Solid Power (SLDP) 2026年第三季度业绩电话会议：MOBIUS产能爬坡与下调现金投资展望

核心要点

• Solid Power在2026年第三季度实现营收及补助收入120万美元，使今年以来的累计收入达到400万美元。
• 该公司报告营业亏损为2980万美元，净亏损为2440万美元（即每股亏损0.11美元）。季度营业费用为3110万美元。
• 截至第三季度末，Solid Power的总流动资金为3.976亿美元，且无债务。公司将2026年现金投资预期从之前的8500万至1亿美元下调至7500万至8500万美元。
• 该公司于10月开始将材料引入MOBIUS。这条连续生产线预计将新增45吨的电解质年产能，使总产能增加150%，达到75吨。
• 管理层预计MOBIUS的调试和ISO 9001认证将于2026年底前完成。预计新生产线的客户重新认证将于2027年开始。
• Solid Power仍与两家潜在合作伙伴就建立韩国合资企业展开深入洽谈，拟建设一座年产500吨的电解质工厂，不过管理层提醒称具体时间可能会推迟至2027年。

关键财务数据

业务与运营表现

MOBIUS（此前被称为SP 2.5连续制造试点生产线）是本次运营更新的核心内容。Solid Power于10月开始向该生产线投料，并在整套系统实现连续物料运行之前，按顺序对其四个单元工序进行调试。

管理层表示，设计MOBIUS旨在展示Solid Power专利湿法电解质技术的扩展性与效率。公司认为，与干法工艺替代方案相比，该工艺在资本支出和运营成本方面具有优势；不过管理层指出，在该生产线达到经证实的铭牌产能之前，量化单位成本或良率的改善还为时过早。

MOBIUS预计将成为Solid Power的主要生产平台。只要需求持续，现有的间歇式生产线就将继续运营，包括支持2024年宣布的SK On供应协议。目前，MOBIUS新增的45吨年产能中，尚无任何部分签署了供应协议。

本季度，Solid Power继续向三星SDI和SK On供应电解质。管理层表示，客户电池设计的进展仍是限制出货量及更高规模销售的主要因素。

该公司还完成了ISO 9001认证流程的第二阶段。管理层表示，随着生产规模扩大，认证将强化过程控制、可追溯性、文档记录以及运营一致性。

在电动汽车之外，Solid Power正在就人形机器人、无人机和国防等领域展开早期合作洽谈。管理层将这些机会形容为处于“第一到第二局之间”（早期阶段），并指出其认证周期可能比典型的汽车行业周期更短。电动汽车仍是公司的主要焦点，而相邻应用领域可提供技术验证并在中期带来适度的收入。

管理层业绩指引

Solid Power将2026年预期现金投资范围从8500万至1亿美元下调至7500万至8500万美元。管理层将这一改观归因于生产成本降低、严格的开支控制、重新谈判的供应商合同以及资本支出效率的提升。

公司表示，季度现金投资可能会有所波动，主要取决于时间节点，包括美国能源部的报销以及向MOBIUS设备供应商的付款。Solid Power计划在发布2026年第四季度财报时提供2027年的展望。

管理层继续致力于在2026年底前完成MOBIUS的全线调试和ISO 9001认证。公司还旨在推进拟议的韩国合资企业，但也承认交易可能会推迟至2027年。

风险与关注焦点

• MOBIUS仍处于调试初期，其铭牌产能、生产良率和成本效益尚未得到证实。
• 客户需求取决于客户电池设计的进展，管理层将其认定为当前影响出货量增长的关键限制因素。
• 目前MOBIUS的新增产能中均未签署供应协议，且预计客户重新认证要到2027年才会开始。
• 拟议的韩国合资企业仍处于谈判阶段。管理层表示，尽管其目标是在2026年达成协议，但大型交易可能会面临延迟。
• 关于机器人和国防领域的讨论仍处于早期阶段，目前部分重点在于向潜在的OEM合作伙伴普及全固态电池的应用。

分析师问答环节亮点

管理层表示，MOBIUS的调试将按工序在四个单元操作中逐步推进，随后在2026年剩余时间内实现全线连续生产。与间歇式生产的成本和良率对比，只有在铭牌性能得到证实后才能获得。

关于规模化扩产，管理层表示，45吨的MOBIUS扩建为未来在韩国可能建设的年产500吨工厂奠定了连续工艺基础。Solid Power希望利用MOBIUS的运营数据、良率和成本经验来支持该更大规模的项目。

关于相邻市场，管理层强调了与电动汽车需求相似的应用领域，特别是能量密度、安全性和循环寿命。人形机器人和军事应用的发展速度可能快于汽车项目，但中期内的潜在收入被描述为较为适度。

管理层还明确指出，下调2026年现金投资预期既反映了供应商合同的重新谈判，也反映了资本开支效率的提升。在调整后的预测范围内，波动预计更多是由付款和报销的时间安排所推动，而非基础费用的变化。

业绩电话会议完整转录

完整财报电话会议逐字稿

管理层陈述

Operator

Good day, and welcome to the Solid Power Third Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions]. Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Charlie Van Goetz, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Charlie Van Goetz

Thank you, operator. Welcome, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. I'm joined on today's call by Solid Power's President and Chief Executive Officer, John Van Scoter; and Chief Financial Officer, Linda Heller. A copy of today's earnings release is available on the Investor Relations section of Solid Power's website, www.solidpowerbattery.com. I'd like to remind you that parts of our discussion today will include forward-looking statements as defined by U.S. securities laws. These forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations and assumptions about future events and are based on currently available information as to the outcome and timing of future events. Except as otherwise required by applicable law, Solid Power disclaims any duty to update any forward-looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances.

For a discussion of the risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in today's forward-looking statements, please see Solid Power's most recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which can be found on the company's website at www.solidpowerbattery.com. With that, let me turn it over to John Van Scoter.

John Van Scoter

Thank you, Charlie, and thank you all for joining us today. The third quarter was marked by continued focus on advancing our electrolyte technology and expanding our strategic relationships. We also reached an important milestone in our manufacturing road map with MOBIUS, previously referred to as the SP 2.5 continuous manufacturing pilot line. I'm pleased to report that in October, we began introducing materials into MOBIUS. This new line is expected to increase our electrolyte production capacity by 150%, adding 45 metric tons of capacity and bringing total annual capacity to 75 metric tons. MOBIUS is designed to demonstrate the scalability and efficiency of our proprietary wet process technology and to serve current and future near-term customer programs as we transition from batch to continuous production. We are now progressing toward full commissioning, which remains on track for year-end. MOBIUS represents an important step in our journey to commercial scale by providing us with manufacturing capabilities, operating experience and foundation we believe are critical to scaling our electrolyte technology. Our vision is to build on what we established with MOBIUS as we pursue a potential 500 metric ton annual production facility in Korea. During the quarter, we continued to advance discussions with leading battery materials manufacturers regarding a potential joint venture in South Korea for commercial scale electrolyte production. With Korea at the center of all solid-state battery development, we believe combining our technology and manufacturing know-how with the scale and expertise and market access of an established industry leader could create a powerful platform to accelerate commercial adoption. Our customer engagement also continued. During the quarter, we once again provided electrolyte to Samsung SDI and SK On to support their continued development efforts, and we remain committed to helping our customers advance towards commercialization. Operational excellence remains a core priority as we prepare for commercial readiness. Building on the Stage 1 milestone we reported last quarter, we recently completed Stage 2 of our ISO 9001 certification process and certification remains on track for year-end. This is an important milestone for Solid Power as we continue the transition from development toward commercial supply. ISO 9001 provides an externally recognized framework for maintaining consistent, repeatable quality across our operations, strengthening areas such as process control, traceability, documentation and continuous improvement. Importantly, it also gives our customers greater confidence that we have the systems and operating discipline in place to consistently deliver high-quality materials as we scale production. EVs will continue to be our North Star as we scale, but the potential of our technology extends well beyond a single market. We see exciting opportunities for all solid-state batteries in applications such as humanoid robotics, drones and defense, where safety and performance are increasingly important. We have entered collaboration discussions with potential partners to evaluate our sulfide electrolyte for these uses. We also see an opportunity to leverage our cell testing and pilot production capabilities to support development in these emerging markets. Together, these opportunities demonstrate the broader potential of our technology platform and give us multiple avenues to create long-term value as we execute on our EV strategy and expand into new markets. Overall, we are pleased with our progress this quarter. We continue to execute against our commercialization road map across manufacturing scale-up, collaboration programs and strategic partnerships, and we are doing so with financial discipline as reflected in improved cash outlook Linda will discuss. With that, I'll turn it over to Linda to review our financial results and provide an update on our financial discipline goal. Linda?

Linda Heller

Thank you, John. I'll start with our third quarter results, beginning with revenue. During the third quarter of 2026, we generated revenue and grant income of $1.2 million, driven primarily by the assistance agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy funding a portion of the MOBIUS construction. This brings year-to-date revenue and grant income to $4 million. Operating expenses were $31.1 million in the third quarter compared to $30 million in the second quarter of 2026. The increase was driven by strategic consulting fees supporting our commercial readiness objectives. Operating loss for the quarter was $29.8 million and net loss was $24.4 million or $0.11 per share. Capital expenditures totaled $4.7 million during the quarter, primarily related to construction of the MOBIUS line. During the quarter, cash investment, representing cash used in operations and capital expenditures was $21.5 million, bringing year-to-date cash investment to $56.6 million. Turning to our balance sheet and liquidity. Solid Power's liquidity position remains strong. We ended the third quarter with total liquidity of $397.6 million. In addition, contract assets and accounts receivable totaled $6.2 million, and total current liabilities were $18.8 million. We continue to operate with no debt. Our financial discipline is also reflected in our outlook. We have reduced our expected 2026 cash investment to a range of $75 million to $85 million, an improvement from our prior range of $85 million to $100 million. The improved outlook reflects strong execution on production cost reduction and disciplined spending, enabling us to lower expected cash investment while continuing to advance our commercialization road map. We are accomplishing this in a cost-effective way while continuing to build the team, expertise and production capabilities needed to execute our strategy and support future commercialization. Overall, we remain committed to disciplined capital allocation while continuing to invest in the initiatives that drive long-term growth. We believe our balance sheet provides the financial flexibility to execute our commercialization strategy and support our collaborators' development programs. I will now turn the call back to John.

John Van Scoter

Thank you, Linda. As we close, I want to thank our employees for their continued dedication and our customers, collaborators and shareholders for their ongoing confidence in Solid Power. We appreciate your support as we continue executing our strategy and advancing our path towards commercialization. As we enter the final quarter of the year, our focus is on finishing 2026 strong. We are working to complete the commissioning of MOBIUS, advance our discussions regarding a potential joint venture in Korea, achieve ISO 9001 certification and continue working closely with our customers and collaborators to support their development goals. We have accomplished a great deal in 2026, and these priorities build on the meaningful progress we have made throughout the year. Our focus now is on achieving our near-term milestones and carrying that momentum directly into 2027. We believe the foundation we have built positions us to continue executing against our strategy and take the next steps towards commercialization. We are energized by the opportunities ahead for Solid Power. Thank you for your time today, and we look forward to updating you on our continued progress in the quarters ahead. We will now take your questions. Operator?

Operator

[Operator Instructions]. The first question comes from Colin Rusch with Oppenheimer.

分析师问答

Colin Rusch

Congratulations on all the progress with MOBIUS. Could you talk a little bit about the key steps that you guys -- we should be watching as we get through the final acceptance and the initial ramp here through the balance of this year? It seems like you guys have this pretty well under control, but I just want to get a sense of which steps are the key ones for us that we should be attending to?

John Van Scoter

Good to hear from you, Colin. Thanks for the question. Yes, it's all very recent that we started to put materials into the line. So it's very early days, but the team is very, very excited to complete the commissioning this year. It's going to be stepwise. We have 4 unit processes within the continuous flow operation. And so we're going about that, again, in a stepwise fashion, whether it be the first part of the process or the last part and then finally, material all the way through the line continuously. So I would expect in the coming months that we'll have the unit processes largely checked out and spend the balance of the year around running material through the full line.

Colin Rusch

Excellent. And then with the increase of available material and the capital efficiency that you guys have talked about with this process relative to other attempts out in the field. Can you just talk about what that means for your customers? Obviously, folks have been going through testing, but they're going to want to do more volume and the validation of the cost structure as you get this up and running. I just want to understand kind of how quickly things might start shifting for you guys in terms of higher volume sales with some of these customers.

John Van Scoter

Yes. We've mentioned a number of times, but we have a unique wet process. We take precursors and mix them with solvents at the beginning of our line. Our competitors have a dry process, and they cannot scale as well as we can with the wet process. So we believe we have a structured CapEx and OpEx advantage compared to the majority of our competitors. We can just increase the size of our unit processes to get to those larger and larger scale volumes. The demand and what we ship, obviously, will be driven by our end customers' progress with their cell designs. That is largely the gate right now for us, we believe. And the other beauty of MOBIUS is it's 45 metric tons and our next objective is the 500 metric ton plant in Korea. So a 10x scalable off of that continuous flow is very doable based on precedent there in terms of scaling. So that's what I see happening with the unit processes and the scaling up as we go forward.

Operator

The next question comes from Jake Sekelsky with Alliance Global Partners.

Jacob Sekelsky

Are you able to provide a bit more color on the other markets you're looking at outside of EVs? I guess what inning do you feel you're in with partners here? And do you see any potential for them to accelerate commercialization ahead of the EV market? And just trying to get a sense of how we should be thinking about the opportunity here.

John Van Scoter

Thanks for the question, Jake. Yes, it is very early days. I don't know if you said innings or not, if you were referring to a baseball analogy, we're probably in between the first and second innings in discussions with humanoids and with defense applications. But yes, we believe they will move faster. The qualification cycles will be shorter. The number of cycles per period will be greater. I kind of draw an analogy to say, a CES consumer electronics kind of cycle more so than a typical 4-plus year automotive cycle. So that's what it makes it so attractive. Again, I want to emphasize, automotive continues to be our North Star. We're looking for markets that have synergies from a system requirement standpoint, both in energy density and safety, in cycle life, that sort of thing. So we won't take our eye off that ball, but it could create some validation points for us and some modest revenue for us in the medium term.

Jacob Sekelsky

Okay. That's helpful. And then just building off that a bit, how much of the planned 45 tonne per annum capacity increase at MOBIUS is spoken for existing customers or partners? And do you expect to reserve any output there for these additional markets in '27?

John Van Scoter

Right now, we don't have any of it secured in terms of a supply agreement. We do have the existing SK On supply agreement that we announced back in 2024 for metric tons, but that is largely being supplied through our batch process continuously. We will -- we expect to be requalifying with MOBIUS with our various customers. So we need to get through commissioning and get to demonstrated nameplate capability, and then we'll start that process in 2027.

Operator

The next question comes from Sameer Joshi with H.C. Wainwright.

Sameer Joshi

So the guidance for -- first, congrats on the progress on MOBIUS. My first question is -- yes, the cash investment guidance is now $75 million to $85 million from $85 million to $100 million. So that's understandable, but that implies a wide range, by my calculation, it's around $18 million to $28 million for the fourth quarter. Should we expect it towards the lower end or high end? Or maybe asked another way, what would make it go up to $28 million or what could make it stay at $18 million?

Linda Heller

Well, we feel very comfortable with the guidance of $75 million to $85 million for the year. There's a number of things that can be lumpy -- in terms of that, for example, our DOE assistance agreement when we -- the timing of reimbursement could have a swing either way. So there's items like that, payments to vendors, equipment vendors when they complete their checklist so that we will continue to pay that on MOBIUS. Those can have swings in timing as well. So it's mainly timing issues, I would say, not so much expense issues.

Sameer Joshi

Understood. Got it. Thanks for the clarification. Similar -- part 2 of that question is, do we have a 2027 plan of similar investment guidance -- cash investment guidance for 2027?

Linda Heller

We have not. We -- our plan will always be to provide an outlook for '27 in our fourth quarter 2026 earnings call that is consistent with our pattern in previous years.

Sameer Joshi

Understood. And then on the Korea JV that we are looking at, you are talking to several partners. Is this -- should we expect any initial -- at least some kind of an announcement during 2026? Or will this be a 2027 event?

John Van Scoter

Well, we've been targeting with 2 partners through advanced negotiations and discussions to get something done this year. We'll see. We'll see if we can get that done. We're trying like heck to put something out, get it put together. But sometimes these big deals do move to the right. So we're pressing hard. We'll see how it lands. We've got 6 weeks left to make it happen.

Sameer Joshi

Understood. May I squeeze in one more on sort of MOBIUS, the continuous versus batch processing. Are you able to quantify sort of the costs per production unit or yield improvements that would happen because of the continuous process versus batch? Or is it too early to talk of such things?

John Van Scoter

We certainly will be able to do that ultimately, but it really is too early. We've got to get the nameplate demonstrated for MOBIUS. Then we'll be able to easily do those comparisons and show the cost down. You recall that we did show a representative cost down curve in our investor deck recently. That is, we believe, a good representation of what we will get as a next step with MOBIUS, but we will certainly be able to confirm that once we have it fully commissioned and nameplate demonstrated.

Operator

The next question comes from Adam Kelsey with Titan Partners Group.

Adam Kelsey

John, I really enjoyed your comment about EVs being your North Star, but that there's potential beyond that. Would love to better understand how you balance your attention between the auto side as well as these emerging markets?

John Van Scoter

Yes, great question. I would say we are still primarily focused on the EV segment. But again, we're looking to these other newer markets where there is synergy from a system requirement standpoint, notably energy density, safety and cycle life. So other markets that don't have those kind of requirements that EV markets have, we're not spending time on those, but we are spending time where there's synergy.

Adam Kelsey

Great. And obviously, some of those markets like robotics, there's an educational process upfront. But I'd be curious from a technical and technology perspective, is there anything you're seeing that either builds a moat or helps you guys compete in those markets against any potential competitors?

John Van Scoter

Yes. It's really a great point, Adam. The relative battery knowledge in the EV market is much higher than it is in these other markets largely. So we're spending a lot of our time just educating the end OEMs around the value proposition for all solid-state batteries and specifically sulfide-based ones. We've gotten really good reception, but it is a relatively new topic for them. So we're exploring different system applications with these OEMs as ways to give them things that they can't do today with traditional LIB batteries. Weight and balance is a big deal, say, in humanoids and then payload differences say, in the military applications. So yes, we're kind of in the education phase right now of the art of the possible with all solid-state batteries in these new markets.

Adam Kelsey

Awesome. And I know it's still early days, but when we think about initial MOBIUS production, are you -- how are you thinking through these other potential markets and utilizing your capacity effectively and efficiently?

John Van Scoter

I believe that MOBIUS will become the core going forward. We'll continue to operate the batch line as long as there's demand for those -- for that product. But our objective is to, as soon as we can switch over to the MOBIUS line and primarily support customers with that line moving forward to get the learnings, to get the yield, to get the cost -- so then we can scale up to that 500 metric ton plant based on that continuous process in Korea rapidly.

Adam Kelsey

Awesome. And one final one for me. With respect to the reduced spend, it sounds like there are a few operational improvements. I'm just curious if there's anything you guys would like to call out or highlight.

Linda Heller

On the operational performance, a couple of things. We renegotiated some supplier contracts in terms of that, which yields benefits for multiple years. Those were significant for us, very important as we work down the unit cost for our electrolyte as well as just getting some efficiencies out of our capital expenditures working that through on our cash. So we did a very good job on those. So those are 2 of the biggest impacts, I would say, on that.

Operator

This concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to John Van Scoter for any closing remarks.

John Van Scoter

Thank you for joining the call today and for your interest in Solid Power. We look forward to updating you again next quarter.

Operator

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.