Hydrolite’s CEO discusses product expansion, manufacturing maturity, and what a potential breakthrough year could mean for commercial deployment.
As Hydrolite moves into 2026, the internal conversation has shifted. Less about promises, more about readiness. In this Q&A, CEO Ervin Tal Guttelmacher outlines how the company is preparing its AEM technology for scale, why membranes and electrodes are becoming products in their own right, and what a business breakthrough means for the year ahead.
Hydrolite has discussed AEM stacks before. What changes in 2026?
“2026 is about maturation and scale up. Technologically, our focus is clear: bringing our AEM technology to a level of readiness for pilots and demonstrations. That includes advancing membranes and electrodes, not only at the performance level, but also in manufacturing processes.
“In parallel, we refined our business positioning. In the past, we described ourselves primarily as developers of the AEM stack, with the intention of selling that stack to system integrators who would build the complete system. Today, we define Hydrolite as a technology provider of the stack and everything related to it.
“That shift is important. We have expanded our product portfolio. The stack remains central, but our core components, membranes and electrodes, now stand as legitimate products in their own right.”
Why elevate membranes and electrodes to standalone products?
“Because the market reality supports it. In the hydrogen ecosystem, many players focus on building stacks. But far fewer manufacturers specialize in high performance membranes and electrodes, especially those tailored for AEM. When stack manufacturers attempt to develop their own membranes, they often lack optimized solutions and rely on suppliers that may not be deeply aligned with AEM technology.
“Through our discussions with industry players, we realized there is a clear opportunity. If partners are assembling stacks but sourcing key components externally, Hydrolite can define membranes and electrodes as strategic products.
“Our DNA remains innovative. We continue to expand our patent portfolio and strengthen our intellectual property. Innovation is meaningful only if it is protected and manufacturable. So the focus is on protected innovation that is ready for scale and ready for pilots. Being AEM ready to scale is not only a slogan.”
On the business side, what does success in 2026 look like?
“We define 2026 as a potential breakthrough year. That could mean a funded pilot by a customer who installs an AEM electrolyzer and pays for it. Or it could mean bringing in a strategic partner under a joint development, manufacturing, or commercialization agreement.
“We are actively seeking strategic partnerships, from pilot level demonstrations all the way to final system deployment. Our model is evolving. We want to produce membranes and electrodes in house, where our core chemistry and materials expertise lies. For stack assembly and full system integration, which are more engineering and capital intensive, we prefer to collaborate with strong partners.”
How is the organization structured to support these goals?
“We are growing carefully, not exponentially. Today we are 25 employees, and we expect to reach around 30 during 2026. That represents roughly 20 percent growth, primarily in engineering and R&D roles to support scale up and product maturation.
“On the business side, we doubled our business development capacity last year. We expanded from a two person team and added two external consultants to increase market reach. We also brought in a European door opener and someone focused on global expansion beyond Europe.”
You mentioned conversations about pilot installations in Israel and abroad. How advanced are those discussions?
“We are in discussions for pilot installations both domestically and internationally. In addition, we are in advanced conversations with leading players regarding technology scaling and manufacturing expansion.
“These discussions align with our message from late 2025, both in our annual summary and in international exhibitions, that AEM is approaching readiness for real world deployment. The industry is moving quickly. What matters now is credibility: performance data, manufacturability, and strong partners. We are positioning ourselves at that intersection.”
If you had to summarize 2026 in one sentence, what would it be?
“2026 is the year AEM becomes ready to scale, technologically, operationally, and commercially. For Hydrolite, that means moving from development maturity to real world validation. From laboratory excellence to pilot installations. From a single flagship stack to a diversified portfolio of core components.
“The hydrogen market is still evolving. But within that landscape, the space for specialized, high performance AEM membranes and electrodes is surprisingly open. Our goal is to fill that space, not just with technology, but with products, partnerships, and protected innovation that can move from pilot to production.”
