SES AI (NYSE:SES) reported second-quarter 2026 revenue of $5.1 million, up more than 40% from $3.5 million in the prior-year quarter, while reaffirming full-year revenue guidance of $30 million to $35 million. The company said revenue during the quarter included contributions from its energy storage systems, drone battery cells, materials and Molecular Universe artificial-intelligence platform for the first time.
Founder and Chief Executive Officer Qichao Hu said the company’s strategy centers on using AI to accelerate materials development while building manufacturing and supply-chain capabilities for energy-storage products. SES previously focused on electric vehicles but shifted more than a year ago toward energy storage systems, drones and unmanned applications.
Margins Improve as ESS Remains Largest Business
Revenue declined sequentially from $6.7 million in the first quarter, though Liu said the company expects drone and materials revenue to increase in the second half while ESS remains more than half of total revenue. ESS represented more than 70% of first-half revenue, he said.
SES posted a GAAP net loss of $17.8 million, or $0.05 per share, compared with a $12.1 million loss, or $0.04 per share, in the first quarter. Operating expenses were $20.3 million, up from $19.1 million sequentially, primarily because of a bad-debt provision related to a legacy EV service contract. Operating expenses were down 26% from a year earlier.
On a non-GAAP basis, excluding items including changes in sponsor earnout liabilities, stock-based compensation, depreciation and amortization, SES reported a net loss of $13.1 million, or $0.04 per share, versus a $11.1 million loss in the first quarter. Adjusted EBITDA was a loss of $14.6 million, compared with a $12.8 million loss in the prior quarter.
The company ended the quarter with approximately $163 million in cash equivalents and short-term investments. Liu said SES expects losses to narrow during the second half as revenue rises and its cost-reduction program takes fuller effect.
Sol-Ark Certification and Edge Box Strategy
SES said Sol-Ark, a U.S.-based FCC-authorized inverter producer, certified subsidiary UZ Energy’s low-voltage residential batteries for use with its hybrid inverter systems. Hu said the certification could support U.S. growth, particularly amid restrictions affecting some foreign-produced inverters and electronics.
Liu said certification reduces the number of competitors SES faces in the residential market. He said the company expects growth to begin accelerating in the latter half of 2026 and increase further next year, though management did not provide a specific revenue forecast for the Sol-Ark relationship.
The company is positioning its Edge Box software alongside ESS hardware. Hu said the software is trained on the specific cells used in a given battery system, which SES believes enables more accurate monitoring of state of health and safety management. He added that the company can source cells from multiple suppliers and production lines because Edge Box can monitor and balance between cells, improving its purchasing leverage.
SES also appointed Paul Diemer, former chief technology officer of Flex Power, to its board. Hu said Diemer’s background in embedded power solutions for data centers and industrial systems will help guide the company’s ESS strategy, including its pursuit of larger-scale data-center applications.
Drone Cell Production Ramp Targets Fourth-Quarter Revenue
SES expects to complete the expansion of its Korea-based production of NDAA-compliant cells from 200,000 cells annually to 1 million cells annually in about one month. Hu said the facility is expected to operate at the 1 million-cell annual rate beginning in the fourth quarter.
Management expects meaningful revenue from the Korea-produced cells to begin in the fourth quarter and to accelerate in the first half of 2027. Hu said the company has hosted line audits for several large U.S. and allied drone manufacturers and has additional customers scheduled for audits later this year.
According to Hu, SES has identified more than 50 drone opportunities requiring NDAA-compliant products. He said five larger potential customers alone represent demand above 1 million cells annually, while expected usable capacity after accounting for quality and downtime could be roughly 700,000 to 800,000 cells.
The company is evaluating additional compliant manufacturing capacity in Korea and Southeast Asia, potentially through direct investment, joint ventures, acquisitions or contract manufacturing. Hu said drone-related capacity additions would be measured in tens of megawatt-hours rather than gigawatt-hours, making the required spending more efficient than EV-scale manufacturing investment.
SES also announced a framework agreement with Doroni under which it will design and develop the complete battery pack for Doroni’s H1-X two-seat eVTOL aircraft. Management said drone cell formats may also serve adjacent marine, cargo aircraft and manned and unmanned eVTOL applications.
Molecular Universe Expands Into Autonomous Labs
SES released Molecular Universe 3.0, an agentic workflow platform designed for sodium and lithium chemistries that can be deployed on customer premises and integrated with autonomous laboratories. The company said it shipped its first Search-in-a-Box module to one of the world’s largest battery manufacturers.
Hu said materials discovered through Molecular Universe have completed testing and entered early-stage commercial pilot development. He described three battery-company customers as being in advanced discussions around broader deployments combining the software with autonomous lab equipment, while other customers are evaluating individual modules or full workflow tools.
The company expects to release Molecular Universe 4.0 later this year. Hu said the planned version will add molecule-generation capabilities based on desired properties and expand integration with autonomous labs, allowing users to generate, synthesize and validate materials while feeding experimental data back into on-premise models.
About SES AI (NYSE:SES)
SES AI Corporation engages in the development and production of high-performance Lithium-metal rechargeable batteries for electric vehicles, electric vehicle take-off and landing, and other applications. The company was founded in 2012 and is headquartered in Woburn, Massachusetts.
