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Thank you for standing by. This is the conference operator. Welcome to the Microvast Third Quarter 2023 Earnings Call. As a reminder, all participants are in a listen-only-mode and the conference is being recorded. [Operator Instructions] I would now like to turn the conference over to Rodney Worthen, Microvast’s Director of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you, operator, and thank you, everyone, for joining us today. With me on today’s call are Mr. Yang Wu, Founder, Chairman and CEO; Mr.

Thank you, and thank you everyone for joining on today’s call. I would like to start off with a high-level overview of the quarter before providing some operational highlights. I will then turn the call over to

Thank you, Mr. Wu, and thank you all for joining us today. Now please turn to Slide 7 as I cover additional updates from the third quarter. To begin, I'd like to share the latest developments on our U.S operations for Clarksville Phase 1A. We're approaching domestic operations with a determined and proactive mindset. Our goal is to ensure a seamless ramp up for our U.S operations. To achieve this, we have extended factory acceptance tests for various components of the production line, incorporating those lessons learned and improvements from our Huzhou 3.1 line. While this has led to a slight delay in SOP, it sets the stage for an accelerated ramp up after installation. On the construction side, we are nearly at completion with a majority of the building now under joint occupancy and only minor work remains to be done in the fourth quarter. We're also in good position with our production equipment, where we're using the same equipment that is now running with great success on our Huzhou 3.1 line. We have approximately 30% of the equipment on site in Clarksville with majority of the remaining equipment having already been shipped. We have set our site on 2024. We targets to deliver qualified cells and generate Section 45X IRA credits from the second quarter of 2024 onwards. Drawing on our commercial -- commercialization success in Huzhou, we have set the ambitious goal of achieving target production yields for Clarksville in the second quarter. On the personnel side of things, we are continually enhancing our U.S workforce with better specific expertise and skills to support launch efforts. Our U.S headcount has increased by nearly 350% year-over-year as we move towards bolstering our domestic presence in 2024. Additionally, we're pleased to share that almost 1/3 of our exceptional Clarkesville team is made up of U.S veterans. Expect more updates regarding our U.S operations in the future. In the meantime, I'd like to provide a brief update regarding our Windsor, Colorado energy storage assembly facility. The facility has successfully produced the first of our ME-4300 energy storage containers and has completed a successful customer factory acceptance test. Now let's turn our attention to Slide 8. Despite facing challenges, such as customer project delays, we achieved an order intake of 67.5 million and continued our year-over-year upward trajectory in revenue growth. Moving on to Slide 9 to discuss some of our major project developments. We are excited to announce our collaboration on a prototype e-bus with OEM auto car, which will utilize our 53.5 amp hour Gen 4 pack. Otokar is a leading Turkish company renowned for producing buses, military vehicles and industrial products. Microvast has also extended its partnership with REE Automotive to equip their LCV platform with our 53.5 amp power Gen 4 pack. REE is a cutting edge next-gen EV automotive technology company offering modular electric trucks and platforms. In the quarter, we made deliveries of our 53.5 amp hour Gen 4 pack to South Korea in partnership with Higer bus for their e-bus platform. Higer is a major player in the bus export industry, with units in more than 100 countries and territories across Southeast Asia, Middle East, Africa, East Europe and the Americas. Furthermore, we signed a general purchase agreement for our 21 amp hour Gen 3 pack with JBM Group, the leading Indian bus OEM. We're very pleased to report that we've delivered approximately 100 megawatt hours to JBM Group during the quarter. We had another excellent quarter in expanding our [indiscernible] business. Looking ahead to the quarter, we anticipate adding significant multiyear contracts as illustrated in Slide 10. Both of these multiyear projects, utilize the 53.5 amp hour cell, which we have previously mentioned is the linchpin of our multiyear high growth phase. We expect to finalize these contracts in Q4, at which point they'll be included in our backlog. I will now hand the reins over to our Chief Financial Officer, Craig Webster, to delve into our financial performance in the quarter.

Thank you,

Thank you, Craig. Please turn to Slide 18, which provides us a summary outlook for the upcoming months. For the first quarter, we expect the revenue to be in the range of $90 million to 100 million, a 47% from Q4 a year ago at the midpoint, driven by increasing deliveries and a production output from our EMEA, and Asia Pacific commercial vehicle customers. We are also targeting adjusted gross margin of 20% to 25%. Additionally, we are targeting a further increase to our previous utilization and aim to achieve 90% out of Huzhou's 3.1 automated line. Finally, if you turn to Slide 19, we look at the full year guidance update. Due to customer project delays, some revenue [indiscernible] is being pushed into early 2024. We are providing an updated 2023 guidance for full year revenue to be in the range of $292 million to $302 million, representing year-over-year revenue growth of 43% to 48%. This is still a high growth year. It's also worth noting that [indiscernible] we have some revenue slippage, the revenue we are delivering this year is at a much higher gross margin than we have anticipated. As Craig just mentioned, this means we have made real progress in narrowing our losses. So some of our projects in the fourth quarter revenue are pushing to early next year. We continue to anticipate a strong revenue growth in -- into 2024 provided by visibilities through both our sales pipeline and record backlog. The excellent operational results we are seeing out of our newest Huzhou Phase 3.1 automated production line, gives us the confidence to expand the capacity and a focus on accelerated ramp at our upcoming Clarksville Phase 1A production facility. We are seeing strong demand trajectory for Microvast battery solutions worldwide. And anticipate our substantial momentum in the first 9 months of 2023 to carry forward as customer orders remain robust throughout the remainder of this year and into next. As we look to the final quarter of 2023, the tangible deliverables, we ask you to judge [indiscernible] the year -- start of this year have been mostly accomplished. We are having a high growth year. We have record backlog, supporting another high growth year in 2024. Most of that backlog is for 53.5 amp hour cell which has been rapidly industrialized. We are improving gross margins and approaching [ph] gross margin levels that our mature scale competitors achieve. We have reached a qualified production operations in our Huzhou Phase 3.1 line, ahead a very successful milestone, this sizable investment. This last item, it's difficult for me to fully convey the challenges in bridging battery technologies to the point of scale advanced manufacturing. This is our third successful launch for the new technologies with their own dedicated line. And at Clarksville Phase 1A will be a copy of Huzhou 3.1 production mine. Before we close, I'd like to take a moment to thank our entire team at Microvast for their hard work and dedication. This quarter's results are a testament to your commitment to excellence. And I'm so proud of what we have accomplished together. You have all risen to the occasion and exceeded expectations, continued to innovate, deliver for our customers and support each other [indiscernible]. Thank you for all that you do. I am truly grateful to be part of this team. And now I will turn the call back to operator to start the Q&A session.

Thank you. [Operator Instructions] The first question comes from Sameer Joshi with H.C. Wainwright. Please go ahead.

Hey, guys. Good afternoon. Thanks for taking my questions. Good to see gross margin improvements beyond what you're targeting. And I understand yield improvements and some product mix maybe upgrade. But is there any other items that is helping boost gross margins? And more importantly, what are your targeted gross margins now that you are seeing this implement already?

[Indiscernible].

Sure. You nailed a couple of them, right. So the utilization is really good. If utilization that was not really achieved before Phase 1, Phase 2, the actual yield better than we thought it would be at this stage of the year. Other factors, Raw material prices have definitely helped as well. And what we're trying to achieve in Q4 is maintain that 20% to 25% adjusted gross margin. And if we do that, we should narrow those losses even further.

Got it. On the Clarksville sort of a little bit of a push out, are there any factors that stood out for the delay? Or was it just regular delays that you expect in a plant [indiscernible] facility.

Wu Yang do you want me to take that one or are you going to take it?

You do it. You can do it.

Okay, thank you. The reason is and

Understood. Thanks for that color. On the new earnings that have occurred in maybe 3Q to higher and GBM Group. Do we have any feedback from them or is it too early to have any sort of feedback from performance [indiscernible] issues there?

You're talking about customer feedback from Higer and JBM.

That is right. Because I think [indiscernible] 80 units, yes.

These are being long-term customers that just tells you that they love us. They love the products and then coming back for more.

And then there was a slight increase in R&D expense this quarter related to previous quarters. [indiscernible] headcount increase, but they were in one-time items in this.

It's really difficult to hear the last part of that question. Can you …

Was there any one-time items [indiscernible] $13 million R&D expense or was it just -- should we expect these levels going forward?

Okay. It -- that was -- that's one-time expense. But we -- if you look at the changes in our [indiscernible] that we are adding more headcount, and you're especially seeing that on the U.S side as

Okay, great. Good to see all the progress. Good luck.

Thank you.

The next question comes from Sean Milligan with Janney. Please go ahead.

Hey guys. Nice quarter. Can you talk a little bit more about the project push outs that you're seeing in the fourth quarter. You're kind of confidence in timing for those being first half '24 deliveries. Because it looks like kind of roughly I guess, like 50 million to 60 million pushed out. And just, again, when I give you the chance to reiterate your confidence, and those coming through in the first half of next year.

[Indiscernible] project and I can just talk about sort of like -- sort of the financial into Q1 next year.

Sure. This is

And so I've just mentioned on q4, Sean, which is really relevant is that you are going to see a lot bigger contribution from Europe, you've seen that already. So Europe is like 20%, 25% of Q3. Europe is going to have a really solid Q4 to the point where probably European revenues are going to grow like 5x this year, and then they're going to carry on accelerating into next year. And that's mostly for like 53.5 amp hour cell. And then the backlog number is relevant as I mentioned earlier. The [indiscernible] 65% of backlog is for next year. That's mostly European and U.S customers. And as you know from our business, we -- the China, Asia Pacific don't really do backlog. So what we'll also get into next year again is a really solid contribution from Asia Pacific customers.

Okay. Thanks. Very good. Very helpful. And I guess also kind of backing onto that, well, a little bit of a question about third quarter and fourth quarter, which is Phase 1 in China. Can you talk about how the utilization there has ramped this year? I think you said it's like 70% now and targeting 90% equity in the fourth quarter. If you run that through and you kind of run through the legacy volumes in China, it seems like revenues would be a bit higher. So it's some of that production. But can you talk about if there's any production from Phase 1 that isn't being recognized in the back half of this year, because of shipments maybe to the U.S for storage containers, or what's kind of being pushed into next year from that production profile?

Okay. Phase 1 is really turning out 21 amp hour. So we're getting reasonable utilization of Phase 1 line. If you’re reading through like utilizations from revenues, what you've seen is a much higher, that's I mentioned European contributions in Q3. That's pretty mature like 53.5 amp hour cell. And then what we've been producing in Q3 is like sales that have gone into inventory that we're going to deliver in Q4 and Q1. And then same thing in Q4.

And in Phase 3, 3.1 swap, but like so for Phase 3.1 just based on the utilization that you've talked about for the third quarter and the fourth quarter, it seems like they're building a lot of cell inventory for the first half of next year. Just kind of trying to see if you could comment on that, like how much cell inventory you're building related to pack deliveries probably next year?

Yes. Sean, building inventory for orders, so that's to meet the revenue guidance that we're giving you for Q4. And then also backlog of orders that we need to deliver for Q1 as well.

Okay. Yes, we can take that offline, too. And then I guess the -- can you talk about the [indiscernible] environment in the U.S for battery storage? I know you talked about potential for additional bookings, in the fourth quarter related to commercial vehicle contracts. But just wanted to get your thoughts on the utility scale storage [indiscernible] environment for Clarksville next year.

Do you want to go?

Yes, I will. [Indiscernible] to that Craig?

Yes, please.

Yes. Hey, Sean, this is

Okay, thank you. I mean, I guess the question would be like, do you anticipate being able to sign additional offtake in the U.S for 2024 on storage, or are you getting more on '25 and '26 at this point?

Yes, we're working diligently to increase our order intake for all the capacity for Clarksville 1A as well as looking at opportunities for our 1B expansion.

Okay, great. I'll hand it over and then come back if there's an opportunity.

[Operator Instructions] The next question comes from Colin Rusch with Oppenheimer. Please go ahead.

Thanks so much, guys. So just with the expansion in Huzhou, I want to make sure I understand something. You've got another $92 million of cash available that’s not [indiscernible] right now. So We've got plenty of cash to cover that $35 million from what I can see. And then, as you execute on the ramp here, it sounds like you've got a process in the equipment set pretty well qualified at this point. So I just want to understand any sort of risk around either the financing, or the equipment set and the ramp up that you guys are seeing on the horizon here as you execute against that plan.

Wu Yang, I might take the financing part, and I think, if you don't mind you do the ramp up part, that’s [indiscernible] Colin. Is that okay?

Yes, you please go.

Thank you. So Colin, you're right. The availability that we've got $70 million to fund more CapEx in China its more than covered up the need for Phase 3.2. We've got another working capital line in China as well. The reason you can do it is because like you delivered on your promise, you told the bank, say partly funded 3.1, you can build the building, you can get the equipments in, you can install it, you can get a decent utilization, you can get a good yield. And like you've got customers, and the growing right. So we did all those things. Now we need to have capacity to have more audits [ph] for that. So we -- it's funded. And I think at that point, I'll hand it over to Wu Yang, because he will talk you through just how critical that ramp up is and what it involves, and why it's really then relevant to look at financing on the U.S side as well.

Yes, thanks, Colin. To build a factory from a laboratory [indiscernible] and to move to the products, it's not an easy job. Because you build a sample cell in the laboratory, that's only a few, or that [indiscernible] much easier. If you build in the factory, you have to consistently control, it's really, really critical. You have to make every battery identical and every cell is the same performance. And the yield is really a big cost saver for the manufacturer, because the yield is low, you waste your net profit, not gross profit. And so the yield [indiscernible] mix batteries, like, literally like a 14 steps. If you want to get a 97% yield, you have to make every step 99.9%. If you time everything else, 14x together, that you get a 97%. That means, the every step you have to control very precisely. It's a big job, and not easy to make battery. And -- but Microvast right now, we really we get there. And we -- in the first line, the [indiscernible] line we spend a lot of effort to refine [ph] the process to refine the equipment, that's why extend our [indiscernible] production line. We intentionally delay [indiscernible] tax because the equipment moved from China across the border to United States that's much harder to fix a problem. That's why you see they did a bit postponed.

That’s super helpful. And as you ramped up the 63.5 amp hour cell, obviously getting these kind of yields and consistency is a key benchmark for your customers. Can you talk about how it's impacting both your commercial vehicle customers and your ability to close deals as well as what's happening with some of the stationary power customers that are looking forward to ramping up higher density product?

You mean that commercial vehicle customers?

For both, right. What I'm -- the question is as you proven out the [indiscernible] of the manufacturing operation, is that improving your leverage with customers to close deals and potentially start driving some price increases?

Every customer they were [indiscernible] very detail, the factory inspection and audit. You have to get a high score, you have to get a A or over 90 the score, over 90, then you can tack the inspection. You can be qualified for [indiscernible]. Not only for production lines [indiscernible] your quality control, your -- the -- your deliverability. Can your delivery, or your consistency to deliver and all kinds of factors come via [indiscernible]. It's very strict. Automotive is most shifting the process.

Excellent. And I guess the last one is, with the stationary power product that you've gotten into, kind of the fabrication of that. Are there any surprises that have come up in terms of performance or fabrication that we should be attending to?

Yes, yes. We've been really pleased, Colin, with the performance of 53.5 hour cells. It continues to be a dramatic performance improvement over the competition with energy retention as well as round trip efficiency. The round trip efficiency is just so critical because these stationary projects continue to cycle every day for 20 to 27.5 years. So if you're losing 1% or 2% efficiency, you can amortize that over the life of the power plant. So that value proposition continues to resonate with the market really strong.

Thanks so much guys.

This concludes the question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Mr. Wu for any closing remarks. Please go ahead.

Yes, thank you, everybody for joining us. Thank you.