Ambiq Micro Q2 Earnings Call Highlights

Ambiq Micro (NYSE:AMBQ) reported second-quarter 2026 net sales of $33.9 million, up 89.7% from a year earlier, as demand for edge artificial intelligence applications accelerated across its customer base and product portfolio.

Chief Executive Officer Fumihide Esaka said the company’s sales exceeded its guidance and marked its fifth consecutive quarter of sequential growth. He attributed the performance to healthy end-market demand, customer product launches and the continued ramp of a newer large customer.

“End-user demand is far exceeding our expectations and those of our customers,” Esaka said, adding that the company is seeing continued expedite requests and lean inventory across distribution channels. He said management believes demand reflects underlying consumption rather than inventory replenishment.

Product demand and supply limitations

Ambiq said sales growth was supported by double-digit growth in Apollo3 and Apollo4 products, while Apollo5 sales more than doubled year over year. The company also expects recently introduced Apollo3 Blue Plus and Apollo510 Lite system-on-chip families to begin contributing revenue in the third quarter. Initial customer devices using those products are expected to reach the market early next year.

Management said demand is being constrained by semiconductor supply availability, including wafer, packaging, substrate and testing capacity. Esaka said Ambiq is working with foundry and outsourced semiconductor assembly and test partners to obtain additional allocations and improve supply flexibility.

During the question-and-answer session, Esaka said incoming demand continues to rise week after week but did not quantify the amount of revenue that could have been achieved with more capacity. He cited examples of customers whose preorder volumes for new products were three to five times higher than their own expectations, creating requests that could not be fulfilled immediately.

Despite those constraints, Ambiq expects third-quarter revenue of $36 million to $37 million, representing roughly 100% year-over-year growth at the midpoint. The company expects approximately $135 million in full-year 2026 net sales.

Margins improve as revenue scales

Non-GAAP gross profit more than doubled from the prior-year period, rising 109.3% to $16 million. Non-GAAP gross margin increased 450 basis points year over year to 47.2%.

Chief Financial Officer Jeff Winzeler said the margin improvement reflected both pricing and manufacturing progress. The company is seeking to price its products based on the value they provide to customers, while yield improvements and reduced test times have lowered manufacturing costs as products scale into full production. Those gains have been partly offset by rising component costs and broader supply-chain pressures, he said.

For the third quarter, Ambiq forecast non-GAAP gross margin of 46.5% to 47.5%. For the full year, it now expects a modest year-over-year gross-margin improvement, compared with its previous expectation for flat margins.

Second-quarter non-GAAP research and development expense rose 55.5% year over year to $11.2 million, driven by intellectual-property licensing, compensation and contractor costs. Non-GAAP selling, general and administrative expense increased 23.7% to $8.2 million, largely reflecting sales compensation and public-company costs.

The company reported a second-quarter non-GAAP net loss of $1.8 million, an improvement of $4.1 million from a year earlier, or a non-GAAP loss of $0.07 per share. Winzeler said Ambiq remains focused on growth and continued investment rather than providing a timetable for reaching cash-flow breakeven or profitability.

Capital raise supports roadmap investment

Ambiq ended the quarter with no debt and $366.8 million in cash and cash equivalents. The balance included approximately $168 million in net proceeds from an upsized follow-on offering completed in June. The company said its two offerings during 2026 generated about $243 million in total net proceeds.

Winzeler said the capital provides flexibility to fund working capital, sales and marketing, and product development. Ambiq continues to expect full-year operating expenses of about $85 million, including $7 million to $10 million of intellectual-property purchases tied to product development.

Third-quarter non-GAAP operating expenses are projected at $24 million to $25 million, including approximately $2 million of intellectual-property purchases. Ambiq forecast a non-GAAP loss per share of $0.20 to $0.12 based on 24.17 million weighted-average shares outstanding.

Edge AI expansion and future products

Management said it is broadening its reach beyond wearable devices into medical, industrial, smart home and building markets. The company expects revenue from those markets to more than double in 2026. Scott Hanson, Ambiq’s founder and chief technology officer, said more than 25% of the company’s funnel for new designs launching next year consists of non-wearable devices.

Hanson said Ambiq is seeing wearable demand across watches, bands, smart rings and glasses, with particular interest in display-less trackers. He said these devices increasingly rely on cloud-based AI agents to analyze health and activity data.

Ambiq is also advancing Apollo 340, Atomiq 110 and Atomiq 120. Atomiq 110 and Apollo 340 are targeted for customer sampling in early 2027. Hanson said an early Atomiq 110 development platform, delivered through an FPGA, is already in customers’ hands, and management continues to expect meaningful Atomiq 110 revenue ramping in 2028.

About Ambiq Micro (NYSE:AMBQ)

Ambiq Micro (NYSE: AMBQ) is a semiconductor company specializing in the design and development of ultra-low-power microcontroller units (MCUs) and application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs). The company's core technology leverages sub-threshold voltage operation to dramatically reduce energy consumption, enabling extended battery life in a broad range of portable and always-on devices. Ambiq's products are particularly well suited for applications where power efficiency is critical, such as wearable electronics, IoT sensors, medical monitoring equipment, and industrial automation systems.

The company's flagship product family, the Apollo series of MCUs, offers multi-core architectures, integrated wireless connectivity options, and advanced security features.

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