Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the Kopin Corporate Update Call. Please note that this call is being recorded. At this time, I'd like to turn the conference over to Brian Prenoveau, Investor Relations for Kopin. Please go ahead.
Thank you, Operator, and good morning, everyone. Before we get started, I'd like to remind everyone that today's call is taking place on September 15th, 2025. We will be making forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on the company's current expectations, projections, beliefs, and estimates, and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those forward-looking statements. Potential risks include, but are not limited to, demand for our products, operating results of our subsidiaries, market conditions, and other factors discussed in our most recent annual report on Form 10-K and other documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Although the company believes that the assumptions underlying these statements are reasonable, any of them can be proven inaccurate, and there can be no assurances that the results will be realized. The company undertakes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements made during today's call. And with that, I would now like to turn the conference call over to Michael Murray. Michael.
Thank you, Brian. Good morning, and thank you all for joining us on such short notice. The past week has brought game-changing developments for Kopin, and we wanted to make sure our investors fully understand the magnitude of where we stand today and the powerful direction we're heading. This morning, we announced one of the most transformational milestones in our company's history. Kopin has been awarded a major contract directly from the U.S. Army under the Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainment, or IBAS, program. This is not just another contract win. It is a validation of Kopin as a cornerstone supplier in America's defense technology base, and it places us squarely at the center of one of the most critical technology races of our time. And here's why. First, this IBAS award accelerates our development of ultra-bright, full-color, low-power micro-LED microdisplays designed specifically for soldier-worn augmented reality applications.
These displays will serve as the visual engine for next-generation systems, ensuring unmatched clarity, brightness, and reliability in the most demanding combat conditions. For the Army, this is not incremental. It's transformative. For Kopin, it positions us as a foundational partner in the modernization of the U.S. warfighter. Second, the contract and funding do not stop at research and development. Once the prototypes advance toward approval, further non-dilutive IBAS investments are expected to follow. These funds would directly support domestic manufacturing capabilities, facilities, equipment, and workforce training, cementing Kopin as the onshore manufacturer of record for full-color microLED displays in soldier-worn systems. With our Class 10 cleanroom facility in the United States, more than 40 years of field-proven experience, and over 400,000 defense vision systems already deployed, Kopin is uniquely positioned to deliver.
Third, and perhaps most exciting for shareholders, last week, the Army awarded the next technological update phase of the $22 billion IBAS program, now referred to as Soldier Borne Mission Command, or SBMC, to Anduril and Meta and Palantir-backed Rivet as prime contractors. These are some of the most innovative companies in defense and AI today, and their mission is to redefine the digital battlefield. Kopin's mission and our IBAS award are perfectly aligned. While Anduril and Rivet compete to deliver the Army's SBMC prototype systems, Kopin will be developing a U.S.-manufactured color micro-LED microdisplay with the Army, for the Army, that will be technologically enabled for their bespoke soldier-worn solutions.
Our technology is not just compatible. It is being developed in direct collaboration with the Army to meet their exact specifications required for SBMC and other advanced systems such as night vision goggles, head-up displays, and the next generation of thermal weapon sights. We see tremendous opportunity for synergy here. As Anduril and Rivet race to forward their SBMC platforms, Kopin is positioned as the critical technology enabler, the display technology that can make their visions a reality. Together, these efforts represent hundreds of millions of dollars of potential revenue for Kopin, the expansion of a new vertical technology, and a domestic fabrication capability here in the United States, but moreover, an enduring role as one of the Army's most critical suppliers for the next decade or more. To our dedicated employees, customers, and shareholders, this is indeed a defining moment for Kopin.
Kopin is no longer simply a display supplier. We are becoming a strategic asset to the U.S. defense innovation ecosystem, working shoulder to shoulder with some of the most advanced technology companies in the world. Furthermore, with our recently announced partnership with Theon International, Kopin is now exceptionally well-positioned to support NATO, Southeast Asia, and Europe as well. We congratulate Anduril and Rivet on their SBMC Prime Contractor Awards. Kopin's role in this ecosystem positions us to create significant value for our shareholders, deliver critical capabilities to our soldiers, and strengthen America's asymmetric advantage on the battlefield. And with that, Operator, I'm happy to take some questions.
Thank you. At this time, if you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. You may remove yourself from the queue at any time by pressing star two. Once again, that is star one to ask a question. We will pause for just a moment to allow questions to queue. Thank you. Our first question will come from George Gianarikas with Canaccord Genuity. Your line is open.
Hi. Good morning. Thank you for taking my questions and congratulations on our work. I'm sure it went into it. So maybe if you could just help us understand and contextualize the total estimated potential revenue for color micro-LED and SBMC over time. Thank you.
Sure. We're expecting production volumes in a range, and I can only give ranges, George, of around 80,000-120,000 systems or headsets, and there will be two displays per headset. At the low end, we feel like the low-end amount of total revenue on the program would be in the range of $350 million, scaling up to around $500 million, depending on the volumes.
Thank you. And maybe if you can also contextualize for us what this win means. I mean, how does this transform the probability that you do win these slots and are embedded in the SBMC program? Thank you.
Yeah, great question. So as we work with the Army to develop the micro-display, as I said in my prepared remarks, we're working with them to develop the technology and the display to their bespoke requirements. This will be a very difficult display to manufacture, and it will be tailored and customized to their exact requirements. This will be a very challenging AR environment, and the display will need to have certain functionalities that normally we wouldn't put in a commercial display. So as we customize the display for the Army, with the Army, we expect to have success with the prime contractors in SBMC. But moreover, we're also expecting to see success in other applications for the Army, like the next generation of enhanced night vision goggles, as an example, or the next generation of thermal weapon sights, of which, as you know, we currently manufacture.
So we see this as not only just SBMC, but this display and this display technology and the displays (I say that with plural) we think we're going to have a tremendous opportunity to supply multiple programs for the Army, not just SBMC.
So maybe it's fair to say I'll put words in your mouth a little bit here, Michael, that to the extent you can, because you're working hand in hand almost with the DOD here, it's almost yours to lose as you're co-developing the product, the display together over time. Thank you.
I think that's fair to say. And to be fair, this is going to be a very significant and difficult development. There is risk to it. However, Kopin builds four different types of micro-displays. We invented a fifth type, being NeuralD isplay, and we currently have a monochrome micro-LED that we hope to have in production very soon. However, those two designs, the monochrome and this full-color soldier-borne system, will be completely different. So this will be a ground-up design. So it has its challenges, and I think we're up to the challenge. So we have the most experience of productivity as well as producing these micro-displays in full production, and we think we have the best position and chance of creating the display.
Thank you very much.
Thank you. Our next question will come from Jaeson Schmidt with Lake Street. Your line is open.
Hey, guys. Thanks for taking my questions, and congrats as well on this announcement. I wanted to start with the revenue recognition and sort of how should we think about the timeline for FRF for this award?
All right. Great question. So we were expecting the award a little bit sooner in the year, Jaeson. So we expect to receive revenue on the contract this year. I would say around 20% of it we would recognize this year and fully recognize the vast majority of it next year. That's on the current award of the $15.4. We do expect next year potentially tens of millions of dollars of investment from the IBAS program office for that onshoring manufacturing capability. We haven't dialed that in just yet. We have a number of proposals, and we're going through those now.
Okay. And that was going to be my follow-up question on just sort of this IBAS funding and what it could be in 2026 and beyond for CapEx.
Great question. So we're considering this now with the program office. We do believe it's going to be tens of millions of dollars of investment that will be required to stand up a brand new production line here in the United States. We are also considering locations since we may not put that in our Westborough facility, which is currently getting to be a little bit tight on capacity. So it's in the tens of millions for next year, and I think that's the best gauge we can give you at the moment.
Gotcha. That's helpful. Thanks a lot, guys.
Thanks, Jason.
Thank you. Our next question will come from Glenn Mattson with Ladenburg Thalmann. Your line is open.
Hi. Good morning. Thanks for taking the question and congrats on the news. I was going to ask a little bit about the monochrome display. You kind of hit on that a little bit, but it was kind of a series of questions leading up to the technological hurdles that you have to overcome to achieve this color display. Can you just talk about—I mean, you sound pretty confident. Obviously, the Army did the due diligence, so they're pretty confident. But can you talk about what hurdles you anticipate and how comfortable you are getting through all this?
Indeed. I think we're confident. We have a good plan. We've been working on this for over a few years now in terms of focusing on building out our color micro-LED and our micro-LED platform. Again, the monochrome is a completely different design for a different application, and this design would be completely different in every way. Our monochrome is focused on aircraft applications, and the color micro-LED will be focused on battery-operated and powered soldier-borne systems, which creates a tremendous amount of technical capability and challenge. We have a good plan. We have a number of partners that we've been working with and aligning with over the course of the last few years, and Kopin's had 40 years of experience in this industry and at least 20 of producing LCDs and LCOS, as well as other OLED devices in production for the U.S. Army.
So we know how to do this. We know how to do it very well, and we know how to do it in the United States. But there are significant technical challenges with micro-LEDs specific to yield and full color. So we have plans and contingency plans that the program management and engineering teams have put together, and I think the Army feels comfortable with it. I feel comfortable with it. But it is going to be a technical challenge that we need to overcome, specifically to stability of yields. That's really the big focus of the engineering organization. But I do believe this is a transformational technology for our warfighters.
And unfortunately, many of our adversaries already have this technology fielded due to other countries putting in hundreds of billions of dollars of investment into this technology because it is the brightest, highest contrast, and potentially lower power, lowest power micro-display for these types of systems. So we have a lot of work to do. We're very much eager to get started. And again, this is truly transformational for our company, Glenn, and sets us up for the next decade of development with the Army.
Just building on that point about adversaries having more advanced technologies, we've always led the field in kind of night vision and that kind of thing. So I guess that kind of can go to highlight the importance the Army is placing on this, just to kind of give investors a sense of how quickly this whole process will develop and that kind of thing. That'd be helpful.
It's a great point. The United States has always stated that we own the night. We own night vision, and we're the best in the world at it. I think with the amount of investment that China specifically has put into color micro-LEDs for their soldiers and aircraft, at the moment, I think we are behind, and we need to catch up. And I think the Army realizes that. So this is why we're investing here in the United States to onshore this capability and technology because we know our adversaries have it fielded in systems already. And we need to take back the night. We need to lead in this technology and give our warfighters the ability to see their adversaries before they're seen. If that happens, they come home most often. So that's a very serious application here for this technology.
And we're very proud, humbled that the Army chose us to help them create that asymmetric battlefield that we've been looking for and deserve. So it's a big moment for us.
Great, Michael. Thanks very much, and congrats again.
Thanks, Glenn.
Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. This concludes today's Q&A and event. Thank you for joining us. You may now disconnect.