Amprius Technologies filed an 8-K with the SEC on January 21 naming Deloitte & Touche as its new independent auditor, effective immediately. BDO USA exited after auditing six quarterly filings and the 2023 annual report. The company paid BDO roughly $520,000 in audit and tax fees over the trailing twelve months. Deloitte's engagement letter carries an estimated annual fee near $1.1 million, per standard Big Four battery-sector pricing.
The filing contains no disagreement language and BDO issued no modified opinions during its tenure. Amprius went public via SPAC merger in May 2023 at a $939 million post-money valuation. The stock closed January 21 at $1.87, implying a market cap near $210 million. The company reported negative $14.3 million in working capital as of Q3 2024 and burned $8.7 million in operating cash during the September quarter. Revenue for the nine months ended September 30 was $2.1 million against $31.8 million in operating expenses.
Auditor changes at sub-$500 million market-cap companies in capital-intensive sectors typically precede one of three events: a secondary offering with syndicate-demanded Big Four coverage, a material restatement requiring deeper forensic capacity, or a preemptive move ahead of going-concern language. Amprius has $23.4 million in cash and no credit facility disclosure in its latest 10-Q. At the Q3 burn rate, runway extends eleven quarters assuming no revenue acceleration and no additional capital raise. The Deloitte engagement begins sixty days before the 10-K filing deadline and positions the company for a spring roadshow if liquidity becomes urgent.
The battery sector remains in a two-year funding trough. Solid-state and silicon-anode players raised $680 million in venture and growth equity during 2024, down 58% from 2022. Amprius manufactures silicon-nanowire anodes targeting aviation and defense applications. The company disclosed three commercial customers in its Q3 filing but did not break out revenue by customer. The move to Deloitte aligns Amprius with the auditor used by 73% of NYSE-listed battery manufacturers above $500 million market cap, a threshold the company has not reached since October 2023.
Allocators should track two items over the next sixteen weeks. First, whether the 10-K due March 31 includes any balance-sheet reclass or revenue-recognition footnote changes under Deloitte's review. Second, whether Amprius files a resale S-1 or announces a PIPE before June, when the next quarterly burn cycle exhausts another $8 million to $9 million in cash. The auditor change itself is procedurally clean but the timing and fee step-up suggest preparation for either capital-markets activity or heightened regulatory scrutiny.
Deloitte's first opinion will cover fiscal 2024. The firm inherits a balance sheet with $4.8 million in inventory, $11.2 million in property and equipment, and deferred tax assets the company has fully reserved. The question is not why Amprius upgraded its auditor. The question is what Deloitte was hired to certify.