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Date
Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026 at 12 a.m. ET
Call participants
- Chairman and CEO — Ziyu Shen
- Chief Operating Officer — Peter W. Cirino
- Chief Financial Officer — Phil Zhou
Takeaways
- Revenue -- $305 million for the quarter, an all-time high and up 13% year over year.
- Gross profit -- $64 million for the quarter, up 11% year over year, with a gross margin of 21%.
- Operating income -- $7 million for the quarter, achieving two consecutive quarters of positive operating results.
- Adjusted EBITDA -- $22 million for the quarter, a significant increase from $10 million in the prior-year quarter.
- Operating expenses -- $57 million for the quarter, a 19% reduction year over year; full-year operating expenses dropped 24% to $216 million.
- Sales of goods revenue -- $270 million for the quarter, up 27% year over year.
- Antora, Monado, and Pikes series shipments -- Volumes increased 62% year over year and made up 74% of goods revenue.
- Services revenue -- $33 million for the quarter, reflecting the company's project delivery schedule rather than demand softness.
- Software license revenue -- $2 million for the quarter, with timing noted as the primary driver.
- Unit shipments -- 910,000 units during the quarter, bringing total installed base to approximately 11 million, up 36% year over year.
- OEM coverage -- Solutions now installed in vehicles for 18 OEMs and 28 brands worldwide.
- Antora series milestone -- Antora shipments crossed 1 million units cumulative in 2025, increasing its share within total shipments.
- Gross margin outlook (2026) -- Phil Zhou said, "a range of about 15% to 18%, and that is our calculated number after our internal guidance."
- 2026 revenue guidance -- Targeting $1 billion to $1.1 billion, equating to 20%-30% year-over-year growth.
- Profitability commitment -- Management stated the intention to "maintain positive operating income throughout 2026."
- Major capital raises -- Raised $456 million from Geely and entered a convertible bond agreement up to $150 million with ATW Partners in recent weeks.
- Strategic partnerships -- Extended relationship with Volkswagen Group in Latin America and advanced core solution deployments with Google Automotive Services.
- Global expansion -- Continued investments in R&D hubs in Germany and infrastructure in South America and Southern Southeast Asia, supported by new capital.
- Operational transformation -- Company is shifting to a physical AI technology provider, with demonstrated ability to deliver in-vehicle intelligent agent solutions at scale.
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Risks
- Phil Zhou stated, "Some reports show an estimate of a 20% decrease, or even worse, of auto wholesale in Q1 year over year, and part of the reason is also triggered by electronic component cost inflation, especially on the memory side."
- The company anticipates lower gross margins for 2026, with Phil Zhou guiding to "a range of about 15% to 18%" due to rising memory and component costs across the industry.
- Management noted that first-quarter seasonality results in a "softer period for automotive consumption," which may impact near-term revenue visibility.
Summary
ECARX (ECX 5.08%) reported record quarterly revenue, gross profit, and operating income, marking a strategic inflection point as it continues its transformation into a global automotive AI technology provider. The company set clear guidance for 2026, projecting 20%-30% top-line growth and a commitment to maintain positive operating income, even as it prepares for greater gross margin volatility amid expected industry cost pressures and seasonal demand declines. Recent capital infusions from Geely and ATW Partners will directly support the build-out of global R&D and delivery infrastructure, positioning ECARX to drive further technology adoption with global OEM partners.
- Management attributes margin resilience to "strong execution in cost optimization and value engineering strategy execution," yet acknowledges the necessity for ongoing discipline to manage inflationary pressures in 2026.
- The Antora platform, validated by reaching over one million units shipped and securing European safety and privacy certifications, is the foundation of new business wins in Europe and Latin America, including expanded deployments with Volkswagen Group.
- Integration of ECARX technology in new Geely and Volvo models across international markets demonstrates accelerating platform adoption and operational scalability.
- The ongoing global compliance buildout, including the new Singapore headquarters and regulatory certification pursuits in the US, expands addressable geographies for future OEM business.
- Strategic priorities for the next phase emphasize global partnerships, sustained investment in AI and computing platform innovation, and maintaining cost efficiencies even as the business scales.
Industry glossary
- Antora platform: ECARX's flagship in-vehicle AI computing platform supporting high-performance infotainment and cockpit systems, compatible with global automaker requirements.
- Cloudpeak software stack: Proprietary ECARX vehicle OS and application layer enabling intelligent, connected cockpit and agentic experiences.
- Flyme Auto: A smart vehicle operating system, referenced as compatible with ECARX hardware and solutions.
- OEM: Original Equipment Manufacturer; in this context, automotive companies integrating ECARX technologies at the factory level.
Full Conference Call Transcript
Ziyu Shen: Thank you. Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. ECARX Holdings, Inc. is transforming vehicles into seamlessly integrated information, communication, and transportation devices. To realize this vision of becoming a leading AI technology provider in the automotive industry, we must proactively navigate today's dynamic regulatory and market environment, ensuring we remain compliant and maintain growth while pushing the boundaries of automotive intelligence globally. By diversifying both our geographic revenue base and our solution portfolio, we are building ECARX Holdings, Inc. into a robust, compliant, and, most important, a truly global business. The fourth quarter was a critical inflection point, and marks the start of our next phase of sustainable, profitable growth.
We delivered net income of $2.8 million, adjusted EBITDA of $22 million, and operating income of $7 million, marking our second consecutive quarter of positive results as revenue hit a historical high of $305 million, up 13% year-over-year. Gross profit was $64 million, up 11% year-over-year, with a gross margin of 21%. These results are a direct reflection of the execution of our lean operating strategy, which continues to deliver a resilient recovery in gross margin, enhance R&D efficiency, and optimize operating expenses despite several challenges posed by patent policy and the global semiconductor supply chain. We remain firmly on track to sustain this strong and profitable momentum into 2026.
Our momentum is being fueled by two distinct engines that are allowing us to unlock growth opportunities from existing and new partnerships. First, our computing platforms continue to drive strong sales growth for best-selling models, allowing us to deepen the penetration rate of our solutions across our partner vehicle lineups and anchor the stability of our core business. Notably, shipments of our Antora series reached the 1 million unit milestone in 2025, underscoring the platform's market leadership. With the concentration of Antora shipments increasing within our total shipments, our vertical integration capability allows us to capture greater value and structurally enhance our long-term profitable growth trajectory.
Secondly, our globalization strategy continues to amplify our unique value proposition as a core technology partner worldwide, demonstrating the global repeatability and scalability of our solutions to potential and existing partners. Our deepened partnership with Volkswagen Group in Latin America is a key milestone in this journey, demonstrating how the Antora platform is setting a global standard for intelligent cockpits and driving our international expansion. This agreement utilizes our platform to meet diverse market needs, with the high-performance Antora 1000 for online brands that integrates our Cloudpeak software stack and Google Automotive Services, and the effective Antora 500 for entry-level segments.
This highlights how our core technology, already proven in the popular launch of Geely Galaxy EX5 and Volvo EX3, can seamlessly scale across diverse brands and international markets. This flexibility showcases how we vertically integrate to address the evolving needs of leading automakers on a global scale. Looking ahead to 2026 and beyond, we are fully prepared for this next phase of growth. Our future strategic priorities as we progress will focus on three key pillars. First, we will continue to drive our globalization strategy and develop broader global strategic partnerships, continuing to leverage our cutting-edge, cost-effective solutions.
These existing partnerships are a blueprint to demonstrate the capability and scalability of our physical AI architecture, and they will allow us to further strengthen partnerships with significant commercial value and drive an increase in overseas revenues. We are on the path to transforming our business into even more of a truly global technology leader, where we have set targets to meaningfully increase our share of total revenue from international markets by the end of the decade. Second, we will continue to invest in our long R&D roadmap and development of next-generation computing platforms, intelligent driving solutions like Skyline Pro to drive high-performance AI computing power, and in-vehicle AI large models.
By driving the industry transition from feature-centric to intelligence-centric experiences, we will maintain our leadership position and propel our business toward high-value software and AI services not only for automotive applications, but also adjacent sectors like robotics. Third, we will continue to strengthen our lean operating strategy and strategic execution to sustain profitability. Our transition to an automotive AI technology provider allows for greater platform modularity, which drives R&D efficiency and sustained profitability. Our target for 2026 is to continue to generate meaningful annual revenue growth and maintain positive operating income throughout 2026.
Moreover, we raised nearly $200 million in recent months from partners including Geely and ATW Partners, a powerful endorsement of our global growth strategy, technology leadership, and proven ability to capitalize on accelerating demand. This additional capital will support the build-out of our R&D and engineering hub in Germany and infrastructure across key growth markets in South America and Southern Southeast Asia, providing us with R&D delivery and supply chain capabilities to fuel our global expansion. With a strong finish to 2025, a growing suite of innovations and accelerating global expansion, and the first two quarters of profitable growth, we are confident in our ability to capture the opportunities ahead as the automotive industry continues its transformation.
I will now pass the call over to Peter W. Cirino, who will go through the operating results of the quarter in more detail.
Peter W. Cirino: Thank you, Ziyu. Good morning, everyone. In the fourth quarter, we made strong progress executing our strategic priorities as we continue our global expansion, deepen key partnerships, and execute on our R&D roadmap. Our ability to execute on complex global programs is becoming a defining competitive advantage. During the quarter, we continued to intentionally increase shipment volumes to meet accelerating market demand, shipping about 0.91 million units. This brings the cumulative total number of vehicles equipped with ECARX Holdings, Inc. technology to approximately 11 million units, up 36% from last year and a direct reflection of the increasing recognition our reliable and cutting-edge solutions are receiving globally. Today, we proudly serve 18 OEMs across 28 brands worldwide.
Our global expansion remains a core focus. In Q4, we made significant progress. Our partnership with Volkswagen Group continues to progress smoothly. Both sample development and delivery continue to consistently meet all targets and exceed expectations, opening the door for deeper collaboration. We are excited about the opportunities that will come from our growing European pipeline. Our ability to strategically execute these programs demonstrates our world-class engineering delivery and project management capabilities on a global scale. This expertise provides a solid foundation to capitalize on future large-scale revenue opportunities across EMEA, the Americas, and the emerging markets.
As we execute on these priorities, our global capabilities are gaining greater visibility and exposure, helping us build a robust overseas business development pipeline that is growing substantially. This expansion directly supports the long-term goals Ziyu mentioned earlier, with our target to generate 50% of our total revenue from overseas markets by 2030. Our technology continues to power some of the most exciting, increasingly popular new vehicles in the market. During the quarter, the Pikes computing platform and Cloudpeak cross-domain software stack powered the next-generation AI cockpit experience for the Geely Galaxy M9, showcasing our core strengths in developing solutions from the ground up and enabling the delivery of in-vehicle AI agents at scale.
As this model gained significant traction among customers, global automakers can increasingly see how our solutions can drive sales with their differentiated experience. This solution was replicated in the Lynk & Co 07 and 08 EM-P, further expanding its global visibility and adoption. Additionally, the highly sought-after Geely EX5 also launched in the UK during the quarter, with the AI-enhanced Antora 1000 and Cloudpeak solutions integrated, marking the start of the large-scale deliveries of these solutions in core European markets and another milestone in our global expansion. Crucially, the Antora platform has obtained key safety and privacy certifications for the European market entry, providing us with the foundation to drive deployments across Europe and engage with automakers in the region.
Our solutions are increasingly being adopted by global automakers across different markets, validating their competitiveness, seamless adaptability, and reliability. They are compatible with Flyme Auto and Google Automotive Services, and will help accelerate AI-driven, intelligent in-vehicle experiences across multiple vehicle segments and markets worldwide. This sustained demand has allowed us to maintain a leading market share with over 11 million units installed as of December 31, 2025. Innovation remains at the core of our strategy and forms the basis of our full-stack technological leadership.
At CES last month, we demonstrated the strategic versatility of our portfolio, showcasing solutions for scalable UI, agentic and agent-to-agent AI, high-end computing intelligent cockpits, and next-generation fusions of cockpits and assisted driving and parking that accelerate and address the evolving needs of global automakers. A key highlight was a working demo of our Cloudpeak software stack running side by side on two different computing platforms powered by the latest generations of SiEngine and Qualcomm chips. Through seamless integrations with Google Automotive Services, these solutions provide automakers with the flexibility to select their optimal hardware foundation while ensuring a consistent experience.
Our technological leadership now unifies critical domains into a seamless, high-value competitive advantage that spans across the entire value chain, from hardware such as chips and computing platforms, to software, including operating systems and AI services. This vertical integration allows us to provide automakers with high-value, cost-effective turnkey solutions that can be rapidly integrated across models and geographies, and significantly reduce time to market. Our leadership is supported by a resilient strategic supply chain that acts as a critical competitive barrier. Along with our Fuyang intelligent manufacturing facility, our global partnerships with Samsung and Monolithic Power leverage our combined global R&D capabilities to establish an intelligent industrial ecosystem focused on system integration and platform adoption.
Together, they not only secure our supply chain, they accelerate our ability to capitalize on opportunities in the automotive and embodied intelligence sectors. Finally, we continue to aggressively push our global compliance platform to enable our transformation into a truly international business. We are rapidly operationalizing our Singapore headquarters, which will be coming online soon and will act as our central hub for global IP, R&D, and treasury activities. Currently, we are working to obtain the relevant regulatory certifications in the US to engage with US automakers and further expand our addressable market. These steps will ensure we can serve our partners in any market, backed by a delivery system that already is verified by leading automakers around the globe.
With that, I will now turn the call over to Phil Zhou, who will review our financial results and provide guidance as we look forward to both the first quarter and full year 2026.
Phil Zhou: Thank you, Peter, and hello, everyone. The 2025 period represents a strategic inflection point in our company's evolution. Through disciplined execution and focused innovation, we have successfully navigated complex macroeconomic headwinds to deliver our second consecutive quarter of positive operating income and EBITDA, a powerful testament to the resilience of our business model and our clear path towards long-term profitability. Top-line revenue for the fourth quarter reached an all-time high of $305 million, representing 13% year-over-year growth and exceeding both our guidance and market expectations. This resilient growth, achieved despite persistent macroeconomic headwinds, was primarily driven by strong customer demand for our core computing platforms.
This strong finish to 2025 enables us to achieve the double-digit annual revenue growth target we set for 2025, with full-year revenue reaching $848 million, a 10% increase over 2024. Breaking this down further, sales of goods revenue reached $270 million, a remarkable 27% year-over-year increase. The impact of our in-house development strategy is clearly visible, with shipments of our Antora, Monado, and Pikes series increasing by 62% year-over-year during the quarter. These advanced platforms contributed 74% of the total sales of goods revenue, demonstrating our technological differentiation. In our services business, revenue reached $33 million, while software license revenue stood at $2 million. Both areas reflect strategic project timing considerations rather than underlying demand challenges.
Now turning to our profitability metrics. Despite facing a global supply shortage for hardware and components, particularly in storage, and significant cost pressures, we delivered an impressive margin performance. Gross profit increased about 11% year-over-year to $64 million. Gross margin was 21% for the quarter. This performance demonstrates our strong operational resilience and disciplined cost management. Our lean operating strategy continues to yield significant efficiency gains. Operating expenses decreased by 19% to $57 million for the quarter. For the full year, operating expenses fell 24% to $216 million. Most importantly, we achieved these efficiencies while simultaneously driving global expansion and exceeding critical R&D milestones. Our operational performance speaks to a fundamental transformation.
Operating income reached $7 million during the quarter, a 155% improvement year-over-year. Adjusted EBITDA was $22 million during the quarter, a significant increase from $10 million in Q4 last year. Beyond the numbers, these results underscore the tangible outcome of our strategic transformation into a technology-driven, globally competitive organization. Turning to the balance sheet, we took several significant steps to fortify our capital position, providing us with the flexibility to execute our global expansion and drive our R&D roadmap. In recent weeks, we successfully signed a convertible bond financing agreement of up to $150 million with ATW Partners and raised $456 million from our strategic partner Geely.
This is a powerful endorsement of our global growth strategy, leadership, and long-term growth prospects. Starting this quarter, to enhance transparency and provide better visibility, we are initiating a formal guidance framework that aligns our financial disclosures with the global nature of our expanding business. For full-year 2026, we expect to drive total revenue in the range of $1 billion to $1.1 billion, representing a year-over-year increase of 20% to 30%. Furthermore, we are committed to maintaining positive operating income throughout 2026, underscoring the impact of our lean operating strategy. For 2026, we anticipate seasonal fluctuations typical of our industry. Consistent with historical patterns, the first quarter represents a softer period for automotive consumption following the fourth-quarter peak.
However, it is important to contextualize this seasonality with our full-year outlook. Our full-year order pipeline remains robust and aligns with our growth targets. We have proactive cost management strategies in place to mitigate margin pressure. The underlying demand drivers for our core automotive technologies continue to strengthen. Most importantly, despite a typical first-quarter seasonality, we maintain full confidence in our ability to navigate these near-term dynamics and achieve our full-year revenue and profitability targets. In closing, our 2025 performance represents more than just strong financial results. It demonstrates the successful execution of our strategic transformation. Our progress is a testament to our team's tireless focus on operational excellence and technological innovation.
By consistently meeting each milestone, they have been critical in building a sustainable foundation that makes our long-term growth trajectory possible. With that said, I would like to take the opportunity now to thank the investment community, as I will conclude my time at ECARX Holdings, Inc. with this release. I am confident that the company will continue to thrive to ever higher heights, and I look forward to following its progress as I venture to new opportunities. That concludes our remarks today. I would now like to hand the call back to the operator to begin a Q&A session.
Operator: Thank you. If you would like to ask a question, you will need to press 1-1 on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press 1-1 again. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. Thank you. We will now take our first question. This is from the line of Wei Huang from Deutsche Bank. Please go ahead.
Analyst: Wei Huang, Deutsche Bank: Hello. Thank you for taking my question, and congratulations on the strong set of results. My first question is regarding your 2026 guidance. Can you give us a bit more color on your ASP and margin outlook for the year? It seems like general demand so far has been impacted by the weakening of government-supported policies. What is your outlook for the rest of the year? Thank you.
Phil Zhou: Hey, Mr. Huang. I am happy to address your question. For the guidance for full-year 2026, we expect to drive total revenue in a range of $1 billion to $1.1 billion, representing a year-over-year increase of 20% to 30% under the macroeconomic headwinds you just mentioned. In Q1, it is true that the overall automotive market is impacted by policy and end-user demand shrinking. Some reports show an estimate of a 20% decrease, or even worse, of auto wholesale in Q1 year-over-year, and part of the reason is also triggered by electronic component cost inflation, especially on the memory side. However, we have good momentum.
We delivered a very strong Q4 2025 and full year, and we will move our momentum into 2026. We have actions in place to mitigate the potential challenges and risks. Q1 is a low season, but we have full confidence to deliver a solid full-year 2026.
Analyst: Wei Huang, Deutsche Bank: Thank you. A bit of a follow-up on that: you also mentioned the rising memory costs, which are expected to further increase going into 2026. Can you comment on the impact on margins for the year?
Phil Zhou: As you can read from our financial reports, in 2025 we delivered a pretty good margin performance. Especially in Q4, we were able to maintain or even improve our hardware gross margin consistently. That is due to our strong execution in cost optimization and value engineering strategy execution. Moving to 2026, along with the industry-wide cost inflation, we still need to execute well in terms of cost management. We will collaborate closely with our customers on the industry-wide cost inflation as well. On pricing strategy, we will drive very reasonable pricing actions to offset and mitigate the challenge.
In terms of the total gross margin outlook for 2026, I would say a range of about 15% to 18%, and that is our calculated number after our internal guidance.
Analyst: Wei Huang, Deutsche Bank: Thank you. That is very clear. And my last question is: can you provide us an update on your latest progress with foreign OEMs?
Peter W. Cirino: Hi, Wei. Let me address that question. As Ziyu mentioned in his comments, ECARX Holdings, Inc. is positioning itself as a global physical AI technology provider to the automotive industry. Early in 2025, we announced our first major global win with a European OEM, Volkswagen, to support business in Latin America. In the fourth quarter, we extended our partnership with Volkswagen Group and announced another win to take the Antora platform across additional vehicle lines in Volkswagen Latin America, including our collaboration with Google. Currently, as we look across the market in Europe, we have a broad level of significant opportunities that are emerging from our engagement with our European partners.
We certainly hope that as we move into next year, this pipeline will progress well, and we will see additional wins that we can discuss and that will contribute to our revenue profile in the future. I would say our global expansion is going quite well, and we have these two very significant and tangible wins for the Volkswagen Group.
Analyst: Wei Huang, Deutsche Bank: Thank you. There are no more questions. Congratulations again on the great set of results.
Operator: Thank you all for participating, and you may now disconnect. Speakers, please stand by.
