Aspen Aerogels Inc (ASPN) 2022 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good morning. Thank you for attending Aspen Aerogels, Inc. 2022 financial results call. (Operator Instructions)

早上好。感謝您參加 Aspen Aerogels, Inc. 2022 年財務業績電話會議。 （操作員說明）

I would now like to turn the conference over to your host, Laura Guerrant, Aspen's Vice President of Investor Relations and Corporate Communications. Thank you. You may proceed, Ms. Guerrant.

我現在想把會議轉交給你的主持人 Laura Guerrant，Aspen 的投資者關係和企業傳播副總裁。謝謝。你可以繼續了，Guerrant 女士。

Thank you, Elliot. Good morning, and thank you for joining us for the Aspen Aerogels fiscal year 2022 and fourth-quarter financial results conference call. With us today are Don Young, President and CEO; and Ricardo Rodriguez, Chief Financial Officer.

謝謝你，埃利奧特。早上好，感謝您加入我們的 Aspen Aerogels 2022 財年和第四季度財務業績電話會議。今天和我們在一起的是總裁兼首席執行官 Don Young；首席財務官 Ricardo Rodriguez。

There are a few housekeeping items that I would like to address before turning the call over to Don. The press release announcing Aspen's financial results and business developments, as well as a reconciliation of management's use of non-GAAP financial measures compared to the most applicable US generally accepted accounting principles or GAAP measures, is available on the Investors section of Aspen's website, www.aerogel.com. Included in the press release is a summary statement of operations, a summary balance sheet, and a summary of key financial and operating statistics for the 2022 fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2022.

在將電話轉給 Don 之前，我想解決一些內務事項。公佈 Aspen 財務業績和業務發展的新聞稿，以及管理層使用非 GAAP 財務指標與最適用的美國公認會計原則或 GAAP 指標的對比，可在 Aspen 網站的投資者部分獲取，www. .aerogel.com.新聞稿中包括截至 2022 年 12 月 31 日止的 2022 年第四季度和全年的運營摘要報表、資產負債表摘要以及主要財務和運營統計數據摘要。

In addition, I'd like to highlight that we have uploaded to our website a slide deck that will accompany our conversation today. You can find the deck at the Investors section of our website. An archive of today's webcast will be on our website for approximately one year.

此外，我想強調的是，我們已經將一張幻燈片上傳到我們的網站，它將伴隨我們今天的談話。您可以在我們網站的投資者部分找到該套牌。今天的網絡廣播存檔將在我們的網站上保留大約一年。

Please note that our discussion today will include forward-looking statements, including any statements regarding outlook, expectations, beliefs, projections, estimates, targets, prospects, business plans, and any other statement that is not a historical fact. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties. Aspen Aerogels' actual results may differ materially from those expressed in these forward-looking statements.

請注意，我們今天的討論將包括前瞻性陳述，包括任何關於展望、預期、信念、預測、估計、目標、前景、業務計劃的陳述，以及任何其他非歷史事實的陳述。這些前瞻性陳述受風險和不確定因素的影響。 Aspen Aerogels 的實際結果可能與這些前瞻性陳述中表達的結果存在重大差異。

A list of factors that could affect the company's actual results can be found in Aspen's press release issued yesterday, page 1 of the presentation, and are discussed in more detail on the reports Aspen files with the SEC, particularly in the company's most recent annual report on Form 10-Q. The company's press release issued yesterday and filings with the SEC can also be found in the Investors section of Aspen's website. Forward-looking statements made today represent the company's views as of today, February 16, 2023. Aspen Aerogels disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances.

可在 Aspen 昨天發布的新聞稿第 1 頁中找到可能影響公司實際業績的一系列因素，並在 Aspen 提交給美國證券交易委員會的報告中進行了更詳細的討論，特別是在公司最近的年度報告中在表格 10-Q 上。該公司昨天發布的新聞稿和提交給美國證券交易委員會的文件也可以在 Aspen 網站的投資者部分找到。今天發表的前瞻性陳述代表了公司截至 2023 年 2 月 16 日的觀點。Aspen Aerogels 不承擔任何更新這些前瞻性陳述以反映未來事件或情況的義務。

During this call, we will refer to non-GAAP financial measures, including adjusted EBITDA. These financial measures are not prepared in accordance with GAAP. These non-GAAP financial measures are not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for results prepared in accordance with GAAP. The definitions and reconciliations of these non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures and a discussion of why we present these non-GAAP financial measures are included in yesterday's press release.

在本次電話會議中，我們將參考非 GAAP 財務指標，包括調整後的 EBITDA。這些財務措施不是根據公認會計原則編制的。這些非 GAAP 財務措施並非旨在孤立考慮或替代根據 GAAP 編制的結果。這些非 GAAP 財務指標與最直接可比的 GAAP 財務指標的定義和對賬，以及我們為何提出這些非 GAAP 財務指標的討論包含在昨天的新聞稿中。

And one final note -- during the Q&A session, in the interest of time, we ask that you limit your questions to two questions at a time. If you have additional questions beyond the initial two, please get back into the queue, and we will get to all questions.

最後一點——在問答環節中，為了節省時間，我們要求您將問題一次限制為兩個問題。如果您除了前兩個問題之外還有其他問題，請回到隊列中，我們將解決所有問題。

I'll now turn the call over to Don. Don?

我現在將電話轉給 Don。大學教師？

Thanks, Laura. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us for our Q4 2022 earnings call.

謝謝，勞拉。大家，早安。感謝您加入我們的 2022 年第四季度財報電話會議。

I will start with comments on our performance, our Q4 financing, our outlook for 2023, and our highlights from our EV OEM development work. Ricardo will discuss business results and outlook in detail. We will conclude with a Q&A session.

我將首先評論我們的業績、我們的第四季度融資、我們對 2023 年的展望，以及我們在 EV OEM 開發工作中的亮點。里卡多將詳細討論業務成果和前景。我們將以問答環節結束。

During the fourth quarter, we had record PyroThin thermal barrier revenue slightly surpassing the $25 million mark and a robust energy industrial order book, which, together, enabled us to achieve our target of $180 million, with growth for the year of nearly 50%. PyroThin thermal barrier revenue for the year surpassed $55 million, up nearly nine times from the 2021 levels. As we look out over 2023, we expect PyroThin thermal barrier revenue to build over the year as automotive OEMs scale their operations, which we believe will result in materially more PyroThin thermal barrier revenue in the second half of the year compared with the first half.

在第四季度，我們創紀錄的 PyroThin 熱障收入略微超過 2500 萬美元大關和強勁的能源工業訂單，這一切使我們能夠實現 1.8 億美元的目標，全年增長近 50%。 PyroThin 熱障全年收入超過 5500 萬美元，是 2021 年水平的近九倍。展望 2023 年，我們預計 PyroThin 熱障收入將在一年內隨著汽車原始設備製造商擴大業務規模而增加，我們相信這將導致下半年 PyroThin 熱障收入與上半年相比大幅增加。

At the same time, we expect our energy industrial business to remain strong through the year and provide a steady base load of revenue. Our demonstrated capability, both supply and demand to generate nearly $60 million of revenue in Q4 2022, supports our target of reaching approximately $240 million of revenue this year, consistent with our objective to double revenue from 2021 to 2023.

與此同時，我們預計我們的能源工業業務將在今年保持強勁，並提供穩定的收入基礎。我們展示的供應和需求能力在 2022 年第四季度產生近 6000 萬美元的收入，支持我們今年達到約 2.4 億美元收入的目標，這與我們從 2021 年到 2023 年收入翻一番的目標一致。

The Q4 gross margin of 24% demonstrates the value of higher capacity utilization and the progress we are making to eliminate redundant costs as we scale. Our teams did an outstanding job in Q4 and are now focused on continuing to make additional productivity gains in 2023. While our longer-term gross margin target remains, 35%, we are pleased with the progress we've made in Q4.

第 4 季度 24% 的毛利率證明了更高產能利用率的價值，以及我們在擴大規模時在消除冗餘成本方面取得的進展。我們的團隊在第四季度表現出色，現在專注於在 2023 年繼續提高生產力。雖然我們的長期毛利率目標仍然是 35%，但我們對第四季度取得的進展感到滿意。

We continue to deepen our technical and commercial engagement with both current and prospective automotive customers. During Q4, we experienced a record number of OEMs ordering prototype parts. Several of the OEMs entered our thermal barrier development pipeline during 2022, driven, at least in part, we believe, by their earlier non-PyroThin designs being unsuccessful at mitigating the risk of thermal runaway propagation.

我們繼續深化與現有和潛在汽車客戶的技術和商業合作。在第四季度，我們經歷了創紀錄數量的原始設備製造商訂購原型零件。 2022 年，一些 OEM 進入了我們的熱障開發流程，我們認為，至少部分原因是他們早期的非 PyroThin 設計未能成功降低熱失控傳播的風險。

As we have described in the past, mitigating the dangers of thermal runaway presents a challenging and multifaceted problem. We believe our value to the automotive OEMs is based on our unique technical solutions and our deep subject matter expertise and that we are well positioned to achieve our goal of deepening our technical and commercial relationships with existing customers at the same time that we add important new customers.

正如我們過去所描述的那樣，減輕熱失控的危險是一個具有挑戰性的多方面問題。我們相信我們對汽車原始設備製造商的價值基於我們獨特的技術解決方案和深厚的主題專業知識，並且我們有能力實現我們的目標，即在我們增加重要的新客戶的同時加深我們與現有客戶的技術和商業關係顧客。

There were several interesting developments since our last earnings call. We received a letter of intent from the luxury brand of a major German OEM group, where the thermal barrier parts are targeted for a battery platform intended for use across several of their models. The LOI captures the advanced stage of the qualification process and related negotiations and, we believe, puts us on a firm track for a full design award.

自我們上次財報電話會議以來，有幾個有趣的發展。我們收到了德國一家主要 OEM 集團的奢侈品牌的意向書，其中的隔熱部件針對的是一個電池平台，該平台將用於他們的多款車型。意向書抓住了資格認證過程和相關談判的高級階段，我們相信，它使我們走上了獲得完整設計獎的堅定軌道。

We also received an order for approximately 1.5 million prototype parts for a commercial vehicle brand within the same German OEM group. We believe that this LOI and the advanced parallel work with other brands within the group position us well to earn broad adoption with this important German OEM.

我們還收到了同一德國 OEM 集團內商用車品牌約 150 萬個原型零件的訂單。我們相信，這一 LOI 以及與集團內其他品牌的先進並行合作使我們能夠很好地贏得這家重要的德國 OEM 的廣泛採用。

More broadly, we have been invited by existing and prospective new customers to quote approximately $15 billion of PyroThin thermal barrier business. Again, we believe, we are well positioned to succeed.

更廣泛地說，我們已應現有和潛在新客戶的邀請，對約 150 億美元的 PyroThin 熱障業務進行報價。我們再次相信，我們已經做好了成功的準備。

On the energy industrial side of our business, we have a deep order book. We already have purchase orders for 2023 of over $100 million. We have robust commercial activity levels across our refining, petrochemical, LNG and subsea segments, and across all of our major regions. We have implemented price increases for all products across our energy industrial business, which should positively impact Q2 and beyond. Furthermore, we are competing successfully in both maintenance and project works.

在我們業務的能源工業方面，我們有大量訂單。我們已經有超過 1 億美元的 2023 年採購訂單。我們的煉油、石化、液化天然氣和海底業務以及我們所有的主要地區都有強勁的商業活動水平。我們已經對我們能源工業業務的所有產品實施了價格上漲，這應該會對第二季度及以後產生積極影響。此外，我們在維護和項目工程方面都取得了成功。

Even with the probability of a slowing global economic growth, we believe our strong outlook for energy industrial is fueled by our value drivers of efficiency, resiliency, and safety; by geopolitical pressures that promote LNG; and by the balance sheet strength of our end users. The energy industrial revenue stream is a valuable base load for us as we manage our overall revenue growth during this early stage of the EV megatrend. This flexibility is a good example of the benefit of our strategy to leverage the aerogel technology platform into a diverse set of large and dynamic markets.

即使全球經濟增長可能放緩，我們相信我們對能源工業的強勁前景是由我們的效率、彈性和安全價值驅動因素推動的；受到促進液化天然氣發展的地緣政治壓力；以及我們最終用戶的資產負債表實力。能源工業收入流對我們來說是一個寶貴的基礎負載，因為我們在電動汽車大趨勢的早期階段管理我們的整體收入增長。這種靈活性是我們利用氣凝膠技術平台進入各種大型動態市場的戰略優勢的一個很好的例子。

During the fourth quarter, we executed a successful publicly marketed equity offering, raising approximately $265 million, including a $100 million from Koch Industries. We intend to use the proceeds from the offering to partially fund the construction of Phase 1 of our second aerogel manufacturing facility in Statesboro, Georgia, and for other general corporate purposes.

在第四季度，我們成功地進行了公開上市的股票發行，籌集了大約 2.65 億美元，其中包括來自 Koch Industries 的 1 億美元。我們打算使用此次發行的收益部分資助我們在佐治亞州斯泰茨伯勒的第二個氣凝膠製造工廠的第一階段建設，以及其他一般公司用途。

At the same time, we entered into a definitive loan agreement with General Motors for a secured lending commitment of $100 million in connection with the equipment and construction of our Plant II. The loan proceeds can be drawn on a periodic basis as construction milestones are met. The financial commitment from General Motors adds another dimension to our long-standing technical and commercial relationship. We are deeply involved with GM's current and next-generation battery platforms and, of course, are building Plant II in part to meet GM's demand in the coming years. We appreciate GM's commitment to our success.

同時，我們與通用汽車簽訂了最終貸款協議，承諾提供 1 億美元的擔保貸款，用於我們第二工廠的設備和建設。當達到建設里程碑時，可以定期提取貸款收益。通用汽車的財務承諾為我們長期的技術和商業關係增添了另一個層面。我們深入參與了通用汽車當前和下一代電池平台，當然，我們正在建設 Plant II，部分原因是為了滿足通用汽車未來幾年的需求。我們感謝通用汽車對我們成功的承諾。

During our last two earnings calls, I said that Plant II would not be immune from the macro challenges marked by supply chain and inflationary challenges that are impacting virtually all major construction projects. We are proactively managing the project in order to try to minimize cost and schedule pressures and doing so such that Phase 1 has more than adequate manufacturing capacity to achieve our 2025 revenue target of $720 million. This level of manufacturing capacity will be critical as we serve General Motors, Toyota, and, we believe, other EV OEMs who are now deep in our business development pipeline as demonstrated by our recent LOI from the German OEMs.

在我們最近兩次財報電話會議上，我曾說過，Plant II 無法免受供應鍊和通貨膨脹挑戰等宏觀挑戰的影響，這些挑戰幾乎影響了所有主要建設項目。我們正在積極管理該項目，以盡量減少成本和進度壓力，並使第一階段的製造能力足以實現我們 2025 年 7.2 億美元的收入目標。這種水平的製造能力將至關重要，因為我們為通用汽車、豐田以及我們相信的其他電動汽車原始設備製造商提供服務，他們現在已經深入我們的業務發展渠道，正如我們最近從德國原始設備製造商獲得的意向書所證明的那樣。

With the successful financing completed in Q4, we will continue, over the next couple of years, to take in all of the above approach to financing our growth plan. As we explore prospective sources of equity and debt capital, we will continue to focus on strategic investors on more fully utilizing our significant assets as collateral and on government grant and loan programs to supplement private sector capital. We believe these avenues are most efficient, validate our business strategy, and, of course, strengthen our balance sheet.

隨著第四季度成功完成融資，我們將在未來幾年繼續採用上述所有方法為我們的增長計劃融資。在探索股權和債務資本的潛在來源時，我們將繼續關注戰略投資者，以更充分地利用我們的重要資產作為抵押品，並關注政府撥款和貸款計劃以補充私營部門資本。我們相信這些途徑是最有效的，可以驗證我們的業務戰略，當然也可以加強我們的資產負債表。

We believe battery performance and safety and resiliency of supply chains in the US, especially for critical areas of energy transformation and electrification, will continue to attract capital from a wide range of sources. We are confident that the all of the above approach to raising the necessary capital for us to execute our long-term strategy is correct.

我們相信，美國供應鏈的電池性能、安全性和彈性，尤其是能源轉型和電氣化的關鍵領域，將繼續吸引來自廣泛來源的資本。我們相信，上述所有為我們執行長期戰略籌集必要資金的方法都是正確的。

Before I turn the call over to Ricardo, I would like to express my appreciation to the employees of Aspen. The past year presented many macro challenges, but our team stayed focused on executing our plan to double revenue from 2021 to 2023 and on preparing to triple revenue from 2023 to 2025.

在我將電話轉給 Ricardo 之前，我想對 Aspen 的員工表示感謝。過去的一年帶來了許多宏觀挑戰，但我們的團隊仍然專注於執行我們的計劃，即從 2021 年到 2023 年將收入翻一番，並準備從 2023 年到 2025 年將收入翻三倍。

We are guided by our desire to create a positive cycle of mutual benefit with our customers, suppliers, and communities. We have a very talented and dedicated group of people working here at Aspen, and I'm happy to be part of the team.

我們的目標是與我們的客戶、供應商和社區建立互惠互利的良性循環。我們有一群非常有才華和敬業的人在 Aspen 工作，我很高興成為團隊的一員。

Ricardo, over to you.

里卡多，交給你了。

Thank you, Don. I'll start on slide 4 and our financial highlights for the fourth quarter of 2022 and recap on the last year.

謝謝你，唐。我將從幻燈片 4 和我們 2022 年第四季度的財務亮點開始，並回顧去年。

Starting with revenues -- we delivered $59.6 million of revenue in Q4, which translates into 90% growth year over year. This record level of run rate in Q4 contributed to our delivery of $180.4 million of annual revenues for the year. This is a 48% year-over-year increase over our revenues in 2021 of $121.6 million. This growth rate is well in line with our long-standing targets of doubling our 2021 revenues by the end of 2023 and then tripling them by the end of 2025.

從收入開始——我們在第四季度實現了 5960 萬美元的收入，同比增長 90%。第 4 季度這一創紀錄的運行率水平促成了我們當年交付 1.804 億美元的年收入。與我們 2021 年 1.216 億美元的收入相比，同比增長 48%。這一增長率完全符合我們的長期目標，即到 2023 年底將 2021 年的收入翻一番，然後到 2025 年底將其翻三番。

I am truly thankful for our team as it came together in Rhode Island, Mexico, the Boston area, and all our international sales locations to produce high-quality EV thermal barriers and get all the last possible energy industrial deliveries out the door.

我真的很感謝我們的團隊，因為他們聚集在羅德島、墨西哥、波士頓地區和我們所有的國際銷售點，以生產高質量的 EV 熱障，並將所有最後可能的能源工業交付運出。

In Q4, we proved that when the EV thermal barrier demand is there, our assets can deliver in a world-class way. Speaking of EV thermal barrier demand, this came in line with our expectations for the quarter, thanks to a supplemental order from General Motors that spans Q4 of 2022 and Q1 of '23.

在第四季度，我們證明了當電動汽車熱障需求存在時，我們的資產可以以世界一流的方式交付。說到 EV 熱障需求，這符合我們對本季度的預期，這要歸功於通用汽車的補充訂單，該訂單跨越 2022 年第四季度和 23 年第一季度。

This order is meant to stabilize our volumes as GM ramps up their demand in the second half of 2023. This order also enabled us to leverage the productivity of our manual assembly operation in Mexico to deliver a total of $25.2 million in EV thermal barriers during Q4. This is a 111% increase over the prior quarter and a five times increase over last year. Our total EV thermal barrier revenues in 2022 were up $55.5 million, an almost nine-fold increase over the prior years.

隨著通用汽車在 2023 年下半年增加需求，該訂單旨在穩定我們的產量。該訂單還使我們能夠利用我們在墨西哥的手動裝配操作的生產力，在第四季度交付總計 2520 萬美元的 EV 熱障.這比上一季度增長了 111%，是去年的五倍。我們在 2022 年的 EV 熱障總收入增長了 5550 萬美元，比前幾年增長了近 9 倍。

Our Q4 energy industrial revenues of $34.4 million were 39% higher than the prior quarters and 31% higher year over year. They brought our total for the year to $124.8 million, an 8% year-over-year increase that would be higher if we weren't allocating aerogel production capacity towards EV thermal barriers.

我們第四季度的能源工業收入為 3440 萬美元，比上一季度增長 39%，同比增長 31%。他們使我們今年的總額達到 1.248 億美元，同比增長 8%，如果我們不將氣凝膠產能分配給 EV 隔熱層，這一數字會更高。

Our Q4 product mix demonstrated that when it is tilted towards EV thermal barriers, our revenue run rate can start aligning with our growth plans. I couldn't be more excited about our prospects to continue growing profitably as we get more productivity out of our aerogel plant in Rhode Island and implement those learnings on Plant II in Georgia. I'll go into more detail on this later.

我們的第四季度產品組合表明，當它向 EV 熱障傾斜時，我們的收入運行率可以開始與我們的增長計劃保持一致。我對我們繼續盈利增長的前景感到非常興奮，因為我們從我們位於羅德島的氣凝膠工廠獲得了更高的生產力，並在佐治亞州的 Plant II 上實施了這些學習。稍後我將對此進行更詳細的介紹。

Next, I'll provide a summary of our main expenses. Material expenses of $24.4 million for the quarter made up 41 percentage points of sales, which was close to where we want to be long term -- actually, within single-digit percentage points. This quarter-over-quarter improvement of 17 percentage points of sales is indicative of what can be delivered at a higher run rate.

接下來，我將提供我們主要支出的摘要。本季度 2,440 萬美元的材料支出佔銷售額的 41 個百分點，接近我們希望的長期水平——實際上，在個位數百分比內。銷售額環比增長 17 個百分點表明可以以更高的運行率交付。

It's also worth highlighting that our margins in Q4 were slightly enhanced due to the fact that the scrap costs of manufacturing aerogel that was converted into EV thermal barriers in Q4 but made in prior quarters was accounted for during those prior quarters. For the year, our material cost of $92.2 million made up 51 percentage points of sales, and as we've mentioned previously, these are at least 11 percentage points away from our long-term target.

還值得強調的是，我們在第四季度的利潤率略有提高，這是因為在第四季度轉化為 EV 隔熱層但在前幾個季度製造的氣凝膠製造廢料成本在前幾個季度被計入。今年，我們 9220 萬美元的材料成本佔銷售額的 51 個百分點，正如我們之前提到的，這與我們的長期目標至少相差 11 個百分點。

Conversion costs, which we describe as all production costs required to convert materials into finished products, were of $20.9 million and made up 39 percentage points of sales in Q4. These costs include all elements of direct labor, manufacturing overhead, factory supplies, rent, insurance, utilities, process logistics, quality and inspection. These compare with costs of 61 percentage points of sales in Q3. At 35 percentage points of sales, we're within 15 percentage points of where these need to be as we continue to grow revenues.

轉換成本，我們將其描述為將材料轉換為成品所需的所有生產成本，為 2090 萬美元，佔第四季度銷售額的 39 個百分點。這些成本包括直接人工、製造費用、工廠用品、租金、保險、公用事業、流程物流、質量和檢驗的所有要素。與第三季度銷售額的 61 個百分點的成本相比。在銷售額的 35 個百分點，隨著我們繼續增加收入，我們距離這些需要達到的水平不到 15 個百分點。

It is encouraging to see our team's ability to drive towards our conversion cost targets as our revenue run rate increases, and we expect to continue making improvements in these areas to increase our operating leverage and continue driving down the cost of making every incremental unit. For the year, our conversion costs were $83.1 million, and these made up 46 percentage points of sales.

令人鼓舞的是，隨著我們的收入運行率增加，我們的團隊有能力實現我們的轉換成本目標，我們希望繼續在這些領域進行改進，以提高我們的運營槓桿並繼續降低製造每個增量單位的成本。這一年，我們的轉換成本為 8310 萬美元，佔銷售額的 46 個百分點。

In Q4, our investments to increase the productivity of our aerogel plant in Rhode Island, combined with the establishment of our assembly facilities in Mexico, enabled our gross profit margins to go from negative 17% in Q3 to positive 24% in Q4.

在第四季度，我們為提高羅德島氣凝膠工廠的生產力而進行的投資，加上我們在墨西哥建立的組裝設施，使我們的毛利率從第三季度的負 17% 上升到第四季度的正 24%。

Both product lines contributed positively to our gross profit of $14.3 million in Q4, with $7.8 million of that coming from our energy industrial segment and $6.5 million coming from EV thermal barriers. These represent positive gross profit margins of 23% and 25%, respectively, for the quarter.

這兩條產品線對我們第四季度 1430 萬美元的毛利潤做出了積極貢獻，其中 780 萬美元來自我們的能源工業部門，650 萬美元來自電動汽車熱障。這代表本季度的正毛利率分別為 23% 和 25%。

For the year, our gross profit was at $4.9 million, reflecting a 3% gross profit margin, with margins in our energy industrial segment of 15% and negative 25% in EV thermal barriers or a gross profit of $18.8 million and a gross loss of $13.9 million, respectively.

全年，我們的毛利潤為 490 萬美元，毛利率為 3%，能源工業部門的利潤率為 15%，電動汽車熱障的利潤率為負 25%，即毛利潤為 1880 萬美元，毛虧損為分別為 1390 萬美元。

Operating expenses, which are enabling our growth, were of $22 million. These increased by $2 million quarter over quarter, versus an increase of $4.6 million in Q2 over Q1, and had an increase of $0.6 million in Q3 over Q2.

推動我們增長的運營費用為 2200 萬美元。這些比上一季度增加了 200 萬美元，而第二季度比第一季度增加了 460 萬美元，第三季度比第二季度增加了 60 萬美元。

As I've mentioned in prior quarters, we're leveling off our OpEx increases and have focused on precisely on delivering three things: one, tangible productivity benefits through new process development and the implementation of systems that streamline our methods and drive productivity; two, new OEM production awards through our EV thermal barrier technical sales efforts and managing these awards and pursuits with world-class levels of service; and three, clear milestones in our R&D efforts.

正如我在前幾個季度提到的那樣，我們正在穩定我們的運營支出增長，並專注於提供三件事：第一，通過新流程開發和實施簡化我們的方法並提高生產力的系統，切實提高生產力；第二，通過我們的 EV 熱障技術銷售努力獲得新的 OEM 生產獎項，並以世界一流的服務水平管理這些獎項和追求；第三，我們研發工作的明確里程碑。

Putting these elements together, our adjusted EBITDA was of negative $4.5 million in Q4, compared to negative $12.2 million during Q4 of the prior year and negative $23.2 million during the prior quarter. For 2022, our adjusted EBITDA was negative $60.6 million compared to a loss of $26 million in the prior year.

將這些因素放在一起，我們調整後的 EBITDA 在第四季度為負 450 萬美元，而去年第四季度為負 1220 萬美元，上一季度為負 2320 萬美元。 2022 年，我們調整後的 EBITDA 為負 6060 萬美元，而上一年為虧損 2600 萬美元。

As a reminder, we define adjusted EBITDA as net income or loss before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization, stock-based compensation expenses, and other items that we do not believe are indicative of our core operating performance. In Q4, these other items included $2.7 million of stock-based compensation and $50,000 of net interest income.

提醒一下，我們將調整後的 EBITDA 定義為扣除利息、稅項、折舊、攤銷、基於股票的補償費用以及我們認為不代表我們核心經營業績的其他項目前的淨收入或虧損。在第四季度，這些其他項目包括 270 萬美元的股票薪酬和 50,000 美元的淨利息收入。

Our net loss in Q4 decreased to $9.6 million, or $0.26 per share, versus a net loss of $16.4 million, or $0.50 per share, in the same quarter of 2021. Our quarter-over-quarter net loss was reduced by $20 million from $29.6 million. For the year, our net loss was of $82.7 million, or $2.10 per share, which compares to a net loss of $37.1 million in 2021, or $1.22 per share.

我們在第四季度的淨虧損減少到 960 萬美元，即每股 0.26 美元，而 2021 年同季度的淨虧損為 1640 萬美元，即每股 0.50 美元。我們的環比淨虧損從 29.6 美元減少了 2000 萬美元百萬。全年，我們的淨虧損為 8270 萬美元，即每股虧損 2.10 美元，而 2021 年的淨虧損為 3710 萬美元，即每股虧損 1.22 美元。

It is worth clarifying that for all these earnings per share calculations, our number of fully diluted shares outstanding was 30.4 million at the end of 2021, a weighted average of 39.4 million shares in 2022, and our number of shares outstanding at the end of 2022 was 70 million shares.

值得澄清的是，對於所有這些每股收益的計算，我們在 2021 年底的完全稀釋流通股數量為 3040 萬股，2022 年加權平均為 3940 萬股，我們在 2022 年底的流通股數量是7000萬股。

On the topic of share count, I would like to note that over the next two weeks, in connection with the vesting of restricted stock units issued in the ordinary course under our long-term equity incentive program, our Section 16 officers will file Form 4s to report the withholding of shares by the company to satisfy statutory tax obligation related to the vesting of these RSUs. I would also want to emphasize that the shares that were held by Aspen will not be sold into the market and will remain unissued.

關於股票數量，我想指出的是，在接下來的兩週內，根據我們的長期股權激勵計劃，我們的第 16 條官員將提交表格 4s，以授予在普通過程中發行的限制性股票單位報告公司為履行與歸屬這些 RSU 相關的法定稅收義務而預扣的股份。我還想強調的是，Aspen 持有的股票不會在市場上出售，並且將保持未發行狀態。

Next, I'll turn to cash flow and our balance sheet. Cash used in operations of $18.6 million reflected our adjusted EBITDA of negative $4.5 million and an increase in cash needs of $23.4 million that reflects a quarterly increase in accounts receivable of $30.3 million. These put our operating cash needs for the year at $89 million.

接下來，我將轉向現金流和我們的資產負債表。運營中使用的現金 1860 萬美元反映了我們調整後的 EBITDA 為負 450 萬美元和現金需求增加 2340 萬美元，這反映了應收賬款季度增加 3030 萬美元。這些使我們今年的運營現金需求達到 8900 萬美元。

Capital expenditures during the quarter of $64.1 million included the partial construction of the main buildings in Statesboro, Georgia, for Plant II, assembly equipment for our automated thermal barrier operations, upgrades to our R&D labs, and significant progress in the construction of our advanced thermal barrier development center in the Boston area. These brought our total CapEx in 2022 to $183.4 million, below the $200 million to $225 million range. Progress on these projects is in line with our expectations.

本季度的資本支出為 6,410 萬美元，包括在佐治亞州斯泰茨伯勒建造二號廠主要建築的部分建築、用於我們的自動化熱障操作的裝配設備、升級我們的研發實驗室，以及我們在先進熱能係統建設方面取得的重大進展波士頓地區的障礙發展中心。這些使我們 2022 年的資本支出總額達到 1.834 億美元，低於 2 億美元至 2.25 億美元的範圍。這些項目的進展符合我們的預期。

As progress on the construction of our second aerogel manufacturing plant continues, we have incurred $165.5 million in capital expenses through the end of 2022 towards it. I'll provide a more meaningful update on Plant II later in this presentation.

隨著我們第二家氣凝膠製造廠的建設繼續取得進展，到 2022 年底，我們已經為此產生了 1.655 億美元的資本支出。我將在本演示文稿的後面提供有關 Plant II 的更有意義的更新。

Net cash provided by financing activities of $262.9 million during Q4 included $267.9 million of net proceeds from our equity offering and a $5 million repayment of BASF's prepayment balance, which was originally received in February of 2018.

第四季度融資活動提供的現金淨額為 2.629 億美元，其中包括我們股權發行的 2.679 億美元淨收益和 500 萬美元的巴斯夫預付款餘額償還，該餘額最初於 2018 年 2 月收到。

2022 was a pivotal year for funding our growth with $478.4 million in net financing activities that featured proceeds driven by: $100 million from the issuance of a convertible note and $50 million of common stock issued to Koch Industries at a price of $27.90 per share; $73.3 million of net at the market offering proceeds from the sale of common stock at an average price of $17.70 per share; and most recently, $267.9 million of net proceeds from our upsized public equity offering at $9.50 per share on November 30.

2022 年是為我們的增長提供資金的關鍵一年，淨融資活動為 4.784 億美元，其收益來自： 以每股 27.90 美元的價格向 Koch Industries 發行可轉換票據 1 億美元和 5000 萬美元普通股；以每股 17.70 美元的平均價格出售普通股所獲得的淨收益為 7330 萬美元；最近，我們在 11 月 30 日以每股 9.50 美元的價格擴大了公開發行股票的淨收益 2.679 億美元。

We ended the quarter with $281.3 million of cash and shareholders' equity of $443.3 million.

本季度結束時，我們擁有 2.813 億美元的現金和 4.433 億美元的股東權益。

I will now turn to slide 5 and walk you through our thinking and full-year 2023 outlook. Having expressed the target of doubling our revenues every 24 months since our Q4 2020 earnings call, it'd be logical to expect our 2023 revenues to be double -- the $121.6 million that the team delivered in 2021 -- that would be $243.2 million. In our Q4 2021 earnings call, we reiterated our plan to double our 2021 revenues to 2023 and to then triple them into 2025.

我現在將轉到幻燈片 5，向您介紹我們的想法和 2023 年全年展望。在表達了自 2020 年第四季度財報電話會議以來我們的收入每 24 個月翻一番的目標後，預計我們 2023 年的收入將翻一番是合乎邏輯的——團隊在 2021 年交付的 1.216 億美元——即 2.432 億美元。在我們的 2021 年第四季度財報電話會議上，我們重申了我們的計劃，即 2021 年的收入翻一番到 2023 年，然後到 2025 年再翻三倍。

With what we know today about our customers' demand for PyroThin thermal barriers in 2023, we're setting our revenue outlook for the year to be of between $200 million and $250 million. This is equivalent to growth of between 11% and 39% compared to 2022. We realize that this is a wide range that will tighten as the year progresses.

根據我們今天所了解的客戶在 2023 年對 PyroThin 熱障的需求，我們將今年的收入前景設定在 2 億美元至 2.5 億美元之間。這相當於與 2022 年相比增長了 11% 至 39%。我們意識到這是一個很大的範圍，並且隨著時間的推移會收緊。

However, just as in 2022, our revenues are being driven to a significant extent by what we expect to be an increasingly steep ramp in the production of Ultium battery platform powered vehicles by General Motors. This ramp was subject to a delay in the second half of last year, and this may continue. Doubling our 2021 revenues for the year continues to be our target and North Star, with 2023 being a year of continued transition for the OEMs that we are supplying.

然而，就像在 2022 年一樣，我們的收入在很大程度上受到我們預期通用汽車生產 Ultium 電池平台動力汽車的急劇增長的推動。該坡道在去年下半年有所延遲，而且這種情況可能會持續下去。將我們 2021 年的收入翻一番仍然是我們的目標和北極星，2023 年是我們提供的原始設備製造商持續轉型的一年。

Because we expect the second half of this year to see a significant number of new nameplate launches, we expect at least 60% of our total revenues to materialize during the second half of the year. This split is of at least 70% in our EV thermal barrier revenues. Therefore, we believe that our quarterly revenue run rate will not surpass our Q4 2022 run rate until Q4 of 2023. Optimizing our aerogel production capacity throughout the year will play a critical role in executing a steep ramp towards the end of 2023.

因為我們預計今年下半年將推出大量新銘牌，我們預計至少 60% 的總收入將在下半年實現。這種拆分至少占我們 EV 熱障收入的 70%。因此，我們認為，我們的季度收入運行率要到 2023 年第四季度才會超過我們 2022 年第四季度的運行率。全年優化我們的氣凝膠產能將在 2023 年底實現急劇增長方面發揮關鍵作用。

Last year, we demonstrated that we're flexible and can rise to this type of challenge when the demand is there. With this in mind, we also expect 95% of our gross profit in the second half of the year. We are executing several initiatives that would improve our profitability in 2023 and that we believe can reduce our cost of goods sold by over $10 million for the year and our OpEx by approximately $5 million.

去年，我們證明了我們很靈活，可以在有需求時應對此類挑戰。考慮到這一點，我們還預計下半年毛利將達到 95%。我們正在執行多項舉措，以提高我們在 2023 年的盈利能力，我們相信這些舉措可以將我們當年的銷售成本降低超過 1000 萬美元，並將我們的運營支出降低約 500 萬美元。

However, this early in the year, we are also conscious of the fixed expense base that we are carrying in anticipation of revenues in the second half of the year. Historically, the team has exceeded our expectations at minimizing these fixed expenses, but given the high variance in quarterly demand that we expect, investing in flexibility will pay dividends.

然而，今年年初，我們也意識到我們在預期下半年的收入時所攜帶的固定費用基數。從歷史上看，該團隊在最大限度地減少這些固定費用方面超出了我們的預期，但鑑於我們預期的季度需求差異很大，投資於靈活性將帶來回報。

Our investments in personnel and resources to capitalize on the growth that we are expecting will be more tempered in 2023 as we optimize our OpEx and aim it at commissioning Plant II, driving productivity through processes and systems and maintaining our technological and commercial lead in EV thermal barriers.

我們在人員和資源方面的投資將在 2023 年更加緩和，因為我們優化了我們的運營支出並將其用於調試 Plant II，通過流程和系統提高生產力並保持我們在 EV 熱能方面的技術和商業領先地位障礙。

With these actions, we expect adjusted EBITDA of between negative $50 million and negative $60 million and EPS of between a loss of $1.46 and a loss of $1.31 per share. This EPS outlook assumes a weighted average of 70 million shares outstanding for the year. In addition, this 2023 outlook assumes depreciation of $22.3 million, stock-based compensation expense of $11 million, and interest expense of $8.6 million. We also expect to incur between $350 million and $400 million of capital expenditures during the year principally for our Plant II project.

通過這些行動，我們預計調整後的 EBITDA 將在負 5000 萬美元至負 6000 萬美元之間，每股收益將在 1.46 美元至 1.31 美元之間。本每股收益展望假設全年流通股的加權平均數為 7000 萬股。此外，該 2023 年展望假設折舊為 2230 萬美元，基於股票的補償費用為 1100 萬美元，利息費用為 860 萬美元。我們還預計年內將產生 3.5 億美元至 4 億美元的資本支出，主要用於我們的 Plant II 項目。

In 2023, as Don mentioned in his earlier remarks, we will continue strengthening our balance sheet by raising capital from a wide range of sources. In the near term, we can rely on the $100 million secured loan commitment that we announced from General Motors in November of last year to support the ongoing funding of Plant II. We've also made progress to supplement that with up to $100 million of equipment-backed financing. We also continue managing several strategic discussions to ensure that we make the most of our collateral and profitable growth potential as we fund our strategy in a very supportive regulatory landscape.

到 2023 年，正如 Don 在他之前的發言中提到的那樣，我們將通過從廣泛的來源籌集資金來繼續加強我們的資產負債表。在短期內，我們可以依靠通用汽車去年 11 月宣布的 1 億美元擔保貸款承諾來支持 Plant II 的持續融資。我們還取得了進展，通過高達 1 億美元的設備支持融資來補充這一點。我們還繼續管理多項戰略討論，以確保我們在非常支持的監管環境中為我們的戰略提供資金時，充分利用我們的抵押品和盈利增長潛力。

Turning over to slide 6, I'd like to provide an update on Plant II, how its design has evolved, how the team has been navigating a rising construction and material cost environments, and the results of efforts in 2022 aimed at increasing the productivity of our processes and the flexibility of our overall capacity.

轉到幻燈片 6，我想介紹 Plant II 的最新情況，它的設計是如何演變的，團隊如何應對不斷上升的建築和材料成本環境，以及 2022 年旨在提高生產力的努力結果我們的流程和我們整體能力的靈活性。

In December of 2021, with a roughly 15% completed design, our team estimated that the cost of Phase 1 of Plant II would be at $575 million. Now, two weeks after having completed 85% of the design and having spent $165 million towards the project through the end of 2022, we estimate the cost of Phase 1 to be at $710 million, a $135 million increase. Approximately, $19 million of this increase, or 16%, is driven by higher material and construction costs.

2021 年 12 月，由於設計完成了大約 15%，我們的團隊估計二廠一期的成本為 5.75 億美元。現在，在完成 85% 的設計並在 2022 年底之前為該項目花費 1.65 億美元兩週後，我們估計第一階段的成本為 7.1 億美元，增加了 1.35 億美元。大約 1900 萬美元的增長，即 16%，是由更高的材料和建築成本推動的。

With the backdrop of a 21% rise in the cost of industrial building construction, a 15% rise in the cost of cement, and a 14% rise in the cost of industrial valves over the last 12 months, the team is optimistic about being able to manage through what is proving to be a difficult time to commission a construction project of any scale. The remaining increase of $45 million, or 8%, is driven by a higher level of clarity in the design of the plant. For example, at 15% design completion, we were defining the length of the plant's piping; while at 85% design completion, the team has the plant's piping specifications involving the final detail.

在過去 12 個月工業建築成本上漲 21%、水泥成本上漲 15%、工業閥門成本上漲 14% 的背景下，該團隊樂觀地認為能夠管理任何規模的建設項目都被證明是艱難的時期。剩餘的 4500 萬美元或 8% 的增長是由工廠設計的更高層次的清晰度推動的。例如，在設計完成 15% 時，我們定義了工廠管道的長度；當設計完成 85% 時，該團隊擁有涉及最終細節的工廠管道規範。

In light of this, and what we all know is a higher cost of capital environment, we've challenged the team to increase all our aerogel production capacity flexibility by implementing our latest design and production process improvements in 2023. We've also thought about how to optimize our product mix.

鑑於此，我們都知道資本環境成本更高，我們向團隊提出挑戰，要求他們在 2023 年實施我們最新的設計和生產流程改進，以提高我們所有氣凝膠生產能力的靈活性。我們還考慮過如何優化我們的產品組合。

As we optimize our revenue mix, our total annual revenue capacity for our plant in Rhode Island can be of up to $400 million per year, and the capacity of Phase 1 of Plant II can be of up to $1.2 billion, for a total annual revenue capacity of $1.6 billion. This compares to our prior revenue capacity estimate from just over a year ago of $250 million for our plant in Rhode Island and $650 million for Phase 1 of Plant II. At the time, we estimated that these assets provided a total revenue capacity of $900 million.

隨著我們優化收入結構，我們在羅德島州工廠的年總收入能力可達每年 4 億美元，二期工廠一期產能可達 12 億美元，年總收入產能達 16 億美元。相比之下，一年多前我們對羅德島工廠 2.5 億美元和第二工廠一期 6.5 億美元的收入能力估計。當時，我們估計這些資產提供了 9 億美元的總收入能力。

In light of having to spend an incremental $135 million on Phase 1 of Plant II, we focused on driving the flexibility to not just deliver our 2025 revenue plans, but to be ready for additional opportunities. We're seeing the long-term volume plans for our EV thermal barrier awarded business increase to the point where we believe that these can make up anywhere between 80% and 170% of our target 2025 PyroThin revenues.

鑑於必須在 Plant II 的第一階段增加 1.35 億美元的支出，我們專注於提高靈活性，不僅要實現我們的 2025 年收入計劃，還要為更多機會做好準備。我們看到我們的 EV 熱障授予業務的長期數量計劃增加到我們認為這些可以占我們 2025 年 PyroThin 目標收入的 80% 到 170% 之間的任何地方。

Finally, let's focus our attention on slide 7. Throughout last year, we laid out our views on the battery chemistries and the form factors that were most logically compatible with PyroThin. Later, we used the map to relay our team's level of engagement with various customers around the world. Today, we'd like to dive deeper into our award quote pipeline through 2030.

最後，讓我們將注意力集中在幻燈片 7 上。去年，我們闡述了我們對電池化學成分和最符合 PyroThin 邏輯兼容的形狀因素的看法。後來，我們使用地圖來傳達我們團隊與世界各地不同客戶的互動程度。今天，我們想深入探討到 2030 年的獎勵報價管道。

In North America, we assess that we have the potential to capture an estimated $10 billion of revenues between 2023 and 2030. Our discussions have progressed with the second North American OEM from their testing of the material to us providing quotes and being engaged on various nameplates.

在北美，我們估計我們有可能在 2023 年到 2030 年之間獲得大約 100 億美元的收入。我們與第二家北美 OEM 的討論取得了進展，從他們對材料的測試到我們提供報價和參與各種銘牌.

In Europe, we estimate the value of our active quotes to be of approximately $3 billion. These include the revenues from the potential vehicle platform award linked to the letter of intent that Don mentioned in his remarks. We mentioned this LOI because, while it isn't an award, in this particular OEM sourcing process, it serves as important communication to a supplier that its technology has been selected to be procured and that it is being package protected for in the platform's design. The value of this award can also expand as more nameplates are announced for this EV platform.

在歐洲，我們估計我們主動報價的價值約為 30 億美元。其中包括與 Don 在其評論中提到的意向書相關的潛在車輛平台獎勵的收入。我們提到這個 LOI 是因為，雖然它不是一個獎項，但在這個特定的 OEM 採購流程中，它可以作為重要的溝通方式向供應商傳達其技術已被選中採購併且在平台設計中受到包裝保護.隨著該 EV 平台的更多銘牌發布，該獎項的價值也可以擴大。

We are also scheduled to supply the same OEM's commercial vehicle division with a meaningful prototype part order for approximately 1.5 million parts as part of the development work required to get sourced on a commercial vehicle platform.

我們還計劃向同一 OEM 的商用車部門提供約 150 萬個零件的有意義的原型零件訂單，作為在商用車平台上採購所需的開發工作的一部分。

In Asia, the team continues making progress, and we assess our quoted and awarded opportunities to be of over $2 billion through 2030. As one can see, NMC and LFP chemistries, with prismatic and pouch cell opportunities alone, can provide $15 billion of revenue by 2030. LFP chemistries are popular in China, but we are seeing some OEMs in the West inquire about solutions to enable safety in LFP, and several of our quotes are for these types of programs.

在亞洲，該團隊繼續取得進展，我們評估到 2030 年我們報價和授予的機會將超過 20 億美元。可以看出，NMC 和 LFP 化學，僅棱柱和軟包電池機會，就可以提供 150 億美元的收入到 2030 年。LFP 化學品在中國很受歡迎，但我們看到西方的一些原始設備製造商詢問解決方案以確保 LFP 的安全性，我們的一些報價是針對這些類型的項目。

Our teams have also built relationships with battery Tier 1s or entities that have been established to supply multiple OEMs with assembled battery packs as part of a battery platform. These present a significant opportunity to expand within multiple OEMs, and we have two of these opportunities within our active quote pipeline.

我們的團隊還與電池一級供應商或實體建立了關係，這些實體已建立起來為多個原始設備製造商提供組裝電池組作為電池平台的一部分。這些提供了在多個原始設備製造商中擴展的重要機會，我們在主動報價管道中有兩個這樣的機會。

With that, I'm happy to turn the call back to Don.

有了這個，我很高興把電話轉回給唐。

Thank you, Ricardo. We have covered a significant amount of ground today in reviewing 2022 and in setting the stage for 2023 and beyond. I would like to emphasize four points.

謝謝你，里卡多。今天，我們在回顧 2022 年和為 2023 年及以後的發展奠定基礎方面已經涵蓋了大量基礎知識。我想強調四點。

First, we had record revenue in 2022, finished with a strong Q4, and positioned ourselves to achieve our target of doubling revenue from 2021 to 2023 to $240 million.

首先，我們在 2022 年實現了創紀錄的收入，並以強勁的第四季度結束，並定位於實現我們的目標，即 2021 年至 2023 年收入翻一番，達到 2.4 億美元。

Second, our business development pipeline for PyroThin thermal barriers is robust. Between existing customers and new customer prospects, we have been invited to quote $15 billion of PyroThin thermal barrier business. We are in a strong position to serve existing customers and to add important new customers.

其次，我們的 PyroThin 熱障業務開發渠道非常穩健。在現有客戶和新客戶潛在客戶之間，我們已受邀報價 150 億美元的 PyroThin 熱障業務。我們在服務現有客戶和增加重要的新客戶方面處於有利地位。

Third, we are actively managing cost and schedule pressures of Plant II in a way that enables us to achieve our 2025 revenue target of $720 million and provides maximum flexibility to meet the potential for significant customer demand.

第三，我們正在積極管理 Plant II 的成本和進度壓力，使我們能夠實現 2025 年 7.2 億美元的收入目標，並提供最大的靈活性來滿足潛在的重要客戶需求。

And fourth, we are focused on leveraging our operating efficiencies to achieve our gross margin target of 35% and to drive significant profitability as we scale.

第四，我們專注於利用我們的運營效率來實現我們 35% 的毛利率目標，並在我們擴大規模時推動顯著的盈利能力。

Elliot, let's turn the call to Q&A, please.

埃利奧特，讓我們把電話轉到問答環節。

(Operator Instructions) Eric Stine, Craig-Hallum.

（操作員說明）Eric Stine，Craig-Hallum。

Good morning, everyone.

大家，早安。

Eric, how are you?

埃里克，你好嗎？

Great. So maybe we can just start with Plant II. And I know over the last couple of months, the thought process has been to get away from kind of Phase 1, Phase 2 because it was a bit confusing. But I guess maybe, first, given that you still are talking about Phase 1 here and at $1.6 billion of overall revenue capabilities -- that's where you were when you were talking about where you'd be for Phase 2.

偉大的。所以也許我們可以從 Plant II 開始。我知道在過去的幾個月裡，思考過程一直在擺脫第 1 階段、第 2 階段，因為它有點令人困惑。但我想也許，首先，鑑於你仍在談論第一階段，以及 16 億美元的總收入能力——這就是你在談論第二階段的位置時的位置。

So maybe thoughts on what you would be able to get to when Phase 2 is completed. And then also maybe just more detail on some of the steps. How are you expanding this -- it's pretty meaningful -- in Georgia but also in Rhode Island?

因此，您可能會想一想當第 2 階段完成時您將能夠做什麼。然後也可能只是一些步驟的更多細節。你是如何在佐治亞州和羅德島擴大這個——這很有意義？

Yeah. No, that's a good question, Eric. I mean, in an ideal world, we wouldn't be talking about phases anymore. I think we just use the Phase 1 label given that we had put that out there just over a year ago, alongside Phase 2 as well.

是的。不，這是個好問題，埃里克。我的意思是，在一個理想的世界裡，我們不會再談論階段了。我認為我們只是使用第一階段的標籤，因為我們在一年多前就已經把它和第二階段一起放在那裡了。

It is worth highlighting, though, that Phase 1 has still the infrastructure to pave the way for us to add the capacity that had been outlined for Phase 2. But obviously, if you recalculate that, that is now a much higher amount using the methods that we're now referencing.

不過，值得強調的是，第 1 階段仍然具有為我們增加第 2 階段概述的容量鋪平道路的基礎設施。但顯然，如果你重新計算，現在使用方法的數量要多得多我們現在正在引用。

And so I would argue that Phase 2 would now be more like Phases 2 through 5. And so we have the ability to more incrementally add equipment to the plant, particularly in what happens to be the longest cycle time process of our facility, which is the extraction of the liquid from the roles.

因此，我認為第 2 階段現在更像是第 2 階段到第 5 階段。因此我們有能力更多地向工廠添加設備，特別是在恰好是我們設施最長周期時間的過程中，這是從角色中提取液體。

And so I mean, right now, frankly, we're more focused on just the demand being there in the second half of 2023 before going to plan for these additional phases of expansion to the plant. But as I've outlined in my remarks, we think that what we're planning to do with Plant II now does give us the flexibility to capture our 2025 revenues and to flex well beyond that as we allocate revenue capacity.

所以我的意思是，坦率地說，現在我們更關注 2023 年下半年的需求，然後再計劃工廠的這些額外擴建階段。但正如我在發言中概述的那樣，我們認為，我們現在計劃對 Plant II 做的事情確實讓我們能夠靈活地獲取 2025 年的收入，並在分配收入能力時靈活地遠遠超出這一點。

And to your question on really what changed in the process, I think it's really been multiple things that the team has applied to our site in Rhode Island, frankly, to get us to the run rate that we delivered in Q4. That was a big meaningful step.

對於你關於這個過程中真正發生了什麼變化的問題，我認為坦率地說，團隊已經將很多東西應用到我們在羅德島的網站上，以使我們達到我們在第四季度交付的運行率。這是意義重大的一步。

But it's also worth -- within our product range, the roll length that we can make at the plant actually vary significantly between one product and the other. And as we prioritize those products that we make in higher roll lengths, we're able to get more square feet of aerogel, which, assuming the price is the same for all of them -- which is not -- you can see how it's just a much leaner mix on the plant, and we're able to crank out more product as a result.

但它也值得——在我們的產品範圍內，我們在工廠生產的捲材長度實際上在一種產品和另一種產品之間有很大差異。當我們優先考慮那些我們生產的捲長較長的產品時，我們能夠獲得更多平方英尺的氣凝膠，假設所有產品的價格都相同——但事實並非如此——你可以看到它是怎樣的只是在工廠中進行了更精簡的混合，因此我們能夠生產出更多的產品。

Eric, as a key point -- just to reiterate -- just one point I would just reiterate is as we are managing the build, first and foremost was our ability to be sure we were able to meet our 2025 revenue target, the tripling of revenue to $720 million. And the design does have that capability, and more frankly, as we see potential upside as we scale our business and as the megatrend continues to take shape.

埃里克，作為一個關鍵點——只是重申一下——我只想重申一點是，在我們管理構建的過程中，首先也是最重要的是我們有能力確保我們能夠實現 2025 年的收入目標，即收入達到 7.2 億美元。而且設計確實具有這種能力，更坦率地說，隨著我們擴展業務和大趨勢繼續形成，我們看到了潛在的優勢。

Got it. And so -- but maybe another way to think about this -- you were targeting with Phase 2, $1.6 billion in revenue capacity, and I think the CapEx number was $700 million. So effectively, I mean, yes, you're increasing $575 million to $710 million, but you're really -- it's an increase of $10 million for a like amount of capacity. I mean is that a fair way to think about it?

知道了。所以——但也許是另一種思考方式——你的目標是第二階段，16 億美元的收入能力，我認為資本支出數字是 7 億美元。如此有效，我的意思是，是的，你增加了 5.75 億美元到 7.1 億美元，但你真的 - 對於同樣數量的容量，它增加了 1000 萬美元。我的意思是，這是一種公平的思考方式嗎？

It is. I mean, I think there is more product mix trade-offs that are implied in the $1.6 billion revenue number. But yeah, I mean, the math is the math. It is a lot more capital efficient now as with how we plan the capacity.

這是。我的意思是，我認為 16 億美元的收入數字暗示了更多的產品組合權衡。但是，是的，我的意思是，數學就是數學。與我們規劃產能的方式相比，現在的資本效率要高得多。

Got it. And then maybe just on the award and quote pipeline, and thanks for all the details there. But I do notice that you no longer have people in the testing phase. They've all moved to the quote phase.

知道了。然後可能只是關於獎勵和報價管道，並感謝那裡的所有細節。但我注意到你們不再有人處於測試階段。他們都進入了報價階段。

Is it still fair to say that although you're not in charge of when you're able to announce these things, the OEM is -- that your expectation is that you'll be adding more, I mean, beyond the German OEM and the opportunities that you've detailed today?

是否仍然公平地說，雖然您不負責何時能夠宣布這些事情，但 OEM 是 - 您的期望是您將添加更多，我的意思是，除了德國 OEM 和您今天詳述的機會？

Yes. I mean, we're sort of playing with two charts here. One is the map that we had before and now this zoom on the quote pipeline. I would argue that those OEMs that we're testing -- that are testing the material or frankly that where we've quoted and sold prototype parts, too, there are several who were quoting those testing parts or prototypes that would need to be added to this list when we actually quote a production program for them.

是的。我的意思是，我們在這裡玩兩個圖表。一張是我們之前的地圖，現在放大了報價管道。我會爭辯說，我們正在測試的那些 OEM 正在測試材料，或者坦率地說，在我們報價和銷售原型零件的地方，也有幾個人在引用那些需要添加的測試零件或原型當我們實際為他們報價生產程序時，請到此列表。

So one thing that's worth clarifying is that here on slide 7, what we included are only production vehicle quotes. So this is our production vehicle quote pipeline.

所以值得澄清的一件事是，在幻燈片 7 中，我們包含的只是生產車輛的報價。所以這是我們的生產車輛報價管道。

Got it. So there's that thing beyond that?

知道了。那麼除此之外還有其他東西嗎？

Correct. Yeah.

正確的。是的。

I think one other point -- there'd be one other point I would make -- one observation I would make, Eric, is I would say that our -- the testing period seems to be shorter than maybe originally. And it's I think in part because our domain expertise, our knowledge, is much greater. Our product is better characterized as we've gone through the process with several of these OEMs.

我想還有一點——我會提出另一點——埃里克，我會做的一個觀察是，我會說我們的——測試期似乎比最初可能要短。我認為部分原因是我們的領域專業知識和知識要豐富得多。我們的產品具有更好的特徵，因為我們已經與其中幾家 OEM 一起完成了這個過程。

And so -- and I think there is more urgency on the OEM's part to move through the process more quickly as well. And so for a combination of reasons, I think that testing period is tending to be a little shorter than it was a year or so ago.

所以——我認為 OEM 方面也更加迫切地需要更快地完成這個過程。因此，出於多種原因，我認為測試期比一年前要短一些。

Got it. Okay. I will take the rest offline. Thanks.

知道了。好的。我會把剩下的離線。謝謝。

Thanks, Eric.

謝謝，埃里克。

Thanks, Eric.

謝謝，埃里克。

Colin Rusch, Oppenheimer.

科林·魯施，奧本海默。

Thanks so much, guys. Could you talk a little bit about the pricing dynamics as you're going through this quoting process? How much leverage do you guys have from a pricing perspective, as well as the volume of content per vehicle and how that is trending?

非常感謝，伙計們。在您進行此報價過程時，您能否談談定價動態？從定價的角度來看，你們有多少影響力，以及每輛車的內容量以及趨勢如何？

I mean, we definitely have not seen any weakness. We -- as Don mentioned, the fact that the testing goes through much faster and that we are able to leverage some of our own testing data to advance the pipeline further has given us leverage to not only accelerate these discussions. But I think when -- we have a pretty, I wouldn't say simple or easy message to deliver to customers, but when one looks at the capital that we're investing here, we are laser focused on paying it back and more.

我的意思是，我們絕對沒有看到任何弱點。正如 Don 所提到的，我們能夠更快地進行測試，並且我們能夠利用我們自己的一些測試數據來進一步推進管道，這一事實使我們不僅可以加速這些討論。但我認為 - 我們有一個漂亮的，我不會說簡單或容易的信息來傳達給客戶，但當人們看到我們在這裡投資的資本時，我們會專注於回報等等。

And I think with that, we can justify the pricing and not really go into the pricing dynamics of selling something that's been commoditized. And so we saw a very special need here. We're well aware of that, but at the same time, we realize that we are having to spend a lot of capital to supply that. And we are focused on paying it back and more, and therefore, the price is the price.

我認為這樣一來，我們就可以證明定價的合理性，而不是真正進入銷售商品化產品的定價動態。所以我們在這裡看到了一個非常特殊的需求。我們很清楚這一點，但與此同時，我們意識到我們必須花費大量資金來提供它。我們專注於償還它以及更多，因此，價格就是價格。

And we are very focused, Colin, of course, on our stated target of 35% gross margin as a business here as we scale here in the near future. So that underlies our pricing strategy, that concept. We also believe we're bringing significant value to these customers, and that has also given us the latitude to be firm in our quoting process.

科林，當然，我們非常專注於我們在不久的將來在這裡擴展業務時，將毛利率定為 35% 的目標。所以這是我們定價策略的基礎，這個概念。我們也相信我們正在為這些客戶帶來巨大的價值，這也讓我們有足夠的自由度在我們的報價過程中保持堅定。

It's funny we have a short list of companies that sell into our markets that are doing 70%-plus gross margins on a good year. And we've actually shown that here across our team because in some ways, we really shouldn't be having to apologize for being profitable. I think, when you have something unique and when you are solving a problem, we strongly believe in capturing our fair share of the value, but most importantly, paying all this capital back.

有趣的是，我們有一份進入我們市場銷售的公司的簡短名單，這些公司的毛利率在好年景中達到了 70% 以上。事實上，我們已經在整個團隊中展示了這一點，因為在某些方面，我們真的不應該為盈利而道歉。我認為，當你有一些獨特的東西並且當你正在解決一個問題時，我們堅信應該獲得我們應得的價值份額，但最重要的是，償還所有這些資本。

That's super helpful. And then as you scale this business, obviously, you need to grow the team a fair amount. Could you just talk a little bit about the cadence of OpEx and investments that you need to make here over the next 12 months to 18 months to really support the growth trajectory that you guys are talking about?

這非常有幫助。然後，當您擴展這項業務時，顯然，您需要相當大地擴大團隊。您能否談談未來 12 個月到 18 個月內您需要在這裡進行的運營支出和投資的節奏，以真正支持你們正在談論的增長軌跡？

Yeah. So you've probably heard in my remarks here over the past three quarters where our tone on this has changed. So I think we've gone through, I would say, two significant step function increases in OpEx -- one big one in 2021 and then another one at the beginning of last year. Then, it was really during the second half of last year where we started seeing that we could actually leverage a lot of the work that has been done, literally throughout all of our functions, to get more efficient and ultimately really change how we work.

是的。所以你可能在過去三個季度裡從我在這裡的發言中聽到我們對此的基調發生了變化。所以我認為我們已經經歷了，我想說，OpEx 的兩個重要的階躍函數增加——一個是在 2021 年，另一個是在去年年初。然後，實際上是在去年下半年，我們開始看到我們實際上可以利用已經完成的大量工作，實際上遍及我們所有的職能部門，以提高效率並最終真正改變我們的工作方式。

And we've started switching the spigot from investing in just adding more people to investing in our IT systems, implementing more processes. And really, the hiring has slowed on the OpEx side, and we've only focused it, as I've mentioned in my remarks, on just delivering very clear R&D milestones that are time-bound and that are not research expeditions, but that are actually driven towards improving our processes and reducing our manufacturing costs.

我們已經開始將水龍頭從投資增加更多人轉向投資我們的 IT 系統，實施更多流程。實際上，OpEx 方面的招聘已經放緩，正如我在發言中提到的那樣，我們只將重點放在提供非常明確的研發里程碑上，這些里程碑是有時間限制的，不是研究探險，而是實際上是為了改進我們的流程和降低我們的製造成本。

And then on the commercial side, it's really been encouraging to see how the team has been able to leverage baseline work from when we were initially working with General Motors to actually build an archive of our own test data that we used to accelerate these commercial discussions. And then on the support functions, I think we've added capability, and we've hired a lot of new people from the outside, who are bringing their ways of working and their tools and their knowledge of these different tool chains that we're now working to implement, and they are yielding results.

然後在商業方面，看到團隊如何利用我們最初與通用汽車公司合作時的基線工作來實際構建我們自己的測試數據檔案，我們用來加速這些商業討論，這真的令人鼓舞.然後在支持功能方面，我認為我們已經增加了能力，並且我們從外部聘請了很多新人，他們帶來了他們的工作方式和他們的工具以及他們對我們的這些不同工具鏈的知識現在正在努力實施，並且正在取得成果。

So our hope is that we actually taper the OpEx growth this year, but at the same time, this need of being flexible and this transition as we implement new tools and processes, I think, will sign up to take more OpEx out of this or to actually start taking OpEx out of this ramp that we've had as these things start being implemented on the support functions side particularly.

因此，我們希望今年我們實際上會減少運營支出的增長，但與此同時，這種靈活性的需求以及隨著我們實施新工具和流程的這種轉變，我認為，將簽署協議以從中獲得更多的運營支出或實際開始將 OpEx 從我們已經擁有的這個斜坡中取出，因為這些東西開始在支持功能方面特別實施。

Yeah. I would just emphasize that we have invested in our OpEx in anticipation. And so as we scale, as we grow, you're going to see a disproportionate amount of growth relative to any OpEx increases at this point by a wide margin.

是的。我只想強調，我們已經在預期中投資了我們的運營支出。因此，隨著我們規模的擴大，隨著我們的發展，你會看到與任何運營支出增長相比，增長幅度不成比例。

I mean, Colin, maybe to summarize it, in my mind, OpEx as a North Star should not be more than 10 percentage points of sales. And so right now, we're pretty high, like the revenues would need to be a $1 billion for us to absorb all of our OpEx run rate. And so we're not just focused on letting the revenues get to $1 billion, but also bringing the OpEx back down to something that aligns with 10% on the $725 million in 2025.

我的意思是，Colin，也許可以總結一下，在我看來，作為北極星的 OpEx 不應超過銷售額的 10 個百分點。所以現在，我們非常高，就像我們需要 10 億美元的收入才能吸收我們所有的 OpEx 運行率。因此，我們不僅專注於讓收入達到 10 億美元，而且還將運營支出降低到與 2025 年 7.25 億美元的 10% 一致的水平。

Really appreciate that target. That's incredibly helpful for understanding the long-term model. Thanks, guys.

真的很感激這個目標。這對於理解長期模型非常有幫助。多謝你們。

Anytime.

任何時候。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Chris Souther, B. Riley.

克里斯·薩瑟 (Chris Souther)、B. 賴利 (B. Riley)。

Hey, guys. Thanks for taking my questions here. Can you give us any sense on the timing of that German OEM's platform? I'm curious if that's what adds to the 2025 visibility? What do you think that's 2026 plus?

大家好。感謝您在這裡提出我的問題。您能否告訴我們該德國 OEM 平台的時間安排？我很好奇這是否會增加 2025 年的知名度？你認為 2026 plus 是什麼？

And then, I think on the call, you said the awarded business represents anywhere from 80% to 170% of the target for 2025. Is that saying in future years beyond 2025, we see just this program is kind of growing beyond the 2025 target? Or is that including any of the people that you're quoting?

然後，我想在電話會議上，你說獲獎企業代表 2025 年目標的 80% 到 170%。這就是說在 2025 年以後的幾年裡，我們看到這個項目的增長有點超過了 2025 年的目標？還是包括您引用的任何人？

Yeah. So I'm happy to take the one on the platform first and then go into that remark around the percentage of the 2025 revenue target that is made up by the existing awards.

是的。因此，我很高興先在平台上拿一個，然後就現有獎項占 2025 年收入目標的百分比發表評論。

So yes, the LOI is for an SOP. I think the first SOP on that platform is in 2025. So we do expect a little bit of revenue from that in 2025. And then, I mean, we have been fairly conservative as we estimate the value of these awards.

所以是的，LOI 是針對 SOP 的。我認為該平台上的第一個 SOP 是在 2025 年。因此我們確實預計 2025 年會從中獲得一些收入。然後，我的意思是，我們在估計這些獎項的價值時一直相當保守。

And yes, at the same time, it's one of those things where if you put together all of the volumes of all the OEMs, you end up with a market that's two times larger than the vehicle market. Everybody has high aspirations here as they ramp-up their production forecast. And we just want to be cautious, but at the same time, just given how profound this transition to electrification is looking, whether 2025 is the year when all of this becomes mainstream or 2026, we just don't want to be wrong.

是的，與此同時，如果你把所有 OEM 的所有數量放在一起，你最終會得到一個比汽車市場大兩倍的市場。這裡的每個人都抱有很高的期望，因為他們提高了產量預測。我們只是想保持謹慎，但與此同時，鑑於這種向電氣化的過渡看起來有多麼深刻，無論 2025 年是所有這些成為主流的一年還是 2026 年，我們只是不想出錯。

And that's why we thought that expressing that and just showing what the value of these awards can be, not just in 2025 and beyond, plus the quote pipeline that the team is actively working. If people see the scope of that, one can then understand why we are pushing the team to flex our capacity in the way that we're doing it.

這就是為什麼我們認為表達這一點並展示這些獎項的價值，而不僅僅是在 2025 年及以後，再加上團隊正在積極工作的報價管道。如果人們看到了它的範圍，那麼人們就會理解為什麼我們要推動團隊以我們正在做的方式來展示我們的能力。

Okay. No, that certainly makes sense. So the incremental move from 60% visibility, I think you had previously talked about the 80%, it's just more confidence around the volumes with just those two folks?

好的。不，這當然有道理。因此，從 60% 的可見性開始逐步提高，我想你之前已經談到了 80%，這只是對這兩個人更有信心嗎？

Yeah. I would say it's the same level of confidence applied to more volumes.

是的。我會說，同樣的信心水平適用於更多的捲。

Okay. Got it. And then maybe just -- looks like the gross margins are going to fluctuate pretty largely from the beginning of the year to the end of the year. It sounds like a lot of the PyroThin you're going to be producing ahead of time to be shipping in the second half. So you probably have a similar phenomenon, where scrap costs you incurred in the first half will be probably be shipped later.

好的。知道了。然後也許 - 看起來毛利率將從年初到年底波動很大。聽起來您要提前生產很多 PyroThin，以便在下半年發貨。所以你可能有類似的現象，你上半年產生的報廢成本很可能會在後面發貨。

But maybe you could give us a sense where you think PyroThin gross margins should land for the full year. And then looking at the exit rate, probably pretty similar to what we saw in the fourth quarter here. And how does that trajectory shape for 2024 when the ramps continue or stabilize?

但也許你可以告訴我們你認為 PyroThin 全年的毛利率應該在哪裡。然後看看退出率，可能與我們在第四季度看到的非常相似。當斜坡繼續或穩定時，2024 年的軌跡如何形成？

Yeah. So really, for us, the profitability of PyroThin -- it's hard to go into that one because it really all hinges on the volumes during the second half of the year. However, if our expectations really align there, particularly in the middle of our revenue range, then, we do believe that we can make PyroThin gross margin positive for the year and then have that progress in 2024 and 2025 to the point that our gross profit moves into the mid-teens in 2024 if the growth rate continues.

是的。所以真的，對我們來說，PyroThin 的盈利能力——很難進入那個，因為它真的完全取決於今年下半年的銷量。但是，如果我們的預期真的在那裡，特別是在我們的收入範圍的中間，那麼我們確實相信我們可以使 PyroThin 的毛利率在今年為正，然後在 2024 年和 2025 年取得進展，使我們的毛利潤達到如果增長率繼續下去，到 2024 年將進入十幾歲中期。

I mean, you can draw a line from 35% to where we're at today, and I think we've shown in Q4 that when the demand is there, we can easily dig ourselves out of negative gross margins. And we think we'll dig out PyroThin this year if the demand is there in the second half.

我的意思是，你可以從 35% 到我們今天的水平畫一條線，我認為我們在第四季度已經表明，當需求存在時，我們可以很容易地擺脫負毛利率。我們認為，如果下半年有需求，我們將在今年挖出 PyroThin。

Got it. That's very helpful. I'll hop in the queue. Thanks, guys.

知道了。這很有幫助。我會插隊。多謝你們。

Thanks, Chris.

謝謝，克里斯。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Alex Potter, Piper Sandler.

亞歷克斯波特，派珀桑德勒。

Hi, guys. So first question, I was wondering if you could comment on whether you think you're going to draw on any of the loan from General Motors. I know that some of that money was contingent on construction milestones at Plant II and that you weren't necessarily going to draw on the money in the first place. So just curious on your updated thoughts on that topic.

嗨，大家好。所以第一個問題，我想知道你是否可以評論你是否認為你會從通用汽車那裡提取任何貸款。我知道其中一些資金取決於 Plant II 的建設里程碑，而且您不一定一開始就動用這筆資金。所以只是好奇你對那個話題的最新想法。

Yes. So we basically have a window between now and the end of September of this year to draw it. The requirement to draw the first $33 million is that we complete the site work in Georgia, which has actually been completed already, and that we spend the $100 million that we got from the public offering from Koch.

是的。所以從現在到今年 9 月底，我們基本上有一個窗口來繪製它。提取第一筆 3300 萬美元的要求是我們完成佐治亞州的現場工作，實際上已經完成了，我們花掉了從科赫公司公開募股中獲得的 1 億美元。

And we will most likely have spent that here by the end of March, early April. And at that point is when we would draw this first $33 million from the loan. We've been in close contact with General Motors on this, and they are basically ready to receive our draw form here at the end of March, early April.

我們很可能會在 3 月底、4 月初之前在這裡度過這些時光。屆時我們將從貸款中提取第一筆 3300 萬美元。我們一直就此與通用汽車保持密切聯繫，他們基本上準備好在 3 月底、4 月初在這裡收到我們的抽籤表格。

Okay, very good. And then maybe just going back to pricing. I can appreciate the comments you were talking about earlier with regard to -- Aspen is adding value; you don't have to apologize to being profitable, things like this.

好的，非常好。然後也許只是回到定價。我很欣賞你之前談到的關於 -- Aspen 正在增加價值的評論；你不必為盈利而道歉，像這樣的事情。

I'm just curious, when you go into these conversations like the LOI, for instance, with this German OEM, is pricing more or less set in stone? Are you just coming into it saying, this is the price, now, let's talk about everything else? Or is pricing sort of a -- you have a placeholder there that you will come back to and finalize at the end of the agreement? Just how much visibility do you have on pricing at this stage in the discussion with that relationship in particular and with others more broadly? Thanks.

我只是好奇，當你像 LOI 這樣的對話時，例如，與這家德國 OEM，定價或多或少是一成不變的？你是不是只是說，這是價格，現在，讓我們談談其他一切？還是定價有點——你在那裡有一個佔位符，你會在協議結束時返回並最終確定？在這個階段，在與這種關係以及更廣泛的其他人的討論中，您對定價有多大的了解？謝謝。

Yeah. I think at this point, there have been several turns on a lot of these quotes. You usually go through an iteration of them, and the team knows what the art of the possible is. And at some point, you just really stop making sense.

是的。我認為在這一點上，很多這些引述已經發生了幾次轉折。你通常會經歷它們的迭代，團隊知道什麼是可能的藝術。在某些時候，你真的不再有意義了。

But yeah, at this point, indicative pricing has been agreed on that. We think it's worth allocating the capacity for it, and then that may evolve really more -- it's more driven by the design of the part itself than, I would say, any sort of negotiations.

但是，是的，在這一點上，已經就指示性定價達成一致。我們認為為它分配容量是值得的，然後它可能會真正發展更多——它更多地是由零件本身的設計驅動的，而不是我想說的任何類型的談判。

Yeah. I think, Alex, the LOI -- both technically and the commercial terms are pretty fully negotiated at this point. There is not much mystery left on that.

是的。我認為，亞歷克斯，LOI——技術和商業條款在這一點上都已經完全協商好了。對此沒有太多的神秘感。

Great. Okay. Thanks a lot, guys.

偉大的。好的。非常感謝，伙計們。

Thank you.

謝謝。

George Gianarikas, Canaccord Genuity.

George Gianarikas，Canaccord Genuity。

Hi. Good morning, everyone. Thanks for taking my question.

你好。大家，早安。感謝您提出我的問題。

Hi, George.

嗨，喬治。

I'd like to focus on General Motors. And there's obviously been a lot of ink spilled on their potential decision to move some of their battery manufacturing capacity to cylindrical. Just your thoughts on that, the fourth plant, et cetera, any guidance there as to what it means for your volumes.

我想關注通用汽車。很明顯，他們可能決定將部分電池製造能力轉移到圓柱形電池上，這引起了很多爭議。只是你對此的想法，第四家工廠等等，關於它對你的數量意味著什麼的任何指導。

And second, I'd like to ask about Ford. It appears that -- I'm just going to venture and guess that that might be the North American OEM that you're quoting. And I guess, they've halted production of their Ford F-150, and overnight, there has been discussion in the press around that production halt being related to a battery fire. So if you could just touch on both questions, I'd appreciate it. Thank you.

其次，我想問一下福特。看來 - 我只是想冒險並猜測那可能是您引用的北美 OEM。我猜，他們已經停止了福特 F-150 的生產，一夜之間，媒體上一直在討論停產與電池起火有關。所以，如果你能談談這兩個問題，我將不勝感激。謝謝。

Well, on the GM question, I would just categorize it as speculation, as most of that ink has done. And we're closely engaged with General Motors, not only on their current activities but with development activities as well. So I don't want to comment too much on that.

好吧，關於通用汽車的問題，我只是將其歸類為猜測，就像大多數墨水所做的那樣。我們與通用汽車密切合作，不僅參與他們當前的活動，還參與開發活動。所以我不想對此發表過多評論。

I think it makes sense for any OEM to be exploring various chemistries, various form factors, as they think through their ultimate lineup of vehicles. And so all of these things -- I think one can imagine companies doing those sorts of things, but -- so specifically to General Motors -- I would just put it in the category of speculation and we don't really have any particular knowledge of anything that was talked about in those Korean trade publications.

我認為對於任何 OEM 來說，探索各種化學物質、各種外形因素都是有意義的，因為他們會考慮他們的最終車輛陣容。所以所有這些事情——我認為人們可以想像公司會做這些事情，但是——特別是對於通用汽車——我只想把它歸入推測的範疇，我們真的沒有任何特別的知識那些韓國貿易出版物中談論的任何事情。

With respect to Ford, yeah, we've read and come to understand, I think, the same things that you have, George, and that you highlighted. The stopped production, stopped shipments originally articulated around a battery issue, I think, now a more refined, and this may fall into the category of speculation -- but in fact, or as I read at least -- around a battery fire of a stored vehicle that propagated across the battery platform into at least to another vehicle next to it.

關於福特，是的，我們已經閱讀並開始理解，我認為，喬治，你所擁有的和你強調的一樣。停產、停運最初是圍繞電池問題闡述的，我想，現在更細化了，這可能屬於猜測的範疇——但實際上，或者至少我讀到的——圍繞著一個電池起火存儲的車輛通過電池平台傳播到至少旁邊的另一輛車。

And so, I think, my view of Ford is that they are highly focused on battery performance and safety, and they're engaged in getting these platforms right for the long term. And they are certainly sensitive to creating any brand damage that comes from these kinds of events. So that's our view. We don't know a lot more about the specific situation than you do.

因此，我認為，我對福特的看法是，他們高度關注電池性能和安全性，並且他們致力於讓這些平台長期保持正確。他們當然對此類事件造成的任何品牌損害很敏感。這就是我們的觀點。我們對具體情況的了解並不比您多。

Can you just go back to the General Motors question just for a second because I think ultimately, this is about -- can Aspen hit their tripling of revenue by 2025 if GM decides in this fourth plant or maybe even a third plant to switch some production to cylindrical, and therefore, they might not need your material.

你能不能再回到通用汽車的問題上來，因為我認為最終，這是關於——如果通用汽車決定在這第四家工廠甚至第三家工廠轉換部分生產，到 2025 年阿斯彭的收入能否達到三倍？圓柱形，因此，他們可能不需要您的材料。

Is that something we should worry about or have these other potential wins, this quoting these LOIs, have they kind of reinforced your conviction that that's a real target in those outyears? Thank you so much.

這是我們應該擔心的事情，還是有這些其他潛在的勝利，引用這些 LOI，他們是否加強了你的信念，即那是那些年的真正目標？太感謝了。

Yeah. Thank you, George. 2025 -- and Ricardo knows this better than I do -- 2025 is not very far away when it comes to building battery factories and having battery factories and having products, form factors, and chemistries. And so I don't really view this as a 2025 issue, and I should say, potential speculative issue.

是的。謝謝你，喬治。 2025 年——里卡多比我更清楚這一點——就建造電池工廠和擁有電池工廠以及擁有產品、形狀因素和化學物質而言，2025 年並不遙遠。所以我真的不認為這是 2025 年的問題，我應該說，潛在的投機問題。

And again, I think it will make sense for all OEMs to experiment with form factors and chemistries that may differ over certain parts of their fleet. And again, I'm not assigning this to General Motors; I'm assigning this to just logic. But 2025 is, again, a very short time away in sort of battery development and battery factory building. So again, we don't think that's an enormous risk for us today.

而且，我認為所有原始設備製造商都可以嘗試在其機隊的某些部分可能不同的外形和化學成分。再說一次，我不會將此分配給通用汽車；我將其分配給邏輯。但是，距離 2025 年在電池開發和電池工廠建設方面又是一個非常短的時間。同樣，我們認為這對我們今天來說不是一個巨大的風險。

I mean, it's kind of interesting. I think that for every 100 people that are out there writing and speculating about what direction any particular OEM will take, there is probably about one engineer working on this stuff, and there is also some pretty significant CapEx decisions behind the direction that these OEMs decide to take. And when we speak to engineers that we're quoting stuff to, they basically tell us, this train is moving, the track is built, and it's not really switching direction. And even if a parallel track is being built in some of these cases, that's really more of, I would say, a seven-year decision than a quick switch of one train from one track to the next.

我的意思是，這有點有趣。我認為，每 100 個人都在撰寫和推測任何特定 OEM 將採取的方向，可能大約有一名工程師在從事這方面的工作，而且這些 OEM 決定的方向背後還有一些非常重要的資本支出決策採取。當我們與我們要向其報價的工程師交談時，他們基本上告訴我們，這列火車正在行駛，軌道已經建成，而且它並沒有真正改變方向。即使在其中一些情況下正在建造一條平行軌道，我想說，這實際上更像是一個七年的決定，而不是將一列火車從一條軌道快速切換到另一條軌道。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Thank you, George.

謝謝你，喬治。

Jeff Osborne, Cowen.

傑夫·奧斯本，考恩。

Thank you. Hey, Don, in your prepared remarks, you've mentioned some references to failed attempts to mitigate propagation as sort of a driver potentially for the order in Europe or for other engagement. I was just wondering -- common question I get from investors is that your differentiation around technology and other approaches what -- why those fail and why you win. Is that something you can articulate more on?

謝謝。嘿，Don，在你準備好的發言中，你提到了一些嘗試減輕傳播失敗的參考，作為歐洲訂單或其他參與的潛在驅動因素。我只是想知道——我從投資者那裡得到的常見問題是，你們圍繞技術和其他方法的差異化是什麼——為什麼那些失敗了，為什麼你贏了。這是你可以表達更多的東西嗎？

Well, I think with that, I would say, Jeff, is that it's a complex problem, and there are thermal management, fire safety issues involved. There are mechanical self-stabilization issues involved. And I think it is not an easy task to triangulate on those various constraints or factors. And our material touches upon each of those critical areas, I think, very effectively and very uniquely.

好吧，我想說，傑夫，這是一個複雜的問題，涉及熱管理、消防安全問題。涉及機械自穩定問題。而且我認為對這些不同的限製或因素進行三角測量並不是一件容易的事。我認為，我們的材料非常有效且非常獨特地觸及了這些關鍵領域中的每一個。

And we do believe that there are materials that do one thing or the other, perhaps. But again, it is that combination of attributes that, I think, is setting our material apart and has us in the position that we're in today, both with existing customers and with prospective customers here, during this really critical stage of this EV activity here.

我們確實相信，也許有些材料可以做一件事或另一件事。但同樣，我認為，正是這種屬性組合使我們的材料與眾不同，並使我們處於今天的位置，無論是現有客戶還是潛在客戶，在這個 EV 的這個真正關鍵階段在這里活動。

Got it. That's helpful. And then maybe for Ricardo, I might have missed this, but on Mexico, you obviously showed the ramp up in Q4 and the margin potential.

知道了。這很有幫助。然後也許對於里卡多，我可能錯過了這一點，但在墨西哥，你顯然展示了第四季度的增長和利潤潛力。

But can you give us a sense of perspective on where we are with the automation? I think you made reference that most of the products in Mexico is manually made. But are those automation plans in place? Have they been fully validated or up and running? Or when will that transition take place?

但是您能否讓我們了解一下我們在自動化方面的進展情況？我想你提到了墨西哥的大部分產品都是手工製作的。但是這些自動化計劃到位了嗎？它們是否經過充分驗證或已啟動並正在運行？或者什麼時候會發生這種轉變？

Yeah. That transition basically takes place in the second quarter fully, and then our -- so our production in the second half would be off of the automated equipment. We're still keeping the manual equipment to be able to flex up if the demand is higher, but that transition will be fully in place for the second half of this year.

是的。這種轉變基本上完全發生在第二季度，然後是我們——所以我們下半年的生產將脫離自動化設備。如果需求更高，我們仍然保留手動設備，以便能夠靈活使用，但這種轉變將在今年下半年完全到位。

Excellent. Great to here. That's all I had.

出色的。很高興來到這裡。這就是我的全部。

Thanks.

謝謝。

Thanks, Jeff.

謝謝，傑夫。

(Operator Instructions) Amit Dayal, H.C. Wainwright.

（操作員說明）Amit Dayal，H.C.溫賴特。

Thank you. Good morning, guys. Just into your guidance for next, for 2023 -- hi, guys, can you hear me?

謝謝。早上好傢伙。只是進入你對下一個 2023 年的指導 - 嗨，伙計們，你能聽到我嗎？

Yes. Perfect. Yeah.

是的。完美的。是的。

Okay, thank you. Just wanted to see how much concentration from GM there is in the guide for 2023?

好的謝謝。只是想看看 GM 在 2023 年的指南中有多少集中度？

I mean, quite a bit. We've got their volumes from IHS there on the slide. So they are a big driver. They were a big driver in Q4 as well, and they are a big driver right now. I mean, they make up a disproportionate portion of our thermal barrier demand.

我的意思是，相當多。我們在幻燈片上從 IHS 那裡獲得了他們的數量。所以他們是一個很大的驅動力。他們在第四季度也是一個重要的推動力，現在也是一個重要的推動力。我的意思是，它們在我們的熱障需求中所佔的比例不成比例。

Okay. Understood. And then, just with respect to the energy industrial orders, I think you guys highlighted $100 million worth of orders that you have in hand. Is this all expected to be delivered in 2023?

好的。明白了。然後，就能源工業訂單而言，我認為你們強調了你們手頭價值 1 億美元的訂單。預計這一切都將在 2023 年交付嗎？

Yes. Those orders are -- people who would like to receive those materials and we will -- again, we're trying to be mindful of keeping that business strong at the same time when we have the single plant, making sure that we feed the EV thermal barrier side of this as well. So we do have some flexibility in the way we deliver that material, but all of those purchase orders have been requested for 2023 and even in the first couple -- three quarters of the year.

是的。這些訂單是 - 那些希望收到這些材料的人，我們會 - 再一次，當我們擁有一家工廠時，我們正努力注意保持業務強勁，確保我們為電動汽車提供動力熱障方面也是如此。因此，我們在交付材料的方式上確實有一定的靈活性，但所有這些採購訂單都是在 2023 年甚至是前幾個季度——一年中的三個季度——提出的。

Thank you. That's all, I guess.

謝謝。我想就是這樣。

Thank you, Amit.

謝謝你，阿米特。

Thanks, Amit.

謝謝，阿米特。

This concludes our Q&A. I'll now hand back to Mr. Young for closing remarks.

我們的問答到此結束。我現在將交還給 Young 先生作結束語。

Thank you, Elliot, for your help today. We appreciate your interest in Aspen Aerogels, and we look forward to reporting to you our first-quarter 2023 results in April. Be well and have a good day. Thank you.

埃利奧特，謝謝你今天的幫助。感謝您對 Aspen Aerogels 的關注，我們期待在 4 月份向您報告我們 2023 年第一季度的業績。身體健康，祝你有美好的一天。謝謝。

Today's call has now concluded. We'd like to thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect your lines.

今天的電話會議現已結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開線路。