Ambiq Micro reported third-quarter 2026 results on November 10. Net sales were $38.1 million, up 110% from $18.2 million a year earlier and above the FactSet estimate of $36.6 million. It was the sixth consecutive quarter of sequential growth. The shares still slipped before the open, which says more about the market’s mood toward chip stocks than about the quarter.
Ambiq makes ultra-low-power chips for devices that run on small batteries: smartwatches, fitness bands, hearing devices and sensors. Its pitch is that edge AI, running models on the device instead of in the cloud, needs exactly that kind of power efficiency.
Margins and losses
Gross profit was $17.8 million against $7.7 million a year ago. Non-GAAP gross margin reached 48.7%, up 390 basis points. Non-GAAP operating expenses rose 72.9% to $22.8 million, slower than revenue. The non-GAAP net loss narrowed to $1.2 million, and the adjusted loss per share of $0.05 compared with a consensus loss of $0.33.
On a GAAP basis the company still lost about $10 million from operations, the same as a year ago. R&D spending nearly doubled to $16.3 million. Management also flagged higher input and supply chain costs, partly offset by manufacturing efficiencies.
Customer concentration is easing
Ambiq has depended heavily on a few large wearable customers. That’s changing. Sales outside its major customers rose more than 270% year over year, and seven customers generated more than $1 million each in the quarter, up from three a year earlier.
Non-wearable revenue (infrastructure monitoring, medical and industrial) is on track to double this year but will still be only a mid-single-digit share of sales in 2026 and 2027. Management expects low double digits by 2028 as longer design cycles mature. For now, Ambiq is a wearables company.
Guidance
Fourth-quarter guidance is $43.5 million to $44.5 million, roughly 112% growth at the midpoint. Full-year 2026 revenue should come to about $140 million, nearly double 2025 and well above the $100 million the company expected at the start of the year. Adjusted loss per share guidance for the fourth quarter is $0.03 to $0.09.
The growth is real and accelerating. The question for investors is whether margins keep improving fast enough to turn GAAP operating losses positive while R&D keeps climbing.