Innoviz Technologies Ltd. ($INVZ)

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and welcome to Innoviz's First Quarter 2026 Earnings Call. [Operator Instructions] I must advise you that this call is being recorded. I'd now like to hand over the call to our first speaker, Ada Menaker, Head of Investor Relations. Ada, please go ahead.

Good morning. I would like to welcome you to the Innoviz Technologies First Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. Joining us today are Omer Keilaf, Chief Executive Officer; and Eldar Cegla, Chief Financial Officer. I would like to remind everyone that this call is being recorded and will be available on the Investor Relations section of our website at ir.innoviz.tech. Before we begin, I would like to remind you that our discussion today will include forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties relating to future events and the future financial performance of Innoviz. Actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements made today speak only to our expectations as of today, and we undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise them. For a discussion of some important risk factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from any forward-looking statements, please see the Risk Factors section of our Form 20-F filed with the SEC on March 4, 2026. Omer, please go ahead.

Thank you, Ada, and good morning to everyone joining us for our first quarter earnings call. In the early months of 2026, we reached critical technical milestones with our new products, made progress on existing programs and continue to engage with new automotive and nonautomotive customers. We also announced our entry into the defense and homeland security market. Some of our first quarter NRE milestones, which can be variable, shifted forward in part due to customer requests for additional content. As a result, we generated revenues of $7.1 million. We believe we will be able to recognize the delayed revenues, all of which have POs in place in the coming quarters. Our outlook for the full year remains unchanged as we continue to target revenues of $67 million to $73 million. Our long-term outlook likewise remains unchanged. It is driven by our view that LiDAR is the most reliable method for digitizing the physical world and is indispensable to the rise of physical AI. Over the past year, we broadened our scope beyond automotive and introduced our smart products for physical AI applications. Just a few weeks ago, we announced our entry into the defense and homeland security market, a rapidly expanding and high-margin space that requires performance, reliability and resilience. We are excited about what's ahead, and we are already seeing strong traction here. Yesterday, Kela, a fast-growing defense company, announced its intent to field Innoviz LiDARs across their unified situational operations platform with the potential to scale the engagements in the coming years. I'm also happy to share that we have reached an agreement with another large holding group, which will offer Innoviz LiDARs in their defense and security solutions. We look forward to their announcement naming Innoviz as their partner soon. These 2 opportunities with the potential to generate significant InnovizSMART sales starting this year show that we are on the way to becoming a meaningful player in the defense sector. In automotive, we are advancing towards SOPs with customers, including VW Group, Mobileye and Daimler Truck. On Wednesday, we announced an agreement with a leading autonomous driving technology company to evaluate the development of enhancement on-sensor LiDAR perception capabilities. And last week, we signed an LOI with LOXO to integrate the InnovizTwo long-range into its Level 4 digital driver platform, subject to a successful completion of testing. Global interest in both Level 4 and Level 3 automation continue to expand. And there are a number of new opportunities arising at both traditional and new automotive OEMs and in areas such as heavy equipment and agriculture. On the technology and production front, we recently launched the InnovizTwo ultra-long range, which delivers up to 1 kilometer sensing, unlocking new capabilities across physical AI applications. The Fabrinet ramp is going well, and we are delighted to be able to tell you that we shipped a record number of units in the first quarter. Our shipments were about half of what we shipped in all of 2025, and we expect them to further accelerate in the second half of the year. In all, our products and customer pipelines are robust, and we are continuing to execute on our 2026 plan. In 2025, NREs made about approximately 70% of our revenues. Over time, we continue to expect NRE revenues to remain a stable part of our business on a dollar basis as our current programs reach SOP, and we expect to win additional programs in our existing and new end markets, including security and defense, we believe we will see a significant step-up in LiDAR revenues and gross margins. This will likely drive meaningful growth and a shift in our revenue mix away from NREs and towards LiDAR sales. Further, we believe that sales of LiDARs in nonautomotive physical AI applications will increase from approximately 1% in revenues in 2025 to up to 10% of our revenues in 2026. We expect this trend further to accelerate in the coming years as LiDAR plays a key role across a variety of physical AI applications. And now let's jump into the details. Starting with our entry into defense and homeland security. Last month, we announced that the InnovizSMART and the newly launched InnovizTwo ultra-long range are now available for defense and security applications. This is a rapidly growing market with premium pricing and higher margins. We believe that many existing sensing solutions face limitations in this space, and we see an opportunity for our high-performance LiDAR to address gaps in detection range, weather resilience and reliability. We're in active discussions with tens of potential customers and system integrators to provide holistic solutions, including sensors, perception and analytics. We have a dedicated team focused on expanding our position in this end market. In the defense and security space, we will focus on a broad variety of use cases. We think our LiDARs are ideally suited to applications such as perimeter intrusion and border surveillance, where they can offer reliable around-the-clock monitoring in all weather conditions. Traditional radar and camera systems can be easily evaded, especially in challenging or busy terrain and their weaknesses are well known, leaving them ripe for exploitation. Our LiDARs deliver a combination of long-range 3D detection, weather resilience and ease of deployment. In applications such as mapping and situational awareness, our dense point cloud provides rich 3D environmental data for mission planning and terrain mapping in complex environments. Our LiDAR's fine angular resolution at long range is designed to support detection and tracking of small, fast, low-reflectivity targets that are difficult for radar and cameras to detect, adding a new layer of security when applied to drone detection. Small drones are increasingly being flown at low altitudes where radar cannot detect them, literally under the radar. LiDAR adds a level of protection that is now just starting to be understood as crucial. Finally, the InnovizSMART and the InnovizTwo ultra-long range can be deployed in autonomous and defense systems, providing the perception, accuracy and reliability required for safe navigation and optical avoidance. We believe that our automotive-grade product performance, reliability and resilience can offer game-changing capabilities to these applications. Our efforts in defense and security are already starting to pay off. We are seeing robust early traction. Yesterday, Kela, a fast-growing Israeli defense company, announced its intent to field our LiDARs in deployments across its unified situational operations platform, including applications such as drone detection and perimeter security. Kela anticipates that the cooperation may scale in the coming years. In addition to Kela, we recently signed an agreement with a large holding group to incorporate Innoviz LiDARs into their defense and homeland security offerings. We look forward to their upcoming announcement that we will serve as their LiDAR partner. We have already received a prepayment, completed an installation and are excited about the opportunity to continue to work with this customer in the future. The intent in both of these collaborations is that our clients will utilize the combination of our long-range, short to mid-range and ultra-long range across a variety of applications. I'm tremendously encouraged by these partnerships, which we believe demonstrate the market's need for high-performance, reliable LiDAR solution and our product suitability for these important use cases. Let me update you on our automotive business. Our programs with our existing customers are progressing well. For our Daimler Truck program in collaboration with Torc, we are delivering units to support milestones through SOP. MOIA has announced that they will deploy the VW ID Buzz on the Uber platform in Los Angeles by the end of the year as well as with Beep in Orlando. Each of these vehicles is planned to have 9 InnovizTwo LiDARs, 3 long-range and 6 short to mid-range, delivering, driving meaningful content per vehicle. We expect the vehicle to be in multiple cities around the world by the end of the year, and we were happy to hear Mobileye say a few weeks ago that their robotaxi ecosystem has progressed significantly during the first quarter. Through the same Mobileye Drive Level 4 platform, we are supporting Holon and other customers. We are seeing strong momentum for this platform with potential for faster expansion than we expected initially. Additionally, the feedback from our customers on our sensors performance has been very positive. On Level 3, we are advancing on our SOPs with the Mobileye Chauffeur and programs such as with Audi. In addition to the advances on our existing programs, we recently entered into an agreement for a development program with a leading autonomous driving technology company to evaluate combining our LiDAR with on-sensor perception software for future autonomous vehicle programs. As autonomous vehicle programs advance towards series production, OEMs require that perception capabilities extend beyond the sensor compute stack and execute directly on the sensor. The on-sensor approach is designed to deliver standardized safety-critical outputs that operate independently of the vehicle broader architecture. Finally, we just announced an LOI with LOXO, a Swiss pioneer in autonomous last-mile delivery. LOXO and Innoviz are currently in advanced stages of testing and evaluation of InnovizTwo long-range LiDAR for LOXO's autonomous vehicle platform. Subject to the successful completion of this process, LOXO intends to nominate Innoviz as its LiDAR supplier with multiple LiDARs per vehicle. LOXO had previously evaluated other LiDARs, and we would potentially be replacing an FMCW LiDAR in this platform. LOXO's feedback thus far has been very positive, and we are excited to be working with them on the next generation of driverless delivery vehicles. Currently, there are several RFQs open for both Level 3 and Level 4 around the world, and we see robust interest in Level 4 from traditional and new automotive OEMs as well as industrial and agricultural customers. We are actively participating in multiple processes with a few decisions expected to be made in the second half of the year. For programs prior to 2028 SOP, we are offering our suite of InnovizTwo products. For programs with laser SOPs, we are also offering the InnovizThree, which we unveiled earlier this year and which includes an option for a color image along with the 3D data. The Holy Grail for automotive LiDAR is behind the winches installation that does not compromise vehicle design or in-carbon environment. The InnovizThree with its robust performance, smaller form factor, lower power consumption and reduced costs meets the OEMs most stringent requirements. The reception has been outstanding, and we believe that the InnovizThree is well positioned to win a number of these upcoming programs. To support our customers' needs, we've recently launched the InnovizTwo ultra-long-range or ULR LiDAR. This device delivers up to 1 kilometer sensing and higher point cloud density resolution. It is designed to set a new standard for wide area sensing, covering terrain, borders, runways and large installations with the precision and reliability of our automotive-grade LiDAR technology. The ULR addresses critical gaps in several applications by detecting and classifying small hazards at long ranges. It lets autonomous vehicles drive faster while maintaining safety, even for heavy trucks with longer stopping distances. It can also enable perimeter security systems to identify humans, vehicles and animals over vast areas while reducing false alarms. Additionally, its long range and high resolution can support drone detection and tracking. In all, the ULR would give customers in a wide range of industries, a tool that did not exist before and one that can perform reliably in harsh conditions. The first samples of the ULR has been delivered to key customers. Now let's talk about our outlook for '26. We are reiterating the '26 targets we set earlier this year. Driven by the ramp of LiDAR shipments and ongoing NRE payments, we expect to grow revenues year-over-year by approximately 27% to $67 million to $73 million. In 2026, we expect up to 10% of our revenues to come from nonautomotive physical AI applications, up from approximately 1% in 2025. We expect new NRE payments plan of $20 million to $30 million in addition to our existing plans, and we expect to add 2 to 3 new programs this year. And now I'll turn it over to Eldar to discuss our financials.

Thank you, Omer, and good morning, everybody. In the first quarter, revenues were $7.1 million as some of our revenues were pushed into the coming quarters due to NRE milestone variability. As Omer stated earlier, POs are in place for the delayed revenues, and we are already closing the gap. A significant contribution to revenues came from unit shipments in the quarter, which were a record high. We ended the quarter with approximately $60.1 million in cash, cash equivalents, short-term deposits and marketable securities on the balance sheet, and we continue to have no long-term debt. For the quarter, cash used in operations and capital expenditure was approximately $15.8 million, the quarter-over-quarter increase in cash used was influenced by higher working capital needs due to our ongoing production ramp at Fabrinet as well as the shift in NRE payments. Gross margins in the quarter was approximately minus 22% due to the revenue mix as well as lower absorption of fixed costs associated with unit production. Fixed cost absorption is expected to significantly improve later this year as volumes ramp, driving uplift in gross margins. For the full details of our operating expenses and stock-based compensation, please see the tables in our press release. Despite lower revenues than expected, our full year and long-term outlook remains unchanged due to the existing customer demand as well as orders from new customers. We view LiDAR as indispensable to the rise of physical AI, and we believe the new end markets we entered into will further expand our reach in this area. With that, I'll turn the call back to Omer for his closing remarks.

Thank you, Eldar. Before I wrap up the call and open for Q&A, I want to recap our recent developments. We are very excited about our entry into the fast-growing and high-margin defense and homeland security space, where our performance and reliability offer significant advantages. This end market is undergoing rapid expansion, and there is an enormous demand for new sensing technologies. We stand ready to address this demand. We are seeing strong traction with our offerings. And in addition to our engagement with Kela, we expect another large customer to make an announcement naming us soon. Our automotive business is progressing well, and we have products launching this year to support programs set for SOPs across Level 3 and Level 4. These include programs with VW Group and other customers on the Mobileye Drive and the Chauffeur platforms as well as with Daimler Truck and Torc. We announced a new development program to evaluate combining our LiDAR with on sensor perception software. We also announced an LOI with LOXO, where we're in advanced stages of evaluation for inclusion in their autonomous vehicle program, potentially replacing an FMCW LiDAR. We recently launched our InnovizTwo ULR LiDAR, which offers up to 1 kilometer range for a variety of applications. Our production capabilities continue to grow. And after record levels in the first quarter, we expect shipments to accelerate further. The outlook for the full year remains unchanged, and we are pleased with the operational business momentum we've seen so far this year. And with that, operator, let's begin the Q&A.

[Operator Instructions] Our first question will be from Mark Delaney with Goldman Sachs.

For the nonautomotive program that Innoviz has won, I'm hoping you can help us better understand how much revenue those programs will represent when they're fully ramped and how long that might take? And then if you could also talk about the profitability in the nonautomotive applications.

Yes, sure. Gladly. So this is based on the InnovizSMART solutions. Obviously, the ASPs are significantly higher than the ones that we are offering in the automotive space. And in terms of the ramp-up, part of the applications that we are offering today are solutions for drone detection. So really based on the application, there are -- I would say there are -- there is a high sense of urgency in some of those topics. So those could actually grow quite fast. As far as we understand today in the world, there is no viable solution for defense solution for drones. We are working very strongly with the different teams to offer the solution to solve this very difficult problem. And of course, we are also very proud to be able to provide a solution for this topic. Over the last month or 2, I don't think there was a day I did not get a call or 3 calls a day on this topic. This is a very important element. And I think that the sense of urgency related to that could drive fast adoption. In terms of the volume, then as you can understand, there is a high demand and the ASPs are relevant to the nonautomotive space, which are high.

Understood. Secondly, I was hoping you could give more of an update on the competitive environment that Innoviz is seeing in the vehicle market. It sounds from your comments like the LOXO engagement would potentially be a competitive win from a competitor. But can you speak more broadly on what Innoviz is seen in the competitive landscape, including with the top 5 auto OEM program where you had the SoDW that was complete. I think you were waiting for feedback as of the last report. And just more broadly, either with that OEM and more generally, what Innoviz is seeing from the competitive standpoint?

Sure. So I believe that the competitive landscape has not changed. Today, there are less and less solutions offered by different companies. There is also the geopolitical discussion related to that. When it comes to a solution that can be set well within the design of the vehicle behind the windshield. I'm not familiar with a solution that is optimized as InnovizThree. I believe that on that front, we are definitely in the lead. When it comes to robotaxis, et cetera, so there are platforms where we see the desire of some of the platforms to move away from spinners to directional sensors. And InnovizTwo is a very strong offer in terms of our performance, our readiness our full portfolio of short to mid-range, long range and now the ultra-long range. So I think that on that matter, we are also in a very strong position. There are several programs that we are competing on. I think that in all of those, we are in a very strong position, and we are waiting to see how they are making progress.

And just specifically to that top 5 auto OEM where you've had the SoDW, any more color you can share on when you hear back? And if you think you're going to ultimately get a series production award?

No, there is no update to that specific program. There are many other programs that we are making good progress with. I think that generally, Level 4 programs are moving faster than Level 3. But even on Level 3 opportunities, we see that when programs are designed for behind the windshield, this is where we're seeing a lot of interest and good feedback from customers.

Okay. And just lastly for me, you mentioned some timing elements of NRE revenue that affected 1Q. Any more color you can share around how the scope of those programs change? It sounds like you have to do more work, but the timing of when you're going to be able to recognize revenue is a little bit more extended. But if you could share a little bit more around what's going on there, that would be helpful. And just confirming, do you expect to get all of that back this year? Or would some of that be beyond '26?

First, I'll address the second question. So we expect to be able to meet all of our targets for milestones this year. This specific milestone is actually related to an ask from the OEM to pull in some of the activities that were planned for later because of the sense of urgency of the specific program that we are working on. That led to additional tasks that were added that went beyond the quarter. We have already made deliveries on that milestone, and we are working on other milestones for the rest of the year. And I believe that we'll be able to complete all of them within the year.

[Operator Instructions] Our next question is from [ Ryan Casey from AmerX ].

Great update. So I just wanted to ask a question about what we consider programs because it feels like you're announcing quite a few customer wins and opportunities. But what are we to think about in terms of program? Is that something that's very long ranging and maybe tied to automotive specifically, but can we dig into what program means in terms of your goals?

Sure. So we're referring to programs where we have an agreement, a yearly planning of ramp-up, primarily in the automotive space. We have also programs where we are working on trucks and basically vehicles that are going to be on ground, whether it also could be agriculture related or construction. Those are mostly related to automotive space.

Okay. Okay. So automotive and maybe potentially mining and agriculture, something kind of sort of vehicles and vehicle count. Great. There's been a lot of discussion about the addition of color into solutions, tell me how important color is or color is really for a specific market like smart cities or some other specific vertical in your view?

Sure. I mean sensor fusion has been used for a very long time. We introduced color in InnovizThree early this year, as you probably recall from our last earnings when we actually showed a video live from InnovizThree with a color point cloud. From our perspective, the decision to integrate color into InnovizThree comes from our desire to optimize the solution for behind the windshield integration. Currently behind the windshield are hosting cameras. And behind the windshield, it's a packaging problem. So from that regard, we decided to include color within the LiDAR. So the solution would be more integrated. In nonautomotive solutions, that level of packaging is, I would say, probably less of a concern. But of course, we can offer color within the LiDAR for other applications as well.

Okay. Terrific. And then just sort of one question, one final question about autonomous trucking. It sounds like in talking to people in the industry that there may be 2 types of trucks, sort of this concept of like a lead truck and follow trucks and that maybe their LiDAR configurations would be separate. Do you view the market as having 2 primary form factors? Or do you think most trucks will be equipped with the same LiDAR counts and technical specs, I guess?

Well, eventually, the truck programs that we're involved with are related to long-haul autonomous driving. The count of LiDARs is, of course, related to the geometry of the vehicle in terms of providing it zero blind spot configuration. Usually, there is a mix between short to mid-range, long range and ultra-long range in some cases. I think that they don't vary that much between the different players.

Okay, all right. Well, it was a great quarter with a lot of exciting update. Looking forward to more on the coming quarters.

Our next question is from Colin Rusch from Oppenheimer.

Can you please talk a little bit about the evolution of the competitive landscape? Obviously, there's a lot of innovation happening right now, and you guys have done a lot as well. I'm just curious about consolidation in the market, some of the functionality that's being rolled out, your ability to start looking at LiDAR with color integration capabilities and how you see that kind of segmentation starting to happen amongst some of the leaders in the space?

Sure. Again, as I said earlier, eventually, the LiDAR space is still evolving. And over the course of the last 10 years, you've seen LiDARs come from 50 meters to 1 kilometer and resolution in several orders of magnitude improving, cost being reduced, new features are being introduced and LiDARs are going to serve many, many sectors, whether it's automotive or defense or smart cities, ITS and basically, physical AI is overlapping everything now. LiDARs will continue to evolve. You'll see smaller form factors, you'll see cost reduction. You'll see integration into the LiDAR with compute such as we are working now on this new program where we are adding brain into the LiDAR I think there are many directions where LiDARs can evolve into. I think that it depends on the market that you are focusing on and understanding the customer needs in each of them. Where we see -- where we saw recently a big gap was in the defense market, and this is why we believe that we can fill that gap and actually help in a way. In the automotive space, we saw an opportunity to improve our offering by including color into the LiDAR in terms of solving behind the windshield integration. I'm sure there are many applications where sensor fusion is helpful. I can also talk about perimeter security for drones where you see sensor fusion between LiDAR and radar and sometimes LiDAR and camera. So I think we're still in the early days where you're going to see 3D sensing going to be incorporated in physical AI, physical AI is many, many things. And that will be -- you'll see different companies trying to optimize different areas. I think that so far, Innoviz has demonstrated the best optimization when it comes to the automotive space. We're starting to do so in the defense and homeland security. And obviously, we'll continue to do so on other markets as we see where we can provide our value in the best way.

Excellent. And then I guess on the cost side, as you start to see some scale and some more maturity in the space, I'm wondering about the opportunity to start driving cost structure to more optimal levels. Obviously, you guys are getting a lot of performance out of the same materials or a lot of performance improvement. I'm just curious about actual device cost reduction and the cadence of that, if there's an opportunity to accelerate it at all.

Yes, sure. I mean, look, between the first generation, even before InnovizOne, every step or every generation, we were able to produce a very significant cost reduction between InnovizOne and InnovizTwo, it was around 70% cost reduction. Between InnovizTwo and InnovizThree, there is another nice step of roughly 40% or 35%.

35%.

35%. And obviously, there is still much room to go. So when you think about LiDAR fundamentally, there's nothing expensive in the LiDAR. You're talking about an emitter, a diode, a receiver, which we are using silicon-based because we are using 905 and a processor where we developed our own ASIC. So there's nothing fundamentally expensive about LiDAR. We're still in the early days and volumes will increase, industrialization will help in terms of production and LiDARs will continue to be cheaper and continue to bring more value.

Our next question is from Jash Patwa from JPMorgan.

Congratulations on all the progress. I was wondering if you'd be able to share some early learnings from the initial ID Buzz test runs in L.A. Any insights you can provide on the role LiDAR is playing in driving decisions, specifically whether it's being used as a primary sensor or more as a backup, that would be great. And I have a follow-up.

Sure. What I can say is that the progress is really -- I mean, the feedback we hear is that it's going very well. And we're hearing, I would say, good indications on growth from this platform and things that we hope to conclude soon. There are many tests in many areas, including in Oslo in terms of tough weather conditions, snow, et cetera. We've conducted winter testing with the group. As per my understanding from Volkswagen, they see the ID Buzz as a very important asset on their future, and they talk about it on any event. Just the other day, I was in an event and the discussion on ID Buzz from the VW was the centerpiece. We are already talking about the next platform extension, et cetera. So it looks like this is a very important, I would say, part of VW plans for the future. Have I missed -- did I answer your question?

Yes. No, I think in the...

Yes. Okay. Sorry. Yes, on the regard of the LiDAR, yes, the LiDAR is a very critical -- it's a critical component in the sensor suite. Mobileye is doing the platform software, and you're probably familiar with their architecture when you have the camera and the LiDAR incorporated used as redundancy to each other. So the LiDAR is a very critical component, both the long range and the short range.

Understood. No, that's very helpful color. And I appreciate all the discussion on InnovizSMART and the end markets thereof in the prior questions. But I was curious if you are working -- currently working with any humanoid robotics developers -- it seems like that could represent another long-term volume growth opportunity. And wondering if you could share any additional color on the technical or specification requirements needed to gain traction in this market and whether there are any unique nuances compared to your core automotive or industrial use cases today?

Sure. I would say we are probably -- I think that any device with machine vision would benefit from a 3D sensor. As a company, we are trying to find the markets that are at the growth stage in terms of our ability to benefit from our mature product. Of course, we are always in discussions with next generation, next market to understand the needs and understand how potentially next generation could provide value to them. In terms of where our -- I said earlier on the call that we have over 100 open opportunities right now with the smart application, maybe 150. Those are focused on applications that are already in ramp and we -- and there is a sense of urgency around. The humanoid market is interesting, but I think it's still in a very early stage. But again, whenever that market would grow, we will -- we are keeping an eye on its needs, and we believe that we'll be able to provide it with the best solution.

There are no further questions. I'm handing the call over to Omer for closing remarks.

Thank you very much for attending our earnings. I believe that our entrance to the defense and homeland security market would allow the company to share with you more and more updates. Also on the automotive space, we're making good progress, especially when it comes to the InnovizThree. And we hope that we'll be able to share with you some of that news soon. So thank you very much, and see you next time.