AirJoule Technologies (NASDAQ:AIRJ) used its fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 earnings call to outline how it plans to shift from field validation and product development into commercialization activities in 2026, while highlighting what CEO Matt Jore described as a rising need for “water resilience.”
Management frames opportunity around water resilience
Jore opened the call by pointing to water supply risks tied to drought, infrastructure constraints, and geopolitical conflict, arguing those factors are elevating customer interest in distributed water solutions. He cited Corpus Christi, Texas, where the city’s main reservoir has dropped below 10% capacity, and referenced recent damage and disruptions involving desalination infrastructure in the Middle East. “AirJoule offers a fundamentally different approach, distributed water generation from the atmosphere that operates independently of pipelines, reservoirs, and centralized desalination,” Jore said.
2025 milestones: field deployments, product focus, and partnerships
Jore said the company met the objectives it laid out for 2025: moving beyond lab demonstrations, advancing products toward commercial readiness, strengthening partnerships, improving its commercial pipeline process, and bolstering capitalization.
On technology validation, he highlighted:
- A deployment in Dubai at a government advanced technology facility, which Jore said showcased the system to public- and private-sector customers in the Middle East.
- A U.S. field demonstration in Hubbard, Texas, which he said generated months of operational data across varied conditions while producing pure water from air.
- An ongoing independent academic evaluation at Arizona State University in an arid environment.
On product development, Jore said AirJoule deliberately focused initial builds on its A250 platform—now branded AirJoule Core—a two-chamber system designed for industrial dehumidification and water generation. He said field learnings from Core informed the design of the company’s larger A1000 platform, now branded AirJoule Prime, which is being built for industrial-scale applications. Jore noted that both products share a common sorbent chamber architecture and that the water produced meets FDA bottled water standards.
Partnership progress discussed on the call included additional investment and a waste heat integration project with GE Vernova, selection for the NetZero Innovation Hub (which Jore said will showcase AirJoule to Google, Microsoft, Data4, and other data center infrastructure companies), and defense-sector work including a CRADA with the U.S. Army and an agreement with a defense contractor for anti-corrosion applications. Jore also highlighted an exclusive Middle East distribution agreement with TenX Investment.
Middle East: strategic urgency, but timeline depends on conditions
Executive Chairman Pat Eilers described the Middle East as a region where Gulf nations “depend on desalination for 70%-90% of their drinking water,” while simultaneously expanding data centers, advanced manufacturing, and infrastructure—each with significant water demand.
Eilers said recent incidents involving desalination infrastructure have increased attention on vulnerabilities tied to centralized facilities, and argued that distributed water generation can help address resilience needs. He added that the company is watching regional conditions closely, noting uncertainty on deployment timing due to the conflict. “We are monitoring the situation closely and working with TenX, our partner, to ensure we are positioned to move forward when conditions are favorable,” Eilers said.
Commercialization plan: certifications, Prime build, and a four-stage customer process
Chief Commercialization Officer Bryan Barton said AirJoule is finalizing the Core product design and preparing for UL and NSF certifications ahead of launch. He said the company expects Core to be commercially available in late Q4 2026. Barton also described a separate Core product optimized for industrial dehumidification in low-humidity environments (about 30% to 40% relative humidity), targeting commercialization in 2027, and aimed at applications such as dry storage and anti-corrosion.
For AirJoule Prime, Barton said the company is building its first system in Newark, Delaware, and expects it to serve as an outdoor showcase unit for industrial-scale water production customers once operational. He said water productivity per chamber continues to improve through sorbent optimization and cycle tuning.
Barton also discussed manufacturing readiness, saying AirJoule’s coating line is operational in Newark and that the facility has capacity to address expected sales volume through 2027. As demand grows, he said the company expects to transition to contract manufacturing and has begun related discussions.
To convert interest into deployments, Barton outlined a four-stage customer engagement process:
- Stage 1: Discovery and evaluation (typically 1–3 months), including a techno-economic analysis and benchmarking against alternatives.
- Stage 2: Proof of value (typically 6–12 months), which may involve on-site demonstration and validation of water quality, waste heat integration, and economics.
- Stage 3: Commercial structuring (typically 3–6 months), selecting a model such as a water purchase agreement (WPA), unit sale, or lease, and aligning site engineering and pricing.
- Stage 4: Deployment and scale, expanding to multi-unit deployments and recurring revenue through services and WPA contracts.
Barton said the stages are not always sequential, with some customers beginning commercial structuring discussions while proof-of-value work is underway.
In the Q&A, Barton said customer conversations originate through inbound interest, “warm introductions,” and conference or trade show connections. He said permitting challenges—particularly around water—have driven engagement in the data center market, where “a lot of builds…end up getting canceled due to permitting on the water side.”
On supply chain, Barton said most parts are commercially available and already produced at scale. He described the custom component as an aluminum vacuum chamber produced through cast aluminum manufacturing, and said contactor parts are commoditized with multiple vendors, while AirJoule currently coats the contactor in-house as part of its intellectual property and process control.
Financial results: operating expenses, JV impairment impact, and liquidity runway
CFO Stephen Pang reported fourth-quarter 2025 net operating expenses of $3.2 million, including about $0.7 million in administrative and engineering expenses reimbursed by the joint venture under a statement of work. For the full year, net operating expenses were $13.6 million, up from $11.2 million in 2024. Pang attributed the year-over-year increase primarily to a $4.2 million rise in non-cash stock-based compensation, partially offset by lower professional fees and a shift of R&D expense from AirJoule to the joint venture.
AirJoule’s full-year net loss was $9 million. Pang said results below the operating line included a $39.3 million loss from investment in the AirJoule JV, offset by a non-cash gain of about $25 million from changes in the fair value of earnout liabilities and subject vesting shares. He said the JV loss compared with $5.3 million in 2024 and was primarily driven by a non-cash impairment of in-process R&D tied to a valuation change of intellectual property contributed at formation. Pang said the adjustment had “no impact” on JV operations, cash position, or commercialization plans.
At the JV level, Pang said total cash outflows were about $18 million in 2025, consistent with prior guidance, and that the JV received $17.8 million in capital contributions from AirJoule Technologies during the year, including $5 million linked to GE Vernova’s April 2025 equity investment in AirJoule Technologies. Pang said the JV had nominal revenue of about $110,000 in the fourth quarter from sales of AirJoule Core systems to Arizona State University.
AirJoule ended 2025 with about $22 million in cash. Pang said the company completed an equity offering in January 2026 raising about $22 million in net proceeds, resulting in a combined pro forma cash position across AirJoule Technologies and the JV of about $44 million, with no debt.
Looking ahead, Pang said the company expects combined cash spend across the corporate entity and the JV to be about $25 million in 2026. He added that the company believes it has sufficient cash to fund operations, the JV, and planned commercial deployments through 2027. For 2026 budgeting, Pang said the JV expects $17 million to $19 million in operating expenses, while AirJoule Technologies expects about $15 million in corporate operating expenses, including about $8 million in non-cash stock-based compensation.
During Q&A, Pang said the company is targeting long-term gross margins of about 30% to 35% “at scale” as it moves into contract manufacturing, while emphasizing that 2026 is focused on deployments and pipeline execution. He also said the company expects modest revenue growth at the JV level in 2026 from paid deployments, which would flow through equity income or loss from the JV line due to accounting treatment.
In discussing economics relative to desalination, Barton said desalination is “definitely cheaper” than AirJoule for water creation, estimating desalination operating costs are about “5-10 times cheaper,” but he emphasized AirJoule’s value in speed-to-market, distributed resiliency, and water quality. Jore added that the company’s water purchase agreement model has been well received, describing a vision of on-site “AirJoule water plants” where waste heat is available, with water sold over a 15- to 20-year period.
In closing remarks, Jore characterized 2025 as a year of building systems and partnerships, and said 2026 is expected to bring early results through initial product launches and additional customer deployments aimed at supporting scaled commercial activity in 2027 and beyond.
About AirJoule Technologies (NASDAQ:AIRJ)
Montana Technologies Corporation operates as an atmospheric renewable energy and water harvesting technology company. It provides energy and dehumidification, evaporative cooling, and atmospheric water generation through its AirJoule technology. The company is headquartered in Ronan, Montana.
