Mobileye Global (NASDAQ:MBLY) reported what CEO and President Amnon Shashua called “very good results” for the first quarter ended March 28, 2026, driven by stronger-than-expected demand for its EyeQ advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) products, particularly from Chinese automakers’ export volumes and higher fitment rates at core Western customers.
First-quarter results beat expectations; cash flow remained strong
Shashua said revenue grew 27% year-over-year and adjusted operating income rose 61%, while operating cash flow was $75 million despite “working capital timing that was a modest drag.” CFO Moran Shemesh reported first-quarter revenue of $558 million, above the company’s prior expectation for roughly 19% growth. Adjusted operating income was $95 million, producing a 17% adjusted operating margin, up about four percentage points versus the prior year period.
- Higher share and higher ADAS fitment rates at core Western customers.
- “Robust Chinese OEMs volume from the export market,” where Mobileye has higher share than on Chinese vehicles sold domestically.
- Customers rebuilding safety stock from “below three weeks or so” to roughly “four or five weeks,” which Shemesh described as normal levels.
Shemesh said profitability was “largely as expected,” with favorable mix to the company’s top 10 customers helping offset the typical lower pricing and profitability associated with China OEM volume.
Guidance raised toward the high end, but Mobileye kept a cautious tone on the second half
Management raised 2026 guidance following the Q1 beat, but emphasized that the increase largely reflects stronger first-quarter volume rather than a broad change in assumptions for the rest of the year. Shashua said Mobileye raised its outlook “towards the high end of our original guidance, leaving the outlook for the remaining three quarters essentially unchanged,” adding that the geopolitical and economic environment remains volatile.
At the midpoint, Shemesh increased full-year revenue guidance to $1.975 billion, which implies 4% year-over-year growth, supported by an estimate of about 38 million EyeQ units (up by less than 1 million units from the prior outlook). The company also raised its adjusted operating income outlook to $210 million at the midpoint, up from $195 million previously.
Shemesh cited two factors limiting revenue-to-income conversion: a portion of incremental revenue is linked to China OEM volume with lower revenue per unit and profitability, and Mobileye expects incremental SuperVision ECU costs “particularly related to memory,” though operating expense assumptions were unchanged at about $1.1 billion for the year.
For the second quarter, Shemesh said Mobileye assumes about 9.3 million EyeQ units and expects revenue to decrease roughly 6% year-over-year. He also said gross margin should be slightly below Q1 due to mix, while operating expenses should be consistent with Q1, “maybe slightly down.”
ADAS strength, Surround ADAS momentum, and geographic tailwinds
Shashua highlighted strong performance in Mobileye’s ADAS business, describing it as “very strong, with very high margins and cash generation.” He pointed to multi-year design wins that have secured positions with major customers and said India is emerging as a “meaningful growth opportunity,” while Mobileye’s support for Chinese OEM export ambitions “is paying dividends.”
EVP of Business Development and Strategy Nimrod Nehushtan said Mobileye is benefiting from several tailwinds, including Chinese OEM export growth into emerging markets such as Asia and South America, and increasing share at key customers as Mobileye replaces older competitive solutions.
On Surround ADAS, Nehushtan said Mobileye’s first design win was with Volkswagen Group, which committed to upgrade entry fleets starting in 2028. He reiterated prior pricing and margin framing, saying the average ASP range is around $100 to $150 with “similar gross margins” to base ADAS volume (roughly 70%). He added that Mobileye has now secured three Surround ADAS design wins, including a major U.S. OEM announced at CES and Mahindra in India. Nehushtan said two of the three wins are with top-10 customers and argued the existing wins alone, once launched, could represent “more than 10% increase in revenue on a yearly basis.”
Discussing India, Nehushtan said current ADAS take rates are roughly 8% on an approximately 5 million-unit annual vehicle market. He said a regulation expected to begin in 2027 could accelerate adoption to 70% to 90% penetration within “two or three years,” and noted Mobileye’s strength with major Indian OEMs and Mahindra’s view of ADAS as a contributor to sales growth.
Progress updates: SuperVision, robotaxi with MOIA/Volkswagen, and Mentee Robotics
Shashua said Mobileye’s near-term advanced product priority is execution, including two production programs starting “in the relatively near term”: SuperVision with Porsche and the Drive robotaxi platform with MOIA, Volkswagen Group’s autonomy division.
On SuperVision, Shashua highlighted a recent OEM-directed U.S. drive for the Porsche program: a 2,000+ kilometer route using production EyeQ6 High SoC and ECU hardware across urban, suburban, and highway environments and severe weather including heavy snow. He said the system delivered “outstanding” performance with “very few interventions,” calling it an important proof point for “out-of-the-box performance” and generalization to a new geography. Mobileye expects “a couple of more software releases” before being able to demonstrate the system to other potential customers in key geographies.
Shemesh provided near-term SuperVision volume figures, saying Mobileye delivered 20,000 units in Q1 and expects about 15,000 units in Q2, with a full-year estimate of about 50,000 units “or a bit more.” Management said it is not anticipating Porsche volume in 2026, with Nehushtan stating ramp-up should start “in 2027, toward the second half of the year.”
On robotaxis, Shashua pointed to Volkswagen’s announcement of pre-series production of the ID. Buzz autonomous vehicle in Hanover with Mobileye’s integrated self-driving system coming off the regular assembly line. He also noted MOIA’s announcement of testing in Los Angeles for an Uber collaboration and that “Orlando is the first launch city” in collaboration with Beep. Shashua outlined a commercialization path that begins with testing and validation, then commercial riders with a safety driver, followed by removal of the safety driver once required performance is proven.
In Q&A, Shashua said milestones for “driver out” include validation on the final Level 4 vehicle, concluding work with remote operators, and starting commercial drives with a safety driver before targeting driver removal “towards the end of the year.” He said the next major milestone after driver-out is scale, with a goal for 2027 of “at least six cities” and “hundreds of vehicles at minimum.”
On Mobileye’s Mentee Robotics acquisition, Shashua said the company is advancing hardware and software in parallel. He said version 3.2 hardware was being assembled with improved dexterity and hands, and that Mobileye is integrating vision-language models (VLMs) while designing tasks targeted to home use and other consumer domains. He said version 4—described as the mass-production hardware—should be ready by “end of this year or early next year,” with cost and weight optimization and enhanced manipulation capabilities. Shashua added that Mobileye is still analyzing commercialization domains, including the viability of a B2C model versus B2B.
Impairment charge and new share repurchase program
Shemesh discussed a $3.8 billion goodwill impairment recognized in Q1, describing the goodwill as “pushed down to Mobileye from Intel on the acquisition of Mobileye in 2017.” He said the impairment assessment was triggered after the company’s market cap fell 35% versus the prior valuation in December. Shemesh said the company kept the same business projections but used a higher risk premium due to macroeconomic and geopolitical conditions.
Management also addressed a newly announced share repurchase program. Shashua said Mobileye’s cash generation gives it flexibility to pursue growth opportunities while also being “opportunistic with our equity.” He argued that limited public disclosure around advanced product progress—due to long automotive development cycles and OEM confidentiality—can weigh on the stock price, making buybacks an attractive use of cash. Shemesh added that repurchases can help offset dilution from ongoing RSU issuance, which he described as a critical component of employee compensation.
About Mobileye Global (NASDAQ:MBLY)
Mobileye Global Inc (NASDAQ: MBLY) is a leader in the development of advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) and autonomous driving technologies. Headquartered in Jerusalem, Israel, the company designs and supplies computer vision-based solutions that enable vehicles to detect and respond to road conditions, obstacles and signage. Mobileye’s core offering centers on its proprietary EyeQ system-on-a-chip (SoC) family, which processes video streams from automotive cameras to deliver features such as lane-keeping assist, adaptive cruise control, collision prevention and traffic sign recognition.
Founded in 1999 by Prof.
