Chapter 1 · Growth

Revenue down 22% — but mostly from a one-time software fee.

Comparable revenue was about flat. The real story: gross margin up to 21.4% and adj EBITDA finally positive.

↓ scroll to read

✦ The bottom line

Q1 2026 revenue of $131.5 million was down 22% YoY. The decline was not organic: a one-time $25M software license in Q1 2025 created a high base, and ECARX deliberately exited low-margin legacy platform business in mid-2025. Sales of automotive computing platforms (the core business) were down just 6% — and gross margin expanded to 21.4%.

↓ the brief below

✦ Teach me

What 'software-defined vehicle' actually means

Traditional cars had dozens of separate electronic control units, each running its own software for one function (brakes, infotainment, climate). Software-defined vehicles consolidate that into a few powerful central computing platforms running upgradable software — like a smartphone. ECARX sells these platforms (under brand names Pikes and Antora), plus the operating system and middleware on top. Automakers buy from ECARX instead of building it themselves.

If software-defined vehicles eat the auto industry the way smartphones ate phones, owning the central compute layer is enormously valuable. The catch: the customers are slow-moving global automakers.

Beneath the revenue noise, the physical business is growing. ECARX shipped over 360,000 units in Q1 2026, with its high-end Pikes and Antora platforms up 73% YoY — exactly the mix shift that drives gross margin higher.

Watch