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DATE
Thursday, May 14, 2026 at 10 a.m. ET
CALL PARTICIPANTS
- Executive Chairman — David Somo
- Chief Financial Officer — Timothy W. Burns
- Vice President, Business Development — Jeff Christensen
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TAKEAWAYS
- Cash Burn -- $2.3 million from operating and investing activities, below the guided range of $2.6 million to $2.8 million.
- Cash and Equivalents -- $16.4 million as of March 31, 2026, with no debt and a "clean capital structure."
- Revenue -- No revenue recorded in the quarter; initial customer orders for prototypes anticipated to be small in size.
- Operating Expenses -- $3.7 million compared to $2.8 million in the prior year, mainly due to increased stock-based compensation and personnel costs.
- Net Loss -- $3.6 million compared to $2.7 million in the prior year period.
- Forecasted 2026 Cash Burn -- Expected at $10 million to $10.5 million, up from $9.6 million in 2025, driven primarily by increased headcount in sales and engineering.
- Sales Funnel -- Total sales opportunity pipeline reached $300 million, up from $200 million at the prior business update call.
- Customer Engagements -- Prototype units in progress for key customers in low and medium current solid state circuit breaker (SSCB) applications, including 800-volt data centers, energy storage, and industrial microgrids.
- Commercial Announcements -- Additional customer agreements and purchase orders anticipated in the next 3 to 6 months, with a project milestone for Stellantis expected by mid-year.
- Manufacturing Readiness -- "we are ready," with established foundry and packaging firm relationships supporting anticipated sales ramp and future capacity needs.
- Patent Portfolio -- 103 issued B-TRAN patents, with 50 issued outside of the United States; trade secrets employed for manufacturing process confidentiality.
- Key Strategic Efforts -- Ongoing discussions with potential strategic investors and multinational partners to drive commercialization and sales funnel expansion.
SUMMARY
- Operating expenses increased to $3.7 million in Q1 2026 compared to $2.8 million in 2025.
- The company is scaling sales and engineering teams.
- The sales opportunity pipeline reached $300 million, up from $200 million at the prior business update call.
- Cash and cash equivalents totaled $16.4 million at March 31, 2026.
- The company had no debt as of March 31, 2026.
The company stated that industry shifts to high-voltage DC architectures in AI data centers and energy infrastructure are expanding the addressable market for its B-TRAN technology. Management confirmed that multiple prototype deliverables and customer engagements remain on track, with anticipated commercial milestones and additional agreements expected within the next six months.
- Burns stated, "Our Q1 cash burn was below our guidance of $2.6 million to $2.8 million."
- Somo emphasized, Yeah. So I will take that 1, Jeff. We are at the cusp of a high voltage DC megatrend. Where the energy infrastructure across data centers, grid, energy storage, and industrial applications. Are at the early stages of transitioning from AC to high voltage DC systems. This aligns very strongly to the capabilities we have and benefits of our B-TRAN product, specifically in areas like solid state circuit breakers. As I mentioned at the beginning of my comments, it is not just a 1 year phenomenon. this is a multiyear secular megatrend. That will continue. it is just starting. and will continue through 2030 and beyond. So we expect that to expand the market opportunity for B-TRAN and the applications that we are targeting over that period of time.
- Somo said, "We have relationships with multiple foundries and packaging firms. They will be able to handle our sales ramp here over the next couple of years."
- Timothy W. Burns noted that higher forecasted 2026 cash burn is "due primarily to the hiring of additional sales and engineering personnel."
- Management highlighted that approximately 50% of the $300 million pipeline is from automotive applications, with projects under evaluation by both OEMs and tier one suppliers.
INDUSTRY GLOSSARY
- B-TRAN: A proprietary bi-directional bipolar junction transistor technology developed for highly efficient solid-state switching applications.
- SSCB (Solid State Circuit Breaker): An advanced circuit breaker leveraging semiconductor switches (such as B-TRAN) for rapid, bidirectional current interruption and intelligent control in high-voltage environments.
- SST (Solid State Transformer): A transformer using power electronics for voltage conversion and smart grid integration, enabling features like DC output and programmable control.
- OEM: Original Equipment Manufacturer; a company that produces parts or systems for integration into another company’s end products.
- AI Data Center: A data center optimized for artificial intelligence workloads requiring high-power rack densities and advanced power architectures.
Full Conference Call Transcript
David Somo: Thank you, Jeff. I appreciate everyone joining us today. I will provide an update on our commercial progress since the start of the first quarter, Afterward, I will turn things over to Timothy to discuss our financial results. We look forward to your questions after our remarks. First, our lead agent customer project for low current solid state circuit breakers or SSCBs continues to advance through product development and remains on track for prototype units or 800-volt AI data center and energy grid customer evaluations. The prototype units are expected to be available in the 2026. With initial low volume sales orders to support the prototype build. Beyond that initial project, we started 2 new projects with this customer.
1 for a medium current SSCB, designed for 800-volt DC data centers energy storage applications, EV charging, and industrial microgrids, and a second for a low current SSCB for smart industrial buildings. Second, we signed a letter of intent with an industry partner to co develop a B-TRAN enabled intelligent SSCB prototype for evaluation by a US hyperscaler in its development environment for the NVIDIA Rubin Ultra 800-volt DCAI data center power distribution system. Prototype delivery is targeted for the end of Q4 26. With an expected purchase order for the delivery of the prototype unit.
This prototype is also planned to be offered to additional US hyperscalers and other AI data center operators adopting the NVIDIA Rubin Ultra Rack architecture or comparable 800-volt DCAI data center, power distribution systems for evaluation. Third, we delivered initial next generation B-TRAN custom package samples development kits for evaluation to Stellantis for EV applications. We are on track to complete the remaining deliverables under our existing purchase order with Stellantis by mid 26. Fourth, we engaged new Asia based global suppliers of power solutions for the potential development of B-TRAN enabled SSCBs for use in solid state transformers or SSTs targeting 800-volt DC AI data centers energy storage systems, EV charging, and the energy grid.
SSTs represent a meaningful opportunity for B-TRAN and these are our first SSD specific customer engagements. Fifth, we engaged several multinational customers for the potential development of B-TRAN based SSCB's across AI data centers smart industrial building applications, energy storage systems, and the renewable energy grid. Sixth, strategic investment discussions with global market leading customers continue to be part of our commercial strategy. I have ongoing discussions with potential strategic investors and plan to continue to see those through. Reflecting this progress, our sales opportunity funnel increased to $300 million revenue opportunity today. Up from $200 million at the time of our investor business update call at the February.
These opportunities continue to diversify across AI data centers industrial, automotive applications, as well as across multiple geographies. While a growing funnel is encouraging, converting it into design wins production orders, and revenue is the top priority. We are focused on execution and working closely with customers to complete their product development and testing to advance projects through the funnel and into volume production orders and revenue. At the Advanced Power Electronics Conference in March, we met with approximately 30 companies that expressed interest in B-TRAN, during and following the conference. And some of those discussions have since progressed in the qualified sales funnel opportunities.
In addition, during my recent 2-week business trip in Asia, my second such trip to Asia this year, I highlighted that we initiated 2 new projects with our lead Asia customer, our first opportunities with SST customers and we saw strong interest in B-TRAN enabled solid state circuit protection applications spanning AI data centers, energy storage systems, grid infrastructure, and the industrial sector. Now I would like to briefly touch on the upcoming market inflection in the industry's transition of power architectures. We continue to see growing industry momentum in the adoption of next generation high voltage DC power architectures for AI data centers and grid infrastructure.
Importantly, the AI data center build out has driven extraordinary growth in GPUs, CPUs, and training chips. But the power systems delivering electricity to operate the next generation of those chips. Are now the limiting factor. And the industry is mobilizing to address it. Legacy 400- to 480-volt AC based data centers were designed for rack power levels of 10 to 50 kilowatts. Next generation AI workloads are pushing those requirements to 100 to 150 kilowatts in the near term and eventually beyond 500 kilowatts with some industry planning scenarios targeting 1 megawatt per rack by 2030. To support that scale, the industry is transitioning to higher voltage DC or 800-volt DC power architectures.
A shift NVIDIA has been actively driving through its GPU platform road map. We believe this transition is in its earliest stages and will expand demand for solid state circuit protection capable of handling bidirectional current flow microsecond fault detection, and intelligent control that traditional mechanical breakers were simply not designed to support. At the recent advanced power electronics conference, we presented a paper highlighting why solid state circuit breakers are essential for emerging 800-volt AI data center power distribution architectures and how B-TRAN effectively addresses the key design challenges customers face. Including power efficiency, controllability, fast fault response, power density, and system cost. Challenges that have made silicon carbide solutions a difficult fit for this application.
Building on this emerging market opportunity, we also added our first potential solid state transformer projects to the sales funnel, with prospective customers in Asia. Our addressable market opportunity is large and is expanding as the industry's power architecture transition unfolds across multiple markets. Shifting topics, our patent coverage spans North America, China, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, India, and Europe. All representing our priority patent coverage geographies. As a result of our continued innovation, our list of issued B-TRAN patents is now at 103 with 50 of those issued outside of The United States.
To safeguard our intellectual property further, we treat the double sided wafer process flow we developed to make our devices as a trade secret and do not disclose the identity of work under strict confidentiality with our wafer fabrication partners. So even if a competitor studied our patents, they would not have the know how to fabricate the device. In addition, to minimize the potential for infringement, we exclusively work with foundries, and packaging houses in countries that have a history of respecting intellectual property rights. In closing, commercial momentum continues to build with prototype progressing with our lead Asia customer, codevelopment of prototype units with an industry partner, for evaluation by a US hyperscaler, Stellantis deliverables progressing on schedule.
Our first opportunities for B-TRAN enabled SSTs, an engagement expanding with several new SSCB opportunities, with multinational customers. The industry's transition toward high voltage DC power architectures and AI data centers and energy infrastructure is expanding the opportunity for advanced solid state circuit protection that traditional mechanical breakers do not address. And B-TRAN is uniquely positioned to meet that need. Our focus remains on converting our expanding sales funnel and customer engagements into production orders, revenue, and long term shareholder value creation.
Analyst: The strategic priorities we have set are designed to achieve these goals. Now I would like to hand the call over to Tim Burns to review our financials.
Timothy W. Burns: Thank you, David, and good morning, everyone. Our first quarter 26 cash burn from operating and investing activities was $2.3 million compared to $2.1 million in 2025 and $2.2 million in the fourth quarter of last year. Our Q1 cash burn was below our guidance of $2.6 million to $2.8 million. We continue to manage expenses prudently and aggressively. We expect second quarter 26 cash burn to be approximately $2.5 million to $2.7 million with a full year 2026 cash burn of approximately $10 million to $10.5 million. This compares to a 2025 cash burn of $9.6 million. The higher forecasted cash burn in 2026 compared to 2025 is due primarily to the hiring of additional sales and engineering personnel.
Cash and cash equivalents totaled $16.4 million at 03/31/2026. Have no debt and a clean capital structure. Did not record revenue in the 2026. Initial orders from the companies evaluating our products for potential inclusion in their OEM products are expected to be small with order sizes increasing as customers progress through their design cycles perform product qualification, and build inventory for the commercialization of their B-TRAN based products. Operating expenses were $3.7 million in the first quarter 26 compared to $2.8 million in the 2025. Driven primarily by higher stock based compensation expense and personnel costs.
Stock based compensation expense increased in the 2026 due to equity award modifications under the transition services agreement with our former CEO, and inducement grants to our incoming CEO in the 2025. We expect operating expenses to increase modestly in the coming quarters due to growth in our sales and engineering teams to support our commercialization efforts as well as our growing number of customer engagements. We continue to expect some quarter to quarter variability in operating expenses, particularly research and development spending, due to the timing of semiconductor fabrication runs, product development, and other research and development activities, as well as hiring.
The timing of equity or grants investings and related noncash stock based compensation expense recognition, will also cause variability in our quarterly operating expenses as it has in the last 2 quarters. Net loss in the first quarter of 2026 was $3.6 million compared to $2.7 million in the 2025. At the March, we had 12.1 million shares outstanding, 1.46 million options and stock units outstanding and 2.24 million prefunded warrants outstanding. At 03/31/2026, our fully diluted share count was 15.8 million shares. At this time, I would like to open up the call for questions. Operator?
Operator: Thank you. At this time, we will be conducting our question and answer session. Investors can submit their questions within the meeting webcast by typing them into the Q&A button on the left side of your viewing screen. Analysts who publish research may ask questions on the phone line. For analysts to ask questions on the phone line, please press 1 on your telephone keypad. A confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press 2 if you wish to remove your question from the queue. It may be necessary to pick up your handset before pressing the star keys. 1 moment, please. While we poll for questions. Okay.
While we wait, I will turn this call back over to Mr. Jeff Christensen to read questions submitted to the webcast. Thank you.
Jeff Christensen: Thank you. Our first submitted question is if you could leave investors with 1 message today about why Ideal Power is a compelling investment opportunity at this stage of the company's development, what would it be?
David Somo: Yeah. So I will take that 1, Jeff. We are at the cusp of a high voltage DC megatrend. Where the energy infrastructure across data centers, grid, energy storage, and industrial applications. Are at the early stages of transitioning from AC to high voltage DC systems. This aligns very strongly to the capabilities we have and benefits of our B-TRAN product, specifically in areas like solid state circuit breakers. As I mentioned at the beginning of my comments, it is not just a 1 year phenomenon. this is a multiyear secular megatrend. That will continue. it is just starting. and will continue through 2030 and beyond.
So we expect that to expand the market opportunity for B-TRAN and the applications that we are targeting over that period of time.
Jeff Christensen: Thank you. Jeff, we are I am sorry. Yes. My next submitted question was any sense that electric vehicle recovery, mainly in Europe, is igniting interest in B TRAN?
David Somo: So in the our sales opportunities, we have multiple customers that are evaluating B-TRAN both across automotive OEMs like Stellantis and tier ones. Listening to some of the commentary from our peers and what I have seen in the market is that the current oil situation is driving a renewed interest in EVs. And that renewed interest could lead to increased sales volumes, which increases the need for B-TRAN on those programs that we have programs that we have with our customers.
Jeff Christensen: Thank you. The next submitted question is, please comment on how B-TRAN compares with Infineon's COOL sec JFET product?
David Somo: Yeah. So Infineon's COOLSEC JFET is a new form of a silicon carbide JFET device. Initially, there were silicon carbide MOSFETs. The comparison between B-TRAN here is first and foremost in the inherent bidirectional conducting and blocking capability of B-TRAN JFETs, like silicon carbide MOSFETs, require a back-to-back configuration. So at least 2 devices to be able to conduct and block in both directions compared to a single device for B-TRAN.
In addition, like I have heard during my recent tour with customers, where they are evaluating silicon carbide MOSFETs it becomes very difficult in medium and high current applications to share current and control the turn on and turn off of the devices and SSCB applications. is an area they cite and areas they cite as a strength for B-TRAN. Obviously, if we can reduce the component count, we can reduce the system size. And improve the power density. And reduce the cost of the overall system.
Jeff Christensen: Thank you. We have gotten questions submitted. So please continue to click that button to ask a question. We look forward to answering your questions. The next submitted question is please discuss where the company stands today in terms of manufacturing readiness.
David Somo: Yeah. So we are ready. We have relationships with multiple foundries and packaging firms. They will be able to handle our sales ramp here over the next couple of years. We also have a road map to support business over the long term. Supporting our forecasted capacity requirements while also providing significant cost reduction. So from a manufacturing perspective, we are in good shape.
Jeff Christensen: Thank you. Any additional color on the incremental improvements in the quality and quantity of the sales funnel? Additionally, what initiatives is Ideal Power undertaking to expand its sales funnel?
David Somo: Yeah. So I will take that 1. As I mentioned during my remarks, the sales funnel has increased by more than 50%. since the February and March call that we did. For the full year 2025 earnings. The rigor around it is really increased as we and I personally sit in biweekly funnel reviews with the sales team not only to look at the opportunities that are in there, but also understand what is being added to the funnel, where are we in customer development projects, How are things progressing? What can we do to speed up those projects by between our sales team and our applications engineering organization?
If there are any issues that come up, how do we resolve those quickly with customers to work towards keeping projects on track. And so I would say the funnel rigor has certainly improved. From the beginning of the year till now as we get a stronger handle on the opportunities going into the funnel, and we progress those opportunities through the funnel both through our sales team and our applications engineering team and regular engagements with customers.
Jeff Christensen: Thank you. Does Ideal Power still expect to complete the automotive qualification and reliability testing this summer?
David Somo: Yes. We continue to make progress towards completing automotive reliability testing. This summer.
Jeff Christensen: Thank you. And the other next question on the thing, what is the significance of the automotive qualification to ideal power?
David Somo: Yeah. So it is a requirement by automotive customers to deploy B-TRAN in their vehicles. So customers can proceed with product development while the qualification is taking place, but to put the products into vehicles to begin their field testing on the road, and then to release in-series models, they need to have the components automotive qualified.
Jeff Christensen: Thank you. You mentioned the automotive qualification completion this summer. The other submitted question was what other near term catalyst that the market should be looking out for in the next 3 to 6 months?
David Somo: Yeah. From that perspective, it is really what we have communicated earlier. So it is announcing additional agreements with customers whether they are custom development agreements or new programs that potentially for custom development it is also we are expecting to start getting purchase orders, so we will start to talk about those and announce those as they come in. But it is really all around commercial activity. We will continue to make progress with Stellantis. We are targeting again those deliverables here to be completed by midyear. So we are expecting commercial announcements here. Over the course of the next 3 to 6 months that will be meaningful for us.
Jeff Christensen: Thank you. Who is the main competition for B TRAN?
David Somo: So if we look at for the applications we are targeting, it would primarily be silicon carbide MOSFETs, FETs. IGBTs really are not considered in the space because of the losses. Associated with them. And when you are conducting the vast majority of the time, you want to minimize those losses.
Jeff Christensen: Thank you. And then what any other so let me look here. The what is the timeline for revenue?
David Somo: Any other comments about the timeline for meaningful revenue? So we are still on track with what we said in the business update call. Obviously, the projects we discussed on the call today will be expecting to contribute to that, but there is no change in our expectation.
Jeff Christensen: Okay. Thank you. Are there any key hires planned in sales and engineering in the coming quarters?
David Somo: So we have already actually added to the team this year. We added a sales director in Europe, Applications Engineering Support In Asia, We have actually added someone in the quality team that is assisting with our automotive qualification. But the team's largely intact. We will probably add just maybe a couple more positions over the balance of the year, but we have the core team in place to commercialize Thank you.
Jeff Christensen: Did how are things going with you mentioned Stellantis. Any other comment about other automakers?
David Somo: No. As part of the funnel, you know, if I look at the over $300 million in opportunities that we have, it is roughly split about 50 on a percentage basis between automotive and then general data center, general industrial applications. So we do have other projects that are under consideration or evaluation by either automotive tier ones or OEMs. Specifically around EV contactors, battery disconnect units.
Jeff Christensen: Thank you. Any other can you elaborate can you provide any other color on the strategic partner investment possibilities?
David Somo: Not much more depth that I can go into. At this time other than I have ongoing discussions, as I mentioned in my prepared remarks. From potential strategic investors. I have continued those discussions at a high level in some of the companies. And working to expand that to other areas. To consider what may be the best fit for our company. And a strong validation of B-TRAN in the market based on investment of somebody who has interest in adopting our products.
Jeff Christensen: Thank you. That concludes our question and answer session. David, do you have any closing remarks?
David Somo: Yeah. I just want to thank everyone who joined the call today. Along with our sales team I will be attending PCIM in Europe next month and I look forward to sharing updates with you in August regarding our progress as we execute on our plan to commercialize B-TRAN. In closing, I want to recognize the company's employees for their innovation, and continued hard work and thank them for their efforts. Operator, you may end the call.
Operator: Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference. All parties may disconnect, and have a great day.
