SES AI Corporation reported its fourth‑quarter and full‑year 2025 results, posting $4.6 million in revenue for the quarter and $21 million for the year—an increase of ten‑fold from the $2 million reported in 2024. The company’s revenue growth was largely driven by a surge in its Energy Storage Systems (ESS) segment, while a significant portion of the 2025 revenue—$13.6 million—originated from one‑time service contracts with Honda and Hyundai, which are not expected to recur in 2026.
The company’s non‑GAAP net loss was $0.04 per share, beating the consensus estimate of $0.05 per share. GAAP gross margin for the quarter was 11.3%, and the full‑year GAAP gross margin was 53.8%. The company’s operating expenses fell 40% year‑over‑year to $18.2 million, a reduction that helped narrow the loss margin.
Revenue for the quarter missed analyst estimates, which ranged from $5.98 million to $6.71 million, representing a miss of 23% to 31%. The miss is largely attributable to the absence of the one‑time service revenue that boosted 2025 earnings and to a shift in the revenue mix toward lower‑margin ESS products.
For fiscal 2026, SES AI guided total sales of $30 million to $35 million, a range that falls well below the consensus estimate of $51.67 million to $57.55 million. The guidance implies growth of 43% to 67% over 2025 revenue, but management has expressed caution, citing logistics constraints that delayed shipments at the end of 2025 and the non‑recurrence of the one‑time service revenue.
The company projects a consolidated gross margin of about 15% for 2026, with 15% for ESS, over 20% for drone cells, and 10% to 20% for materials. SES AI continues to emphasize a capex‑light model and the expansion of its Molecular Universe AI‑for‑Science platform, which it believes will drive future product and service revenue.
Investors reacted negatively to the guidance miss and revenue shortfall. CEO Qichao Hu said, "Looking to 2026, we remain focused on a capex‑light business model to grow revenue across ESS, drones, and materials. The Molecular Universe is changing material discovery in chemistry and material science, and its high quality scientific data and intuition is becoming a valuable asset to the exciting development in AI4Science." CFO Jing Nealis added, "For full year 2026, we expect revenue to be in the range of $30 million to $35 million, representing approximately 43% to 67% growth over full year 2025 revenue."
CFO Nealis also noted, "Our GAAP operating expenses for the fourth quarter of 2025 were $18.2 million, compared to $30.4 million for the same period prior year, a 40% decrease year-over-year."
CFO Nealis further explained, "As we have noted previously, we expect gross margin to vary from quarter-to-quarter as our revenue mix across products, SaaS and services evolve. We expect the gross margins on our product revenue to improve as we scale volume and optimize the cost structure through our CapEx‑light business model and JV partnerships."
CFO Nealis highlighted the one‑time nature of the 2025 service revenue, stating, "The service revenue for 2025 was $13.6 million, primarily driven by the Honda and Hyundai service agreements. This is the one‑time service agreement we mentioned."
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