Harold mentioned, this is one of the largest consumer products company in the world. They have a very sophisticated product development process, and, you know, it's a multi-step process, as you can imagine. You know, this is a company that has one of the premier brands in the world, and they take great care in making sure they protect that with the quality products that they launch. So, you know, from our perspective, we think this is a major – step for us, because the first part of their process is really technology verification. So we've been working with them for significantly more than a year. We've sampled them multiple times, both out of our pilot lines. And they've essentially tested those cells, verified our claims, and given it the stamp of approval that it meets their product requirements. So that's kind of a big deal. The next step in this particular product, they've purchased batteries from our Fab One that will go into prototype watches of their design. They'll run them through their paces, do the integration with their electronics, at which point they'll then move towards customized cells for their volume product, and they'll start over the next, you know, let's say the next step of building thousands to tens of thousands of products, which they would likely keep in-house for testing purposes, at which point when you pass that hurdle, they move into full-scale, you know, high-volume production. So it's a fairly extended program, but we've gone through one of the key hurdles, and at this point we're now actively moving towards the commercialization process.
spk07: Cool. Thanks, Ken. That's helpful. And then maybe just as a follow-up, Shifting gears a bit to manufacturing scale, you obviously mentioned all the great learnings from the first line and comfortable now ordering Gen 2 equipment for Fab 2. And I think you mentioned this before. If you can maybe just remind me, what's the output improvement with the Gen 2 equipment on the second line, either on meters per minute or number of units or gigawatt hour improvement, wherever you want to disclose it, but just curious, what's that output improvement look like?
spk09: Yeah, I mean, I think about it, Colin, in kind of two axes. One is just the absolute kind of space efficiency, right? You know, if you look at the line, major portions of it are twice as efficient from a space standpoint in terms of, you know, how many units you can get out for, you know, a certain amount of square foot, which is obviously a huge factor when we think about, you know, kind of our expansion plans in Fab 2.0. And then beyond that, there are elements of the line which actually just have higher throughput in general, you know, on top of the space improvement. And that varies. You know, I think in some cases, you know, that could be, you know, a small to significant number. And in other cases, it could be quite large. And, you know, one point I'll just make specifically is, you know, we've, a key part of our process is some laser patterning we do at the front end of our process. And, you know, we've We've been developing some strategic relationships with some of the industry leaders in the laser space to really leverage their know-how, get early access to new technologies. And in some cases, you know, that's driving well beyond, you know, double-digit improvement and throughput for some of those processes, right? So it can be very significant. And, you know, we want to really harness all that advantage to build the most profitable line going forward.
spk07: Gotcha. Really helpful. Thanks, Hal. And then one more for me, and then I'll hop back in. But just where are we on getting to 900 watt-hours per liter? I think the roadmap has you hitting that number this year. Is that still the case? Thanks, guys.
spk09: Yeah, thanks for that question. Maybe I'll ask Ashok to talk about it since he's driving the R&D efforts. Sure.
spk10: Let me comment on that. Yes, that continues to be our goal. We plan to hit – 900 watt-hours per liter in a product this year coming out of Fab 1.
spk07: Great. Thanks, Richard.
spk01: Thank you. Our next question comes from Colin Rush with Oppenheimer. Your line is now open.
spk08: With the changes in the process for Gen 2, can you talk a little bit about your CapEx number, the implications there? It seems like you should be able to get some savings out of that, as well as the site selection. You talked a little bit about having some diverse sites for Fab 2 and Fab 3, but it seems like you might be able to consolidate some of that. So I just want to understand one of the cost numbers for your fast expansion into the geographic footprint that are being enabled by the Gen 2 process.
spk09: Yeah, maybe, Colin, I'll kind of answer those in reverse sequence and ask Stephan to comment a bit on the CapEx. From a site selection standpoint, obviously, having a much more efficient footprint for a fair amount of equipment has a significant benefit on the sites. You know, we were looking at a quite large, close to a million-square-foot building earlier this year for FAB2. And as we were working through kind of these gen equipment designs and looking at what these vendors were capable of, we realized that we could do much better than we were thinking. That, you know, that allowed us to kind of not move forward with that one building because we thought it was much too large for what we needed. And then on top of that, I think we realized that as we're looking at the customer funnel that, you know, we're going to need more of a global presence, you know, both some domestic manufacturing and overseas manufacturing over the next several years. And, you know, between those two things, I think it's shaping kind of what we need out of FAB2, and it's something, you know, quite a bit smaller than a million square feet. We're actively working with one of the largest global real estate firms now, and we're actively looking at buildings, The good news of being a bit smaller in the building size is it just gives you a lot more opportunities for buildings that meet our needs, and we see a number of them based on the requirements we've given for that search that can hit our timeline to be ready for equipment for Fab 2. And then I'll ask Stefan to talk a bit about the CapEx. Obviously, efficiency of the Gen 2 line is an important factor there as well.
spk03: Sure. Colin, in terms of CapEx, we finished the quarter with $408 million of cash. So, we are fortunate to have sufficient funds here to put initial capacity into FAB II. As a reminder, from a guidance perspective, we're guiding around midpoint of the range, $110 million of CapEx for this year. And going back, we are reiterating spending capital on building out FAB 1, investing into FAB 2, Gen 2 line, and then also putting capital to work for our agility line that helps us to move customer quicker to the funnel. In terms of long-term plan and accelerating our plan, we have multiple avenues to do that more efficiently in a way of taking opportunity on a joint venture partnership that we alluded to. In our other years, certainly we use our free cash flow to put more capacity in. And one point to mention here, strategic partnerships. The company has a history of having strategic partners or customers stepping up. And then the fourth point in that area, you all have read a lot of initiatives in the U.S. to bring U.S. manufacturing back. There are certain vehicles that we can tap into, and we have internal initiatives going on in that area.
spk08: Okay. That's helpful. And then with the brake flow technology, it seems to me that you're able to potentially eliminate some of the extra weight and functionality of something like a vehicle pack design. I'm just curious about some of the efficiencies and some of the monetization that you guys can target with that technology for, you know, safety and elimination of some of the fire returns and other elements that go into traditional packs.
spk09: Did you say monetization? Did I hear you say that?
spk08: Yeah. I mean, I'm just wondering if you can charge more, simply. Yeah, yeah. Maybe off.
spk09: I'll start off and, you know, Ashok can talk a little bit about technology side and Cam can maybe talk about it from the customer perspective. You know, I think at a high level, I'm super excited about break flow because I think, you know, as we all know, battery safety has been a huge issue in the past. It's kind of plagued the industry that we're all acutely aware of. And as you think about kind of the demand of batteries going forward, we're all wanting more energy, which kind of just raises the bar on kind of the safety equation and you know, our architecture, we think, just gives us a remarkably unique opportunity to have a true safety differentiator that changes that playing field. And so we're super excited about that, and we think it, you know, has benefits technology-wise, but also certainly as we talk with customers, it's a super attractive thing for them that, you know, is very much supportive of our premium pricing model, and Cam can talk about that first. But maybe, Shik, you can talk a little bit about from a technology standpoint first to his question.
spk10: Sure, I'd be happy to. So, you know, I think we're all aware of how battery fires are a critical factor that people are aware of that cause, you know, all kinds of damage to property and potentially to people. You know, the break flow technology, essentially addresses at the cell level, it adds a layer of safety protection that prevents what most of these incidences start off with an internal short that leads to a thermal runaway. And this protection prevents that internal short in many cases to turn into a situation where the battery catches fire. And it's very unique, and it is really a direct application of our architecture to solve a problem in a way that would be difficult for others to copy. And, you know, to answer your question on PAC design, sure, it adds a huge layer of additional advantages in improving the pack design as a result of having a cell that is more resistant to go into runaway. I should also explain that, you know, our cell has many other properties that make the pack a much better, you know, potential for it to be designed in a much better way. For example, the thermal properties of our cells are significantly better than a traditional cell, and that plays a huge role in making the pack design more efficient and potentially cheaper. And I can hand it over to Cam, and he can talk more about the impact from a customer standpoint.
spk06: Yeah, sure, sure. Just to add to what you've said, you know, I think the feedback from customers is universally positive, and I would say that amongst the different categories where we're active, The larger the battery pack or the larger the batteries, the more important they believe the break flow technology is. So we've gotten some really great feedback from our automotive OEMs, for instance. And these guys are evaluating multiple options to try and get to higher energy densities. of course, looking across the technology range from silicon anode companies to solid state. And we think this differentiates us really quite dramatically relative to that competition. As people try to build higher and higher energy cells, of course, the hurdle for safety goes up and up. And the question is, what can you do about it? One way is to try and handle it at the pack. The way I think about the question of ASP and value is that You know, the Inovix cell by its architecture, including the safety aspects, is really pulling functions out of the pack and embedding it into the cell essentially without any additional cost. And so we think there's a real value there to our solution.
spk08: Great. Thanks so much, guys.
spk01: Thank you. Our next question comes from Gus Richard with Northland. Your line is open.
spk11: Yes. Thanks for taking the question. Just on FAB2, with your ability to shrink your footprint, do you expect, you know, the revenue output of that FAB to be the same as you originally thought? And, you know, and also, if you just give the timing of first revenue of FAB2, that'd be helpful.
spk09: Yeah, thanks for that question, Gus. You know, I think about it on two axes, right? We are working as fast as possible to get Gen 2 equipment in. You know, we stated that'll be in the first half of this next year, and that'll start producing, you know, revenue next year as well. To your question about will we put – does that mean Fab 2 will be larger from a capacity standpoint? You know, I think we remain – we think about that kind of more of an aggregate. You know, we're committed to still get to our billion-dollar revenue run rate as quickly as we can. But I would think about it more in terms of our global footprint. You know, we strongly believe that over the next several years we're going to need both a domestic presence as well as an aging presence. And the exact mix of how much is in each one I think is not determined yet. But it is most likely at this point that it will not be a single FAB2 servicing the billion-dollar run rate along with FAB1. There will be a FAB3 as a key component of that as well.
spk11: Got it. And then just, you know, with the new Gen 2 equipment, you know, you add in lines, and how much is the, you know, how much do you estimate the incremental revenue is for each line and how much CapEx is required for a line?
spk09: Yeah, so I think, you know, as we mentioned, there's increased output, there's increased efficiency. It's probably a bit late, I'm sorry, a bit early to be giving specific guidance on kind of, you know, what's the What's the nameplate revenue capacity for each line? It obviously is dependent on the products we're making. I think as we get a bit further along this year with those lines coming up and seeing, you know, that we're hitting our capacity numbers, we can start giving some more, you know, guidance around those things. But I think we'd just like to be a bit further along before we kind of talk about those things.
spk11: Got it. And then last one for me, you know, just any update on your program, program with the DOE and, you know, automotive in general, how is that development program going and sort of how is your initial foyer into discussions with the auto guys going?
spk09: Yeah, I think that's a great story. You know, we're kind of proceeding along, I think, three different angles there. As we mentioned before, we've kind of been actively working sampling batteries into the consumer set over the last six, nine months. That's continuing. The DOE program you talked about, we're kind of halfway through that three-year program, and I'd have to say the results on that continue to be pretty stellar in terms of our demonstration of our architecture with EV class cathodes paired with our silicon anodes. That's been very good. And then the last piece, I think, is that we've – put in place a new unit within the company called Anubis Mobility. We've hired some key resources on the outside in that group, and we've got some really strong leadership across EV space to kind of drive that. And we're having pretty regular conversations with EV players today, and I think the excitement's there with those guys. Obviously, you know, there's work ahead to do that, but that's a big focus for us going forward, and we think long-term is a big growth opportunity for the company.
spk11: Got it. Okay, thanks for the update.
spk01: Thank you. And our next question comes from Amanda Bruja with Loop Capital. Your line is open.
spk04: Hey, good afternoon, guys. Thanks for taking the question. Appreciate it. Just a couple, if I could. Maybe... Harold, just to stick there on the conversations about the different FABs. In the shareholder letter, you made mention of FAB 3, and I think, say, a future facility will likely be needed after FAB 2 to localize production. Is that any different than what you've told us in the past? It sounds like it could be similar, but you guys also highlighted it in the shareholder letter, just wanted to ask about any incremental context on that. And then I have a quick follow-up. Thanks.
spk09: Yeah, I think we've discussed in the prior calls our need to have local capacity close to our customers, right, both domestically and Asia. So I don't think that's probably not new information. I would say, you know, from a location standpoint, you know, we've been searching for FAB2 facilities and FAB3 at the same time, right, that are, you know, through this global real estate firm. And so you know, our plan is to basically identify those optimum locations so we're ready to act on them as quickly as we can and as quickly as the demand requires we do it.
spk04: Oh, interesting. I got it. And so any context around, you know, sort of, I mean, I don't want to put you on this, I mean, I know you can't commit now and I wouldn't be responsible, but if you identify, I guess I'm sort of trying to stitch this together. I guess the question, Harold, is any sense of you know, sort of when you may begin to settle on FAB3 facilities, and I'm asking it this way, if the firm helps you identify it now, you know, how long could you wait, you know, to actually put it on the FAB3?
spk09: Yeah, so I think I kind of look at it kind of from a milestone perspective. I mean, you know, we're ordering our Gen 2 lines right now destined for FAB2. You know, the focus initially will be getting those lines up in FAB2 working. And then once we're at a point where we're satisfied with the performance, I think we're going to want to move forward with Fab 3 as quickly as we can. We're not waiting, though, right? We're actually doing some of that searching now, right, so that we know where that would be. But I think we want to just make sure we're not cutting any corners on the learning on the Gen 2 equipment before we start trying to expand into two locations before we get the first one running right.
spk04: That's very helpful. And thanks for that. And then super helpful. And a quick follow-up is can you remind us how much of the $6 to $12 million this year will be product revenue versus NRE revenue or any sort of relative representation?
spk03: Yes, definitely, Amanda. From a breakout – The service revenue, the non-recurring engineering revenue is certainly like a significant component. As to the specific breakout, we are not guiding towards the specific breakout. Maybe as a reminder, these service revenue, they're milestone-based, right? So they're more lumpy. And we, at the end of the day... make delivery from the production line. But because of those milestones, it will be seen how it's going to unfold over the year. And as Harold alluded to, from the product revenue, we are anticipating to ship first this quarter.
spk04: All right. Thanks, Dustin. That's helpful. And just real quick on that, can you give us any context for the for the NRE revenue, what types of applications they may be contributing to that that you see coming this year. That's it for me. Thanks a lot.
spk06: Yes, so this is Cam. I'll take that one. Not necessarily just for this year, but we have programs kind of across the various categories that we're active in. So everything from AR, VR to kind of the more generic wearables, to mobile communications, to laptop computers. All of these have development programs associated with them. So it's pretty broad-based. Cool. Thanks, guys. Appreciate it.
spk01: Thank you. And our next question comes from Mark Cohodes, a private investor. Your line is open.
spk02: Thank you very much. First, a couple comments. As I like to say, there's no greater motivator than disrespect, and it's $750,000. You know, the stock is ridiculous and the market doesn't really give a rat's ass of what you're preaching. So as the window opens, it's going to be very telling of who on the management team and who at the board is going to buy or not buy stock. And I know I'll be watching and I'm sure others will. So I think, Harold, you're the CEO and you're the leader. I would take this as a direct affront to your leadership. and I would get things snapping. My question is for Cam. You know, at CES, there was a lot of talk about goggles and wearables and how, from some people, that your battery is enabling a product to be introduced, and without the battery, the product wouldn't come to market. Could you talk about that a little bit, if that's true or false?
spk06: Sure, yeah, happy to address that. And I can kind of put it in the broader context as well. I mean, specific to AR, VR, you know, there's a huge amount of investment that's going into what many of the leaders in the technology space consider potentially to be the next computing platform, right? Kind of went from mainframes to PCs to laptops to the computer in your pocket, which is a phone. And the question is kind of what's next? And a lot of people think that may be in the AR or the VR space. Some companies have changed their name to recognize how important that is. And when you think about the engineering challenge there, what you're really trying to do is take all the functionality of a smartphone and make it small enough that you can wear it on your face without significant weight and bulk to it. And that's a massive engineering challenge. And probably, at least in our opinion, One of the largest challenges of that is dealing with the power budget. All these components, the modems, the RF, the display, the compute, all that stuff takes power. And of course, it's a mobile device. You don't want this thing tethered to the wall. It requires battery power to power it. And so we think this is an ideal application for an Inovix battery. As we've mentioned in the past, we have two of the leaders in this space who have invested significant dollars into the company both on the equity basis and in direct product development in order to be well positioned with us to power their products as they come on the market. So, you know, kind of from a bottom line perspective, we think battery is actually the gateway or the bottleneck to the entire application. You know, if you look at the products that are on the market today in this space, they're very rudimentary. Some of them have battery life that's measured in kind of tens of minutes, not really ready for a prime time product. And we think our solution to that is a big part of moving the industry forward. Now, that said, on AR VR, we think this is true from an application perspective in a number of the applications that we're active in. So you think about wearables and smartwatches. One of the big application drivers there is monitoring of your health. And, of course, this means you need to have sensors that are always on. If you're taking your device and plugging it in because it needs to be recharged or you can't wear it through the night, that's a very big limitation. So, again, that's a battery challenge ultimately. Even things that are more mature, devices that are more mature, you know, for phones, if you actually use the 5G networks in your phones today, your phone would not last through the day. So, you know, in order to really get the benefit of that, you need better batteries. We talked a little bit earlier on the call about laptop computers. These devices are trying to move towards being more like your mobile phone, always on, ability to last through an entire day without plugging in. Again, what does that point to? It's the battery challenge. And so from an Inovix perspective, we think that having a breakthrough product here, it's a way for companies to be able to invest across the whole stack of their applications. This is an investment that they can make that impacts essentially all the functions and all the components that go into their device. So it's a great place to be strategically within the ecosystem.
spk02: Did you say that the two companies in goggles are equity holders? Did I hear that right?
spk06: So what I said is that they've both made significant investments into the company historically. both in equity and in direct product development.
spk02: Okay. Well, I appreciate that. And my final comment is, you know, it would be very helpful to the people who hold the stock that the company is not quiet for the next 90 days until we have another one of these updates. Given your technology and your standing in your industry, I would expect, hopefully, and it's unacceptable to be as quiet as you guys have been. So I hope there's change there, and I'll be watching to see who buys and doesn't buy the stock. But thank you, and I'm glad we finally have that, too.
spk01: Thank you. And this concludes the Q&A portion of the conference call. I'd like to hand the conference back over to Mr. Harold Russ for any closing remarks.
spk09: I just want to thank everybody for their attendance on the call today. We're really pleased and excited with the progress this quarter and also on the future this year and executing the rest of our plan, including Fab 2, and we're super excited about the Gen 2 equipment and what that represents. So with that, I think I'll say thank you again, and we'll look forward to updating you in the future.
spk01: And this concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect. Everyone have a wonderful day.
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