AEye, Inc.

Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the AIQ1 2025 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star 1, 1 on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star 1, 1 again. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Jeremy Apple. Please go ahead.

Good afternoon, and thank you for joining AI's first quarter 2025 earnings call. With me today are Matt Fish, Chief Executive Officer, and Connor Tierney, Chief Financial Officer. Earlier today, AI announced its financial results for the first quarter. A copy of this press release can be found on the investor relations section of the company's website. Before we begin, I would like to remind participants that today's discussion may include forward-looking statements as defined in the securities laws and regulations of the United States with reference to future events, operating results, or financial performance, Such forward-looking statements are based on our current expectations and assumptions regarding our business, the industry, and other conditions. These forward-looking statements are subject to inherent risks, uncertainties, and changes in circumstances that are difficult or impossible to predict. Our actual results may differ materially from those contemplated by these forward-looking statements. We caution you, therefore, against placing undue reliance on any of these forward-looking statements. You can find more information about the risks, uncertainties, and other factors in the reports AI files from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including in the most recent periodic report. The statements to be made are as of today only, and AI 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. Now, I'll pass the call over to Matt.

Thanks, Jeremy, and thank you all for joining our first quarter 2025 earnings call. We appreciate your continued support and interest in AI. Q1 was a quarter of significant momentum for AI. We reached a critical milestone with the first units of our Apollo LiDAR solution coming off the manufacturing line of our Tier 1 supplier partner, LightOn, a key achievement that demonstrates the maturity of Apollo and ultimately the path to mass production. I'll provide more detail on Apollo's progress shortly. Separately, we are in the final test and validation stage of our integration to NVIDIA Drive. We're also gaining traction with new customers and have continued to manage our burn rate well. At the same time, we're well positioned to navigate global market dynamics especially as it relates to tariffs, by continuing to prioritize supply chain flexibility and resilience. Before I dive into more detail, I want to acknowledge the remarkable progress our management team has made over the last 18 months to get us to where we are today. When I stepped into the CEO role in early 2023, AI was a company with world-class technology but facing real challenges. We were pursuing too many markets and weren't fully committed to our capital life strategy, leading to a high burn rate and hindering our product maturity. This, combined with delays in the automotive industry and declining access to institutional capital as the SPAC boom faded, had the company on course for bankruptcy. We acted quickly and decisively to stabilize the business and set a clear path forward for sustainable growth. We first made a strategic pivot, focusing our resources on the automotive sector to develop a single high-quality product for ADAS applications with the flexibility to serve adjacent markets. We also fully committed to the capital light model and began prioritizing strategic partnerships as a more efficient path to growth. Our new strategy has revitalized AI, positioning the company for commercialization and long-term stockholder value creation. We then restructured the business around our updated strategy by significantly cutting operating expenses by 75%. This included a nearly 60% reduction in headcount across all levels of the organization and a right-sized executive team better aligned with our needs We also renewed our focus by investing in engineering and product development, exited multiple unfavorable real estate and supply chain agreements, and consolidated our footprint around our Silicon Valley headquarters. These were difficult but necessary steps to ensure the long-term sustainability of the company. Together, these actions reshaped AI into a leaner, more product-focused organization, one that is better equipped to navigate macroeconomic uncertainty and adapt to industry change with a culture grounded in operational discipline, innovation, and high performance. In the past 18 months, AI has achieved many significant strategic milestones, most notably successfully launching our Apollo sensor in under a year. That timeline is virtually unheard of in this industry and speaks volumes to the outstanding expertise and execution of our engineering and operations teams. Not only did we bring Apollo to market at incredible speed, but our teams have continued to innovate and deliver industry-leading breakthroughs. Apollo has already demonstrated sensing performance at distances of up to one kilometer, an unparalleled capability that puts us well ahead of the curve. At the same time, we position AI to capitalize on the immense market opportunity in ADAS and autonomous driving. We evolved our partnership model to take direct ownership of customer relationships and deepen engagement with OEMs and key players in the automotive industry. We're now working closely with industry leaders like NVIDIA and our major OEM investor to support the platform shaping the future of mobility. Further, we are setting the pace by partnering with an automotive Tier 1 supplier to manufacture Apollo, the only real path to scale for LiDAR in the automotive space. We are excited that Apollo is attracting the attention of OEMs, which strengthens our ability to access growth capital and execute our long-term strategy. This growing interest in our technology is opening doors to expansion into key international markets and new sectors such as security, rail, and intelligent transportation systems. A key step in this global expansion has been our partnership with ATI, providing us access to the Chinese market, a leader in LiDAR innovation and adoption. These are important value-creating milestones that underpin our ability to attract additional growth capital as evidenced by the $24 million we've successfully raised over the past 14 months. The future for AI has never been brighter. With the right technology, strategy, and team, I'm confident in our ability to lead our business forward and continue building our track record of execution. I'll now share some of our operational highlights for the quarter. As mentioned at the start of the call, the first Apollo units are now being produced by LightOn, marking a critical step toward high-volume production. We believe partnering with a Tier 1 manufacturer is the only path automotive OEMs will ultimately accept, as they demand the highest levels of product quality and consistency that we believe can only be delivered at scale by an experienced supplier such as LightOn. This alliance not only proves our ability to meet those standards, but also sets us apart in the LiDAR industry. Our success hasn't gone unnoticed. Competitors are beginning to realign their strategies to follow this automotive Tier 1 partnership model. Through our manufacturing collaboration, we successfully completed Apollo's first B samples. which represent a level of maturity essential to the automotive OEM quoting process. These units are targeted for production deployment in non-automotive markets as well. Reaching this stage in just a few months highlights our ability to execute and scale with speed and precision. We expect to begin delivering the first B samples to customers in the coming weeks. Moving on to our commercial updates. In February, we launched an Apollo customer outreach campaign. And since then, we've entered into technical engagements with over 20 potential customers. In this final evaluation phase, we are working with these customers to determine Apollo's use case to fit their needs. As the next step, we will deliver proof of concept Apollo samples to these customers for in-application testing which will inform larger purchasing decisions with meaningful near-term revenue potential. Several proof of concept contracts are already in negotiation, with the process taking about six months to move from proof of concept to the start of scaled customer deployment. These engagements are extending beyond automotive, and we are reaching potential customers in traffic management, airport safety, rail safety, and other sectors that demand precision sensing over long distances. The key advantage lies in our software-defined LIDAR, which allows us to address a wide variety of use cases with minimal effort. Apollo's flexibility enables us to engage dozens of customers across different markets, without increasing overall spending. Apollo can be modified in a matter of days, not weeks or months, making it a singular solution that can seamlessly fit into various applications. This capability significantly accelerates our customers' development timelines, offering a clear edge in both speed and cost efficiency. Our progress with NVIDIA and integration into their ADAS ecosystem is proceeding well, and Apollo has entered their final independent testing phase. We look forward to announcing more details later this quarter. Furthermore, we are excited to hear about NVIDIA's recent announcement of a major new OEM partnership, driving increased momentum for AI and industry interest in ADAS overall. Now I'd like to address the resilience of our supply chain and how we are positioned to withstand the impacts from potential tariffs. Thanks in large part to our Tier 1 partnership, as well as our collaboration with ATI, we've established a highly adaptable and globally diversified supply chain that can navigate an evolving geopolitical landscape. With manufacturing capabilities in the U.S., Mexico, Western Europe, and Asia, we can strategically position production to help mitigate the impact of tariffs, giving us a key advantage in supporting our long-term stability. In closing, we're accelerating the execution of our strategic priorities to drive commercial success for Apollo as we capitalize on growing demand for LiDAR from global OEMs. With a solid cash position, a capital light model, and effective cost management, we've built a strong foundation for the year ahead. Additionally, a resilient supply chain helps ensure that we can navigate the current landscape and continue to meet customer needs effectively. We're excited to share more updates, including new industry partnerships and the first Apollo Lighter deployments later this year. With that, I will turn the call over to Connor to provide more color on our financial performance.