KULR Technology Group, Inc. (KULR) | The Buildout — AI Infrastructure
The Verdict
KULR engineers and builds battery packs and the safety and thermal layers around them — the battery-management system, the thermal-runaway shield, the charger. It buys cells rather than making them, designs the pack, and assembles it in Texas. Its customers are drone makers, defense programs, spacecraft, telecom operators and, on the Q1 call, two humanoid robot engagements. The AI build-out reaches KULR as a possibility rather than a business: the company argues battery backup is moving out of the UPS room and into the rack itself, where higher voltage and safety requirements favor a qualified supplier. That argument appeared on one call as meetings with data-center OEMs and design work on KULR ONE MAX. No customer, license or revenue has followed.
| Market Cap | — |
| Revenue (TTM) | $17M |
| Revenue Growth | +28.5% |
| EBITDA Margin (TTM) | -249.7% |
| Net Cash | $54M |
| Earnings Beats | 1 of 7 |
| P/E (TTM) | — |
| EV/EBITDA (TTM) | — |
What We Like
- The balance sheet carried $12.8M cash plus $63.9M of short-term investments against $22.8M of total debt at 2026-06-30, a net cash position of $53.9M, and zero ATM shares were issued in H1 2026.
- U.S. drone procurement is a dated policy backdrop rather than a projection: management cites a $1.1B Drone Dominance program now in purchase order, roughly 30,000 units being delivered, 60,000 more to be ordered in September, and more than $70B requested for drones and counter-drone systems in the fiscal 2027 budget.
- KULR holds a foothold in that cycle: initial defense drone battery orders were secured in Q2 2026 from a U.S. drone maker in the Drone Dominance initiative, described as a customer opportunity that exceeds $5 million.
- The NDAA-compliant charger program adds a second product category with a hard date: 6S chargers are sampling now in cylindrical and pouch formats, an 18S prototype is complete, and shipping to U.S. customers is targeted by the end of 2026.
- The business has been narrowed to one operating thesis — Bitcoin mining exited, 333 BTC sold to repay a $20M facility, 565 BTC released from collateral, and mining services terminated for a $150,000 fee that removes about $2.1M of remaining operating expense commitments.
What We’re Watching
- Q2 2026 reversed Q1: revenue fell to $2.1M with a gross loss, and H1 2026 revenue was flat at $6.03M versus $6.1M a year earlier. Q3 is the first test of management's claim that delayed shipments will be recovering.
- The one hard number management gave — capacity to produce 10,000 battery packs per month — was not reaffirmed in Q2 and was replaced by 'pack volume starting to ramp.' The new Texas facility was not contributing in Q2 and is expected to be operational in Q3 2026.
- The AI data-center thread — KULR ONE MAX, PPR and thermal IP licensing, meetings with major data-center OEMs at the Open Compute Project European Summit — appeared in Q1 and was absent from Q2. A second consecutive absence would imply those conversations stalled.
- Customer concentration is severe and rotates: one customer was 40% of Q1 2026 Energy Management Platform revenue, the top four were 74%, one customer was 43% of receivables, and the prior-year concentrated set was a different group of names.
The thesis weakened on operations and strengthened on liquidity in the same quarter. The platform, the qualifications and the policy backdrop did not change, but revenue reversed, gross margin went to a loss, the one checkable capacity target was dropped, and no analyst questions were taken. Against that, the balance sheet was rebuilt largely by exiting Bitcoin, and management's own diagnosis of the miss included self-implicating items such as governance churn. The open question is whether the Texas production line and the U.S. drone procurement cycle convert into revenue in the second half, or whether the disclosure that got thinner in Q2 stays thin.
Earnings
Q2 2026 revenue was $2.1M, down from $4.8M in Q1 2026 and from $4.0M in the year-ago quarter, with gross margin of -30.7% against +18.0% a year earlier. Management named four causes: long lead times on new parts, more customer programs than the team could execute, board and management churn that slowed decision-making, and a new Texas facility that was not yet contributing. First-half revenue was flat at $6.03M versus $6.1M, and Energy Management Platform revenue was $4.76M versus $4.73M.
| Metric | Q2 FY2026 | Q1 FY2026 | Q2 FY2025 | YoY |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $2M | $5M | $4M | −47.5% |
| Gross margin | -30.7% | 29.2% | 18.0% | -4870bps |
| EBITDA | −$11M | −$7M | −$8M | +29.8% |
| EPS | $-0.48 | $-0.61 | $0.22 | −320.6% |
| Raw materials inventory | $1,065,150 | $237,661 | n/a | up roughly five-fold |
Q2 fell short. Q2 revenue was $2.1 million, down significantly from both prior year and the first quarter with a gross loss. That's not the quarter we planned, and I'm not going to make excuses.— Michael Mo, CEO, 2026-08-13
Management tone: The register changed between the two calls in the evidence window. Q1 2026 was promotional, with mission framing, ecosystem comparisons and a third-party drone-battery acquisition cited as validation. Q2 2026 was crisis response and blunt: management stated the miss and the gross loss plainly, named the board and management churn as one cause of it, and acknowledged the company was carrying more customer programs than its resources could execute. At the same time the specific metrics got thinner — the 10,000 packs/month target was not repeated, Hylio's expected second-half revenue went silent, and the call ended without analyst questions, against 17 questions asked and checked in Q1.
Management Guidance
No numerical revenue, margin, EPS, capex or tax-rate guidance was given on either the Q1 2026 or the Q2 2026 call, and no adjusted figures or reconciliations are published. The second-half outlook is qualitative: 'Delay shipments will be recovering. New Texas facility and battery production lines will be operational and contributing to the business. Pack volume starting to ramp, and NDAA compliant power electronics and chargers shipping by the end of the year.' No figure is attached to any element of that list. Two newer commitments carry more detail: NDAA-compliant chargers shipping to U.S. customers by the end of 2026, and inventory expected to increase further in the second half.
Trajectory
Revenue has swung quarter to quarter rather than trended. KULR reported $6.9M in Q3 FY2025, $2.9M in Q4 FY2025, $4.8M in Q1 FY2026 and $2.1M in Q2 FY2026; gross margin went 9.1%, -27.2%, 29.2% and -30.7% over the same four quarters, and EBITDA was negative in each of them. The swings come from product sales concentrated in a few large orders — management said Q2 product sales were driven principally by two large orders, both from new customers and both involving new battery configurations. Q1's 29% margin was largely a grant effect: $1,368,236 of grant revenue carried a full gross margin, and excluding it Q1 gross profit was $49,056 on $3,478,194 of revenue. The stated transition is from customized engineering work toward larger, more repeatable production; the revenue to replace the exiting contract-services and mining lines has not arrived.
The Model
The model projects FY+1 revenue of $14.0M with EBITDA of -$32M, a -225.4% EBITDA margin, and FY+2 revenue of $20.0M with EBITDA of -$28M, a -137.5% margin. Across the five runs behind those medians, FY+1 revenue ranged from $12M to $16M and FY+2 revenue from $16M to $25M. Both years remain loss-making at the EBITDA line, so the near-term question is whether the Texas production line and the NDAA charger shipments convert into volume at all, and FY+2 depends on that volume scaling far enough to move revenue toward $20M.
| Metric | FY2025 | Next FY (E) | Following FY (E) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $16M | $14M | $20M |
| YoY Growth | — | −13.6% | +42.9% |
| EBITDA | −$41M | −$32M | −$28M |
| EBITDA Margin | -254.3% | -225.4% | -137.5% |
Projections are the median of 5 independent model runs.
No numerical revenue, margin, EPS, capex or tax-rate guidance was given on either the Q1 2026 or the Q2 2026 call, and no adjusted figures or reconciliations are published. The second-half outlook is qualitative: 'Delay shipments will be recovering. New Texas facility and battery production lines will be operational and contributing to the business. Pack volume starting to ramp, and NDAA compliant power electronics and chargers shipping by the end of the year.' No figure is attached to any element of that list. Two newer commitments carry more detail: NDAA-compliant chargers shipping to U.S. customers by the end of 2026, and inventory expected to increase further in the second half.
What Could Go Right — and Wrong
- The Texas production line runs in Q3 2026 and pack volume contributes, restoring quarterly revenue above the Q1 2026 level.
- The customer opportunity described as exceeding $5 million converts into recognized revenue and draws follow-on Drone Dominance orders.
- NDAA-compliant chargers ship to U.S. customers by the end of 2026 with a named customer and an order quantity, making chargers a second repeatable product line.
- Gross margin recovers with volume, including the ex-grant Energy Management Platform margin of 15.2% in Q1 2026 moving up rather than the blended figure being flattered by grant revenue.
- A named data-center OEM, a signed PPR/thermal IP license or a KULR ONE MAX design win converts the AI angle from optionality into revenue.
- A second consecutive quarter without recovery, leaving the raw-materials build — up roughly five-fold since end-2025 and guided higher — as a write-down risk rather than a demand signal.
- The supply constraint that delayed Q2 shipments persists past Q3; the component distributors in the neighbor set report lead times moving higher and prices rising into the first half of 2027.
- Loss of a top-four customer, against a base where one customer was 40% of Q1 2026 Energy Management Platform revenue, one was 43% of receivables, and the concentrated set rotates annually.
- The capacity number never reappears and no replacement metric is given, removing the stated mechanism — scale and unit economics — for margin improvement.
- The operating loss continues anywhere near the Q1 2026 rate of $(7,385,177), while the cash built from selling Bitcoin runs down and the inventory build keeps consuming working capital.
Looking Ahead
The next twelve months turn on whether the Texas line runs and the procurement cycle converts. Q3 2026 results are the first test of management's claim that delayed shipments will be recovering, and the same quarter is when the facility was promised to be operational; by the end of 2026 management has committed to shipping NDAA-compliant chargers to U.S. customers.
- Q2 2026 10-QQ2 10-Q filing — Documents the H1 net loss of ~$51M, including ~$31.4M of non-cash digital-asset mark-to-market.
- Q3 2026Q3 2026 results — First test of delayed-shipment recovery and Texas line contribution.
- End of 2026NDAA charger shipments — 6S sampling now, 18S prototype complete; U.S. customers targeted.
- 2026-2027Drone order conversion — Turns the >$5M opportunity into recognized revenue and follow-on orders.
Financials
Annual Summary
| Metric | FY2024 | FY2025 | TTM | YoY |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $11M | $16M | $17M | +51.4% |
| Gross Margin | 46.8% | 2.1% | 3.6% | 4,472bps |
| EBITDA | −$14M | −$41M | −$42M | -205.2% |
| EBITDA Margin | -126.2% | -254.3% | -249.7% | 12,815bps |
| Net Income | −$18M | −$62M | −$101M | -254.3% |
| Free Cash Flow | −$18M | −$48M | −$44M | — |
| Net Cash | — | — | — | — |
Key Ratios (Trailing)
- P/E TTM—
- EV/EBITDA TTM—
- EV/Revenue TTM—
- Price/FCF TTM—
- Gross Margin (TTM)3.6%
- EBITDA Margin (TTM)-249.7%
- Net Margin (TTM)-607.2%
- ROIC-182.1%
- SBC / Revenue34.1%
The Company
KULR designs and builds advanced battery systems and the safety and thermal-management technology around them. The KULR ONE family covers space, defense, aviation, grid and data-center backup and subsea use, alongside a modular battery-management system, custom design services, vibration-reduction hardware, SafeCASE for transporting lithium batteries, and a Thermal Runaway Shield the 10-K says NASA uses to ship and store astronauts' laptop batteries on the International Space Station. Products are sold outright or as a service subscription, with telecom battery backup contracted as a service the clearest example on the tape. The 10-K also documents partnerships with Lockheed Martin and Leidos for hypersonic vehicles, high-power magnetic wave and other defense systems — two names that appear on neither earnings call.
KULR is not a cell maker. It buys cells and components, designs the pack, the battery-management system and the thermal and safety architecture, and manufactures the assembly. Operations run from one 31,095 square foot facility in Webster, Texas that houses R&D, engineering, prototyping, production and the principal executive offices; a three-year lease for roughly 24,700 rentable square feet of Houston manufacturing space was executed on May 12, 2026 at $30 thousand monthly rent. The company is bringing work in-house, including a copper busbar laser cutter and UN 38.3 certification equipment, and consolidating Caban manufacturing into the Texas site, which management describes as a full stack operation with design, prototyping, testing, certification, manufacturing, battery-management software and electronics under one roof.
Business Segments
Competitive Landscape
The evidence names three competitors, all in data-center power and thermal management, and all drawn from the supply-chain graph rather than from company disclosure. The material does not describe head-to-head competition in KULR's defense, drone or space niches. What it describes is a business whose advantages are certification and qualification — slow to replicate, which is a real barrier in defense and space procurement, but also the mechanism that locks programs to whichever supplier was awarded first. Against that, KULR's revenue is small enough that no account is structurally captive to it, and the 10-Q itself warns that its concentrated customers may not continue to buy.
- Eaton (ETN)Named in the supply-chain graph as a data-center power and thermal-management competitor; not discussed in filings or on the calls.
- Schneider Electric (SBGSY)Named in the supply-chain graph as a data-center power and thermal-management competitor; not discussed in filings or on the calls.
- Vertiv (VRT)Named in the supply-chain graph as a data-center power and thermal competitor, and also listed in the same graph as a UPS battery-module customer — a dual listing the source flags as inconsistent.
Supply Chain
KULR sits in the pack layer: it buys cells and components, then engineers and assembles battery packs, management systems, and thermal and safety hardware. No company in the neighboring evidence set names KULR as a supplier, customer or partner.
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