QuantumScape (QS) 2026年第三季度业绩电话会议：计划建设100兆瓦时生产线

QuantumScape 2026财年第三季度业绩说明会重点关注其规划中的100兆瓦时生产线、不断增加的客户账单金额，以及 QSC 5 在数据中心、汽车和先进应用领域的商业化进程。

核心要点

• QuantumScape 报告第三季度客户账单金额为980万美元，包括汽车和非汽车客户、生态系统合作伙伴付款以及电芯出货。
• 公司宣布了一项规划中的100兆瓦时生产线，目标投产时间为2028年。设备成本目标控制在1亿美元以内。
• 第三季度 GAAP 营业费用为9240万美元，GAAP 净亏损为8450万美元，调整后 EBITDA 亏损为6070万美元。
• QuantumScape 重申了2026财年全年指引，预计调整后 EBITDA 亏损为2.5亿美元至2.75亿美元，资本支出为2700万美元至3700万美元。
• 第三季度包括 QuantumScape 根据与本田的协议首次收到的客户账单，以及来自先进应用客户的首次账单。
• 截至本季度末，公司拥有8.198亿美元的流动资金，并表示正在为其规划的生产线寻求非稀释性融资。

核心财务数据

客户账单金额代表向客户及合作伙伴开具的发票金额，无论其会计处理方式如何。QuantumScape 强调，该运营指标并非美国通用会计准则（U.S. GAAP）下营业收入的替代品，且可能在各季度间出现波动。

业务与运营表现

100兆瓦时生产线

QuantumScape 计划建设一条100兆瓦时的量产线，服务于数据中心、航空航天、国防及其他先进应用领域。目标投产时间为2028年。

公司正与 Milbauer 合作研发下游电芯组装设备。结合与村田制作所（Murata）和康宁（Corning）的合作关系，管理层表示该布局提供了一套完整的端到端生产流程，支持未来的规模化扩产。

选址工作仍在进行中。QuantumScape 的目标是将设备成本控制在1亿美元以下，并预计在第四季度业绩说明会上随2027财年财务指引一并提供资本计划。潜在资金来源包括客户、政府项目、生态系统合作伙伴及许可合作伙伴。

管理层表示，该生产线将主要服务于高价值的非汽车应用。对于拥有自身制造能力的汽车客户，QuantumScape 打算保留其轻资产的技术授权模式。

AI 数据中心储能

QuantumScape 于10月8日推出了 QS Power Block，作为针对 AI 数据中心机架内的储能参考设计。在公司测试中，该系统提供的功率密度是开放计算项目（Open Compute Project）参考规范要求的4倍，运行时间是其5倍。

管理层指出，安全性是一项关键的竞争优势，因为电池将在高价值计算设备附近运行。公司表示，客户及第三方测试证实，其固态电池技术的热稳定性超过300摄氏度，而包括磷酸铁锂（LFP）在内的传统锂离子电池约为180摄氏度。

QuantumScape 表示，客户对产能规模的需求促使其作出了推进新生产线建设的决定。

汽车商业化进程

根据6月宣布的联合开发协议，QuantumScape 确认了来自本田的首笔客户账单。公司还与另一家全球出行制造商签署了协议。

除本田和大众旗下的 PowerCo 外，管理层表示，正在进行的汽车领域合作还包括另外两家排名前十的原始设备制造商（OEM）。QuantumScape 正更新与 PowerCo 的工作说明书，将合作关系转向与技术进展挂钩的按里程碑付款模式。

管理层预计 PowerCo 和本田等汽车合作伙伴将通过技术转让和授权安排进行生产。公司计划在11月11日于日本举行的固态电池研讨会上，提供有关其下一代技术平台和汽车合作模式的更多细节。

先进应用

QuantumScape 向国防、航空和电信领域的客户出货了 QSC 5 样品，并在第三季度记录了来自先进应用领域的首笔客户账单。

管理层表示，到2030年，这些应用的可寻求市场（TAM）规模可能达到7500万美元。管理层还强调了公司位于美国的制造及供应链体系，该体系旨在避免对石墨以及中国关键设备或材料的依赖。

管理层业绩指引

QuantumScape 重申了上述两个区间。公司在电话会议上未将规划中的生产线纳入详细的资本计划，预计将在发布2027财年财务指引时提供更多信息。

风险与关注事项

• 100兆瓦时生产线的投产时间目标为2028年，仍取决于选址、设备研发、安装及资金到位情况。
• QuantumScape 正在寻求非稀释性融资，但最终的融资结构和所有权安排在电话会议上尚未确定。
• 随着开发项目推进到不同阶段，客户账单金额在各季度间可能出现重大差异，不应被视为 GAAP 营业收入。
• 管理层指出，与数据中心和先进应用相比，汽车领域的认证和商业化路径要求更加严格。
• 汽车产品及生产相关的公告部分取决于 QuantumScape 的客户，而与 PowerCo 的协议也在继续向基于里程碑的付款模式演进。

分析师问答精选

分析师高度关注规划中生产线的经济效益与所有权结构。管理层表示，设备成本目标控制在1亿美元以下，选址工作正在进行中，QuantumScape 将评估政府补贴、贷款及其他非稀释性融资工具。

关于轻资产策略，管理层澄清称，直接制造将面向数据中心、航空航天、国防及其他高价值市场。汽车商业化将继续通过向拥有现有制造能力的客户进行授权和技术转让来推进。

关于 QS Power Block，管理层表示 QSC 5 所需的运行模式与电动汽车电池不同。数据中心应用涉及在荷电状态中段频繁的功率波动，预计较少发生完全放电。QuantumScape 强调该产品的功率密度、运行时间和热稳定性是其主要优势。

管理层预计，与汽车项目相比，数据中心和先进应用可能提供一条更快商业化上市的途径。公司的目标是在2028年开始生产之前签署多家客户。

业绩说明会完整记录

完整财报电话会议逐字稿

管理层陈述

Operator

Good day, and welcome to QuantumScape's Third Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. Sam Kamara, QuantumScape's Senior Director, Investor Relations. You may begin your conference.

Sam Kamara

Thank you, operator. Good afternoon, and thank you to everyone for joining QuantumScape's Third 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 begin, 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, Form 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 Chief Accounting Officer, Agnes Ten. Our Chief Financial Officer, Kevin Hettrich, is recovering from a planned medical procedure, and Agnes will cover the financial portion of today's call.

With that, I'd like to turn the call over to Siva.

Siva Sivaram

Thank you, Sam. We look forward to having Kevin back soon, and we wish him a speedy recovery. Let me start with the big news on cell manufacturing. In February of this year, we inaugurated the Eagle line, and it has already become the workhorse of our customer engagement, allowing an increased pace of customer sampling, which is flowing into customer billings. Our progress on demonstrating scalable production has given us the confidence to take the next step for production scale up beyond the design capacity of the Eagle line. Today, we announced a 100-megawatt hour mass production line with output aimed at meeting the rapidly emerging opportunities for our QSDC and QSS business verticals.

In addition, we announced a QS ecosystem partnership with on Bauer Group to provide cell assembly equipment for this planned line. Engineering work on higher throughput processes and equipment is already underway, and start-up production for this new line is targeted for 2028. With Murata, Corning and Milbauer. We have now announced partnerships with global players along the entire production flow representing an end-to-end solution for mass reduction of our technology as we work towards gigawatt tower scale production.

Next, I will provide an update on our 3 business verticals starting with QSBC. On October 8, we launched the QS power block for AI data centers in conjunction with the open compute project Global Summit. The QS power block is an in-rack energy storage reference design that enables AI data center architects to harness the improved energy density, high power capability and especially the improved safety profile of the QSC 5 cell. In testing, the QS block demonstrated 4x the power density and 5x longer run time than the refer specification from OCP. This is a clear demonstration of the step change performance improvement provided by QS technology and the value we can offer a data center customer. Another important advantage of our ceramic solid-state separator is its safety profile, in particular, its thermostability. Conventional lithium an batteries, including LFP batteries are not thermally stable above approximately 180 degrees Celsius, leading to the risk of catastrophic thermal runaway, and making insurance and regulatory approval more onerous, which slows down deployment of critical AI infrastructure.

In contrast, fewer solid-state batteries have been shown to be thermally stable well over 300 degrees Celsius. And we recently validated this result in customer testing as well as with third-party lab testing.

Next, an update on our automotive vertical, QS EV. Engagement on automotive cell development continues to be robust across our global automotive customers. In Q3, we recorded our first customer billings from Honda agreement announced in June. This agreement encompasses joint development work to integrate our solid-state platform into Honda's technology road map. In addition, we have signed an agreement with a new customer to further advance automotive comment stage. This agreement is with a leading global player in mobility manufacturing whose applications and requirements are aligned with our automotive customers. We are aligning our statements of work with Volkswagen PowerCo with a goal of bringing them onto our long-term technology platform that goes beyond QSC 5 and includes other applications.

Our aim is to bring all of our automotive customers on to a common technology platform. On November 11, we will announce more details on our next-generation technology platform and collaboration model with automotive customers at our third annual solid-state battery symposium in Q2 defend.

Next, an update on our QSS business vertical. QS AS is engaged with customers across many advanced applications. Defense aerospace, medical devices, consumer electronics and more. We believe this diversity of applications offers an attractive opportunity set for our QSC 5 platform with a total addressable market for QS AS of up to $75 million by 2030. We have shipped QSC 5 samples to customers in the defense aviation and telecommunication sectors, and we recorded our first customer billings from QS AS this quarter. One important point of feedback from customers in defense is that supply chain weldability are not just a theoretical concern. They are already seeing restrictions put in place by foreign governments which limit their ability to procure cutting-edge batteries to power their advanced defense systems. This is a point of differentiation for QS.

In addition to advantages in performance and safety, our sales are built in America and use supply chains that were designed from the beginning to avoid critical dependencies on Chinese suppliers of equipment or materials such as graphite. Finally, with Q3 behind us, I'd like to take a look back at our execution so far on our 4 key goals for 2026. These 4 goals were all focused on 1 strategic objective, taking our solid-state battery technology and turning it into products across multiple verticals. Our execution towards our goals has been strong. Our first key goal for 2026 is to demonstrate scalable production on the Eagle line. Eagle line is fully operational and is producing increased volumes of QSC 5 cells for our customers. This has allowed us to move to the next stage of scale up with the announcement today of our 100-megawatt hour mass production line and ecosystem partnership with the Mobile Group.

Our second key goal for 2026 is to advance automotive commercialization. So far in this year, we have announced our second named automotive partnership with Honda. We continue our engagement automotive development with Volkswagen PowerCo and we have signed new agreements and expanding existing relationships with global players in automotive and mobility.

Our third key goal for 2026 is to enter new high-value markets, and we are seeing strong interest in both our QSBC and QS AS verticals. With the QS power block, QSBC is addressing the need for high-performance safer in rack energy storage for advanced AI data center design. With QS AS we are seeing broad interest across advanced applications, including defense aviation and telecommunications, and we have already begun generating customer billings from QSC 5 sample shipments.

Finally, in 2026, we promised to go beyond QSC 5 with an update on our technology road map, and we are pleased to announce that this will take place in conjunction with our third annual solid-state battery symposium on November 11 in Kito, Japan. We are proud of the progress we have made so far in 2026 and while there is much work left to do, the whole team is focused on our mission to revolutionize energy storage. We look forward to sharing more updates soon.

Unknown Executive

Thank you, Siva. GAAP operating expenses and GAAP net loss in Q3 were $92.4 million and $84.5 million, respectively. Adjusted EBITDA loss was $60.7 million in Q3, in line with expectations. For full year 2026, we reiterate our adjusted EBITDA loss guidance of between $250 million and $275 million. A table reconciling GAAP net loss in adjusted EBITDA is available in the financial statements at the end of the shareholder letter.

Capital expenditures in the third quarter were $4.4 million. Q3 CapEx was primarily composed of investment into our technology road map and associated facility spend. For full year 2026, we reiterate our guidance for CapEx to be between $27 million and $37 million. Customer billings in Q3 were $9.8 million. Customer billings as a metric represents the total value of all invoices issued by QS to our customers and partners in the period regardless of the accounting treatment. As a reminder, customer billings may vary from quarter-to-quarter due to fluctuations in activity as we progress through various phases of engagement. This operational metric is not a substitute for revenue under U.S. GAAP.

Customer billings in Q3 included both automotive and nonautomotive customers and reflected the mix of development activities payments from ecosystem partners and cell shipments. We ended Q3 with $819.8 million in liquidity and will remain prudent with our strong balance sheet going forward. As always, we encourage investors to read more on our financial information, business outlook and risk factors in our quarterly and annual SEC filings on our Investor Relations website.

Sam Kamara

Thanks, Agnes. We will begin today's Q&A portion with a few questions we have received from investors or that I believe would interest investors. Siva, today, we announced a 100-megawatt hour production line as well as a partnership with mobile to provide cell assembly equipment. Why take the step now and why mobile?

Siva Sivaram

Then we have announced the QS power block at the OCP conference and we have shipped cells to a number of aerospace and defense customers. The response from both markets has been very strong. These customers don't typically have their own cell manufacturing capacity so we need to provide a manufacturing solution. The Eagle line, our highly automized pilot line, along with our COBRA process is demonstrating scalable production. We are sampling to more customers, generating billings, and this pilot line is laying the groundwork for the next step up in scale. And for this step, it is crucial to bring in an ecosystem partner with deep experience in automation and cell manufacturing equipment development to partner with us. And that's where Molvar comes in.

When we take our material supply partners, separate or partners, including Murata and Corning and put that together with downstream cell assembly with Milbauer that gives you an end-to-end process flow enabled by a set of world-class experts. This line lets us serve high-value markets directly while keeping our capital-light licensing model for automotive.

Sam Kamara

Sure. This quarter, we recorded our first billing from Honda and added a new agreement with their mobility manufacturer. Where does automotive commercialization stand and what should investors expect for the rest of the year?

Siva Sivaram

Some automotive continues to be a large and important market for us. On commercialization, in June, we announced our agreement with Honda. And this quarter, we recorded our first billings from Honda. In Q3, we also added an agreement with a global player in mobility manufacturing. Beyond Honda and Volkswagen PowerCo, our active customer engagements include 2 other top 10 OEMs. As we have done on a regular basis, we are in the process of updating our statement of work with VW PowerCo. As part of that process, we have amended our collaboration agreement to eliminate transition payments and are working to add milestones tied to technology advancements. We continue to make substantive progress in advancing our technology platform, and we are aligning our automotive customers to take advantage of this.

Regarding our cut event, I won't give too much away today, but keep in mind that our ceramic separator enables an anot-free lithium metal architecture that is castoagnostic. Getting the automotive industry aligned on this 1 platform positions us to become the de facto operating system for the solid-state battery industry creating enormous potential for value creation and capture. That's what we're aiming for. And I'll save the rest for the Symposia on November 11.

Sam Kamara

We launched the QS power block at the OSP Conference in San Jose. What's been the feedback from AI Datacenter customers so far?

Siva Sivaram

We're extremely excited about this market and OCP was a great chance to get customer feedback. We heard 3 consistent themes. First, for data center architects, the role of energy storage is changing rapidly. I'll use an automotive analogy. In the past, batteries were basically like a spare tire in a car, you carry it alarm, but you hope you don't need it. As we enter the 800-welBC transition and as single rack power is headed towards 1 megawatt, the battery is becoming more like a suspension system. It is working constantly to smooth things out. And without a suspension system, something will break pretty quickly. This is a totally new use case and data center architects need fundamental innovation to make it work.

Second, for indacpower, safety is the absolute priority. That means architects today are generally limited to using LFP batteries, and they are paying a big performance penalty to maximize safety. That gives us a clear opportunity to deliver systems that not only have longer run time and better power density but also a safety profile that meets even LFP on term antibility.

Last, this transition is all happening. Customers want to see the QS power block in volume, and that's why we are announcing this 100-megawatt power line today. Start-up production in 2028 aligns well with the data center industry time line and now is the time to take that next step up.

Sam Kamara

Okay. Thanks so much, Debra. We are now ready to begin the light portion of today's call. Operator, please open up the line for questions.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from Winnie Dong with Deutsche Bank.

分析师问答

Yan Dong

First 1 is on the 100-megawatt hour line with new borer. Just curious to see what the economic arrangement may be in terms of who owns it, who pays? And then what does it do to the CapEx-light model.

Siva Sivaram

In, thanks for asking the question. Just to put the Milbauer announcement in context on the 100-megawatt wordline in context. The longest time aspect of the project is designing, building and installing the equipment. And now that we have started on that, we are announcing the planned 100-megawatt hour line today. And obviously, the next question is where is this going to be? And on site selection, the process is underway. We will keep it confidential as you would expect and announce it at the appropriate time. We will provide a capital plan and in the 2027 financial guidance on our Q4 earnings call.

We are targeting equipment cost to of less than $100 million. But in terms of funding, we are pursuing nondilutive funding sources, including customers, government, ecosystem and licensing partners, and we'll keep you updated.

Yan Dong

All right. That's helpful. And then you mentioned you recorded your first Honda billings in the third quarter. I was wondering if you can help size that? And then what does that mean in terms of time line to eventually signing a legacy agreement with them?

Siva Sivaram

So in, let me be finish up on a point you asked earlier. So what happens to our capital-light model with the 100-megawatt hour. And this deals back with your Honda question. We still are keeping our capital-light licensing model to address markets such as automotive that have their own manufacturing capacity. So our expectation is that whether it is with Volkswagen Powerco or with Honda, we will be transferring technology to them so that they can ramp up their own production. Now with respect to products and product lines as we are going to do those announcements have to come from our customers but the engagement with has been very, very strong, and we are working very closely with them.

Operator

Our next question comes from Mark Shuter with William Blair.

Mark Shooter

Steve, congrats on the power block product launch. Just a quick question on that. I'm just trying to get your thoughts on the application. The BBU product back application space is defined by high power, high pulse -- this is a very different vector space than where you have been optimizing for EVs, which is more long cycle life, right? You mean probably in the order of 1,000 cycles. And more full debt issuance, not just the high pulse application. I understand that theoretically, lithium metal has far better power density. But in practice in the lab, I'm wondering what have you done to maybe retune the cell off of the EV design and optimize it for the BBU application?

Siva Sivaram

Mark, you Perceptive, -- that's a very, very good question. The application for automotive use case is very different than in the BBU use case, where we don't need to worry about low temperatures. The occasional brown out where you do full discharges probably a couple of times a month, if not a few times a year, most of the time is used for high frequency ups and downs and towards the middle of the charge and discharge. And what we have done is shown a couple of specs that are remarkably good for our technology. First is power, how much power can produce out of this, and we are 4x better than anything that the OCP spec calls for. And then how much run time can I support. So when you get to be a megawatt or rack and you are taking care of ultra-high frequency changes with capacitors, but the rest of it is supported by the battery how much can you support on your own.

And we found that compared to the spec, we are 5x longer run time. So the lithium metal technology naturally is a better fit for this application. But most important than anything else is safety. You are sitting adjacent to very high-value GPUs. And people are ultra scale about putting an NMC battery are something that could cause a thermal runaway. Here, the better safety profile of the QSC 5 is a very, very good fit for them in the ability to withstand thermal runaway. So in all, this is very good fit and the QSC 5 seems to have found an interesting home.

Mark Shooter

Great. I appreciate that. Just to pivot to the 100-megawatt hour line announcement, congrats on that as well. I heard you also say a winning about $100 million in CapEx, and that's where you've seen like the top end. What are you seeing behind the scenes that's changed or the have you divert from the CapEx-light model you were pursuing. And DWI believe has right of first refusal in the first 5 gigawatt hours if they choose to take that. And I'm just wondering -- are they in place here for the ownership or who ends up developing this line to end up owning the asset?

Siva Sivaram

Yes. So you are correct in pointing out that in our contract with Powerco, they have a capacity to add nonautomotive applications. However, what has come out of this is how well the Eagle line has done and remember, Osaanporaco is here with us developing it. They are in our shop working handling globe. So that relationship is going well. But this equipment design is built off of our advancements on the Eagle line. And mobile will develop a full back-end cell assembly line for us. That's the structure that we are going in. And we'll be looking at, as you said, a capital-light model for any automotive applications that we do it either at Parco or at Honda. And this line will be directed primarily at the high-value applications, such as aerospace, defense and data center.

Mark Shooter

That's very helpful. Should we look at that as maybe a DOW stepping in for some nondilutive funding like we've seen in some of the private sector and maybe some other smaller battery players?

Siva Sivaram

We have seen those, and we have seen other brands, loans and many other instruments from the government being applied, and we will be looking at those as well.

Operator

Our next question comes from Ben Kallo with Baird.

Ben Kallo

I was just -- congrats on everything. Just in terms of automotive versus data center versus aerospace, could you just talk about how competitive the environment is versus -- in all 3 of those verticals?

Siva Sivaram

Thanks, Ben. So as you would expect, these markets are substantively different in the customer base, especially with respect to the QS AS advanced solutions that covers defense aerospace, communications, et cetera. There, the supply chain is a big asset for us. A, we are a U.S.-based manufacturer based cell. We constructed the supply chain to have no dependence on graphite. We don't have in our architecture in graphite. And we are partnering with as the government called it non-OC non-foreign entities of concern partners. So every 1 of them is done with a friendly partner to go make this happen. So this is particularly relevant for our defense and aerospace applications. And more and more, we see that even with the data center partners, that they are looking for a supply chain from a friendly source.

Add on top of it, the better safety profile that makes us have some additional advantages over any competition. And then, of course, intrinsically, the cell is better in energy and power and all of the conventional applications that you would look for.

Operator

Our next question comes from Mark Delaney with Goldman Sachs.

Unknown Analyst

You've got Aushon for Mark Delaney. Congrats on the new production line and sort of with that, how are you thinking about the relative timing of commercialization across the 3 verticals? And how, if at all, has that timing changed over the last year?

Siva Sivaram

So the 100-megawatt or line, the start of production is targeted by 2028. We are looking at both and QS AS maybe a faster time to market than the more rigorous QS EV application. But that does not mean our targets for QS has changed. We are continuing to work with our partners with that same original target of getting it into revenue and commercialization. What we have done here is with an end-to-end solution for mass production with very trusted ecosystem partners like Murata, Corning or Milbauer -- is nature, we have a high confidence in us being able to address these high-value markets very, very quickly.

Unknown Analyst

Helpful. And then separately, I wanted to ask about VW given the restructuring efforts going on there. Can you speak to what, if any, implications that may have for the PowerCo relationship? And then separately, how do you see the relationship with PowerCo evolving here? You noted aligning the statement of work beyond QSC 5?

Siva Sivaram

The relationship with PowerCo remains very strong, and the overall goal of the collaboration remains unchanged. But as you know, this partnership is constantly evolving. As we said last quarter, we are moving the PowerCo engagement towards milestone-based payments. As part of this, we'll also be expanding to cover other applications such as the data center and robotics. So overall, we are continuing to evolve this relationship towards these applications as well.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Our next question comes from Gabriel Gonzalez with UBS.

Gabriel Gonzales

I guess, Saba, the decision to move forward with the 100-megawatt hour line, it kind of suggests growing confidence the demand across QSDC and QSS. I guess what sort of level of customer interest supports that decision? How many customers are currently testing samples? And over the next 12 months, what commercial commitments would you like to see?

Siva Sivaram

You are asking the right center questions. We have increasing confidence coming from 3 mutually our tagaldirection. First, when we introduced the power block and when we started sampling to multiple QS AS customers across multiple verticals, the feedback has been very, very strong and everyone has been asking for volume as soon as possible. Independently, we have obviously ramped up the Eagle line, and we are seeing the capability of the Eagle line to form as a foundation for the next higher level of step-up. The third is a partner such as Bulbar coming in and validating the Eagle line and proposing a structure to ramp up from on top of it and taking ownership in this partnership to get that going. All 3 of them put together give us the confidence the markets the demand from our customers, the confidence in the technology based on the Eagle line and the support of our ecosystem partners all give us the confidence to take this 100-megawatt step right now.

Gabriel Gonzales

And I guess just in the time line between like an award win to start of production in the Western markets in automotive, it's typically a 2- to 3-year time line. Obviously, the data center is a completely different end market, but could we see some awards be announced within that 2027 time frame before 2028 started production?

Siva Sivaram

You see how fast both of these markets are moving. The defense marketplace drones and other applications, similarly on the data center marketplace. This BBU concept, for instance, was a novelty barely 9 months ago, and already, we are seeing racks being displayed in conferences. This is moving very, very rapidly. And we want to be there in the middle of it to take advantage of it. And that's why we want to have started production in 2028, and we want to have multiple customers signed up before that to make sure that the uptake is there.

Operator

Thank you. I would now like to turn the call back over to Siva Sivaram, for any closing remarks.

Siva Sivaram

Thank you, operator. I would like to recognize the entire QS team for their execution this quarter from the Eagle line to the launch of the QS bottom block was 100 megawatt-hour line we announced today. Thank you to our shareholders for their continued support, and we look forward to updating you on our progress in the months ahead. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. This concludes the conference. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.