AEye, Inc.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. My name is Joyce, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome you to AI's first quarter 2026 earnings call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question at that time, please press star key, then the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, press star key, then number one again. Thank you. I would like to turn the conference over.

Good afternoon, and thank you for joining AI's first quarter 2026 earnings call. I'm Pete Nolson, Investor Relations Manager for AI, and 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 ended March 31st, 2026. 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 the 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 AI files from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including in a 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 GAF measures within the press release. Now let me pass the call over to Matt.

Thank you, Keaton, and thank you all for joining our first quarter 2026 earnings call. The quarter unfolded exactly as planned. Steady execution, no surprises, and a commercial pipeline that continued to grow. Our ecosystem partnerships and manufacturing capability remain strong, and we now have more commercial engagement than at any point in our history. Our funnel continues to be the best barometer to benchmark our progress as revenue tends to be a lagging indicator. As of today, our revenue generating customer count has grown from 16 to 21 since our last earnings call. I'm also pleased to report that both our issued quotes and active engagements have increased by nearly 40% quarter over quarter. These leading indicators, new technical engagements, inbound RFIs, and POC activity across automotive, trucking, defense, rail, infrastructure, and ITS are all moving in the right direction. These indicators are the data that investors should focus on to understand where we are headed. Quarterly revenue is up almost 60% year over year. This meaningful growth is driven by our software-defined architecture and long-range sensing performance and reflects the strong pipeline activity building behind it. AI's technology gives machines vision. the foundation of physical AI and the prerequisite for every intelligent autonomous system being built today. The market is potentially very large and is accelerating. Barclays projects the physical AI market opportunity should reach as much as $1 trillion by 2035. And LIDAR is the enabling layer that makes it real. AI software-defined architecture positions us at the core of that ecosystem, and the LIDAR sector's ongoing consolidation has only strengthened our relative position. AI is on stronger footing coming out of that consolidation than going in. Better capitalized, leaner in structure, and with a commercial pipeline that continues to expand. The automotive industry appears to be squarely shifting toward AI-driven safety and software-defined vehicle architectures. And we believe long-range LIDAR is becoming essential to that architecture, not optional. Apollo offers best-in-class detection range when operating behind a windshield. and is the only sensor we know of to be customer proven to reliably detect objects at distances of up to one kilometer. Our OEM engagement has increased, driven by recent RoboTax fee investment announcements, growing trade policy implications, and supply chain resilience concerns. With OEMs in the passenger vehicle segment actively seeking domestically sourced alternatives, AI's manufacturing partnership directly addresses that demand. Multiple new RFIs arise in Q1 across both passenger and commercial vehicle segments, and OEMs have begun to re-engage as L3 and L4 roadmaps are being reactivated and expanded. In ground mobility, evaluations by autonomous trucking companies are deepening. Multiple companies have programs underway, and we are now shipping sensors into those evaluations. Apollo should be well-suited to serve this expanding addressable market. In transportation and infrastructure, Optus is now live at an active intersection in California in partnership with FlashEye and Blueband. Additional U.S. smart intersection deployments are in progress. Our APAC expansion strategy is also progressing. An Australian ITS POC has advanced into a discussion of commercial terms. In Korea, we recently concluded a successful customer roadshow engaging with more than 10 OEMs across ITS, rail, and mobility sectors. Our business partnership with ATI in China remains strong. and we have four additional customers now evaluating our Apollo LiDAR product. In defense, active shipments continue with an existing U.S. contractor for UAV wire detection. Repeat business is emerging within that account, and Apollo is being evaluated for additional applications, including UGV and counter UAV, with an expectation of multiple new RFQs. A significant development this quarter is our new commercial relationship with Syntec, a global defense systems company with established ties to leading defense prime. Syntec is actively promoting Apollo to its customers, and initial shipments are already underway. This partnership has the potential to unlock international defense and aviation markets outside of the United States. meaningfully expanding our addressable pipeline while complementing the domestic engagements we have already built. What drives selection across all of these verticals is consistent. AI's proven and reliable one kilometer detection range with unlimited software driven adjustability. That flexibility is paying dividends. For example, A defense customer that initially engaged us for a single UAD wire detection application is now evaluating Apollo across three separate use cases without any change to the hardware they have already deployed in the field. This is a key differentiation factor that drives customers to select AI. Stratos, the newest addition to our product lineup, extends our capability up to 1.5 kilometers of detection range with 500 meter performance behind a windshield at a disruptive price point. Through our manufacturing partnership with LightOn, AI's supply chain is globally diversified, providing the flexibility and resilience to navigate geopolitical risk and shifting trade policies that we believe our peers cannot match. Our tech stack is derived from off-the-shelf telecom components, which allows us to compete on cost while delivering the mass manufacturability and high performance our customers require. We continue to build on our partnership with NVIDIA as it is the cornerstone of our automotive and industrial market positioning. Apollo is validated on Drive AGX Orin and has been demonstrated on Drive AGX4, NVIDIA's next generation centralized automotive compute platform. In March, we joined the NVIDIA Halos AI Systems Inspection Lab, the world's first ANAB accredited AI systems inspection lab. ANAB accreditation is generally viewed by OEMs as a critical marker of confidence, reliability, and quality assurance within their supply chain. Our Optus platform, powered by NVIDIA Jetson Orin, extends our reach into infrastructure and industrial markets via our diversified software ecosystem. We are giving infrastructure and industrial customers a ready-made path into physical AI without having to build perception capability from scratch. I will now turn the call over to Connor to review our first quarter result.