Vicor Q3 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

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Provided by Quartr
October 22, 2024

Key Takeaways

  • In Q3, total revenue rose 8.5% sequentially to $93.2 M (down 13.6% YoY), with Advanced Products at 53% of sales and Brick Products at 47%, while bookings dipped below 1.0 and 1-year backlog closed at $150.6 M.
  • Gross margin was 49.1% (down 70 bps sequentially) due to product mix, operating expenses fell 5.2% to $40.4 M, and net income reached $11.6 M, or $0.26 per diluted share.
  • Cash and equivalents stood at $267.6 M, operating cash flow was $22.6 M, inventories decreased 3% to $105.8 M, and a new chip fab and ERP system are driving faster cycle times and scalable capacity.
  • The Gen5 VPD chipset is now fully developed after a PCB respin, with demo system meetings imminent for lead customers and samples rolling out to the top 100 accounts, offering 3× thinner, 3× higher current-density modules.
  • Bookings remained strong in industrial and aerospace & defense markets despite temporary HPC softness, and the company is poised for growth in 48 V automotive Zono architectures with IATF 16949 certification and Gen5 automotive-grade modules due Q1 2025.
AI Generated. May Contain Errors.
Earnings Conference Call
Vicor Q3 2024
00:00 / 00:00

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Operator

Good day, everyone, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Q3 2024 Vicor Earnings Conference Call. Now it's my pleasure to turn the call over to Jim Schmidt, Chief Financial Officer. Please go ahead.

Jim Schmidt
Jim Schmidt
CFO at Vicor Corporation

Thank you. Good afternoon, and welcome to Vicor Corporation's Earnings Call for the Third Quarter Ended September 30th, 2024. I'm Jim Schmidt, Chief Financial Officer, and I'm in Andover with Patrizio Vinciarelli, Chief Executive Officer, and Phil Davies, Corporate Vice President, Global Sales and Marketing. After the markets closed today, we issued a press release summarizing our financial results for the three and nine months ended September thirtieth. Press release has been posted on the investor relations page of our website, www.vicorpower.com. We also filed a Form 8-K today related to the issuance of this press release. I remind listeners, this conference call is being recorded and is the copyrighted property of Vicor Corporation. I also remind you, various remarks we make during this call may constitute forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

Jim Schmidt
Jim Schmidt
CFO at Vicor Corporation

Except for historical information contained in this call, the matters discussed on this call, including any statements regarding current and planned products, current and potential customers, potential market opportunities, expected events and announcements, and our capacity expansion, as well as management's expectations for sales growth, spending, and profitability, are forward-looking statements involving risk and uncertainties. In light of these risks and uncertainties, we can offer no assurance that any forward-looking statement will, in fact, prove to be correct. Actual results may differ materially from those explicitly set forth in or implied by any of our remarks today. The risks and uncertainties we face are discussed in Item 1A of our 2023 Form 10-K, which we filed with the SEC on February 28, 2024. This document is available via the EDGAR system on the SEC's website.

Jim Schmidt
Jim Schmidt
CFO at Vicor Corporation

Please note, the information provided during this conference call is accurate only as of today, Tuesday, October 22, 2024. Vicor undertakes no obligation to update any statements, including forward-looking statements made during this call, and you should not rely upon such statements after the conclusion of this call. A webcast replay of today's call will be available shortly on the investor relations page of our website. I'll now turn to a review of our Q3 financial performance, after which Phil will review recent market developments, and Patrizio, Phil, and I will take your questions. In my remarks, I will focus mostly on the sequential quarterly changes for P&L and balance sheet items and refer you to our press release or our upcoming Form 10-Q for additional information.

Jim Schmidt
Jim Schmidt
CFO at Vicor Corporation

As stated in today's press release, Vicor recorded total revenue for the third quarter of $93.2 million, up 8.5% sequentially from the second quarter of 2024, total of $85.9 million, and down 13.6% from the third quarter of 2023, total of $107.8 million. Advanced Products revenue increased 6.5% sequentially to $49.4 million, while Brick Products revenue increased 10.8% sequentially to $43.8 million. Shipments to stocking distributors decreased 12.5% sequentially and decreased 22.7% year-over-year. Exports for the third quarter increased sequentially as a percentage of total revenue to approximately 49% from the prior quarter's 43.3%.

Jim Schmidt
Jim Schmidt
CFO at Vicor Corporation

For Q3, Advanced Products share of total revenue decreased to 53%, compared to 54% for the second quarter of 2024, with Brick Products share correspondingly increasing to 47% of total revenue. Turning to Q3 gross margin, we recorded a consolidated gross profit margin of 49.1%, which is a 70 basis point decrease from the prior quarter, primarily due to a change in product mix. Tariff expense, net of duty drawback, was approximately $1.1 million in Q3. I'll now turn to Q3 operating expenses. Total operating expense decreased 5.2% sequentially from the second quarter of 2024 to $40.4 million. The sequential decrease was primarily due to a litigation contingency expense of $2.3 million recorded in the second quarter of 2024.

Jim Schmidt
Jim Schmidt
CFO at Vicor Corporation

The amounts of total equity-based compensation expense for Q3 included in cost of goods, SG&A and R&D was $886,000, $2,036,000, and $1,112,000, respectively, totaling approximately $4 million. Turning to income taxes, we recorded a tax benefit for Q3 of approximately $2.4 million as we trued up the year-to-date tax provision. Net income for Q3 totaled $11.6 million. GAAP diluted income per share was $0.26, based on a fully diluted share count of 45,174,000 shares. Turning to our cash flow and balance sheet, cash and cash equivalents totaled $267.6 million in Q3. Accounts receivable, net of reserves, totaled $58.5 million at quarter end, with DSOs for trade receivables at 43 days.

Jim Schmidt
Jim Schmidt
CFO at Vicor Corporation

Inventories, net of reserves, decreased 3% sequentially to $105.8 million. Annualized inventory turns were 1.6. Operating cash flow totaled $22.6 million for the quarter. Capital expenditures for Q3 totaled $8.4 million. We ended the quarter with a construction in progress balance, primarily for manufacturing equipment of approximately $13.9 million, and with approximately $8 million remaining to be spent. I'll now address bookings and backlog. Q3 book-to-bill came in below one, and one-year backlog decreased 2.1% from the prior quarter, closing at $150.6 million. As we said on last quarter's earnings call, 2024 is a year of uncertainty and opportunity.

Jim Schmidt
Jim Schmidt
CFO at Vicor Corporation

As of today, the quarterly and annual outcome, in terms of top line and bottom line, is subject to a relatively wide range of scenarios. Given the wide range of possible outcomes, we are unable to provide quarterly guidance until we are further along, resolving uncertainties and capitalizing on opportunities. With that, Phil will provide an overview of recent market developments, and then Patrizio, Phil, and I will take your questions. I ask that you limit yourselves to one question and a related follow-up, so that we can respond to as many of you as possible in the limited time available. If you have more than one topic to address, please get back in the queue. Phil?

Phil Davies
Phil Davies
VP at Vicor Corporation

Thank you, Jim. Our Q3 bookings reflected continued strength in our industrial and aerospace and defense markets, and temporary weakness in high-performance computing. Focusing on the high-performance computing market, we have successfully completed development of all the ASICs and semiconductor devices included in our first Gen 5 chipset, but its introduction was delayed because of an issue requiring a re-spin of one of the module's printed circuit boards. This work has now been completed, and we will soon schedule VPD demo system meetings with lead customers. Interest in our second-generation VPD for artificial intelligence and network processors is very high, partly because competitive VPD solutions using stacked modular assemblies lack the requisite current density, robustness, and cost-effectiveness. Our Gen 5 current multipliers occupy one-third of the footprint and are three times thinner than first-generation stacked VPD solutions.

Phil Davies
Phil Davies
VP at Vicor Corporation

Stacked multi-phase VPD modules are challenged electrically, mechanically, thermally, and last but not least, from the IP perspective. The AI market has significant business opportunities for Vicor, with forty-eight volt bus converters, Gen 5 VPD solutions, and OEM licensing. Leading AI companies relying on Vicor's power system technology have licensed Vicor IP or are procuring modules directly from Vicor. As evidenced by a recent ITC Initial Determination, certain actors have been playing a game of catch me if you can, with copycat suppliers of infringing modules or discrete solutions. We are executing a comprehensive plan to enforce Vicor IP and protect the domestic industry from foreign theft of U.S. intellectual property. In Q3, we introduced five new DC-DC converter power module families that utilized advanced packaging technologies from our new ChiP fab, featuring advances in control systems and components, enabling two to three times higher power density.

Phil Davies
Phil Davies
VP at Vicor Corporation

These are now being sampled to our top one hundred customers and soon will be available to our broad customer base via our distribution partners, who will work with our global channel team, targeting our top channel accounts across eight target market and application segments. We are beginning to see the results of our strategy to focus the majority of our resources on a set of one hundred customers globally across four main markets. These customers will drive our revenue growth in the coming years to our $1 billion target and 65% gross margins. By focusing on the top one hundred, we are able to set resources, goals, and priorities to achieve higher levels of efficiency in delivering new products, production support, technical support, and exceeding customer expectations.

Phil Davies
Phil Davies
VP at Vicor Corporation

We are not 100% of the way there yet, but we are well on the way to achieving our operational excellence and customer centricity objectives by having our entire company aligned in achieving these objectives. The adoption of a 48-volt zonal architecture by automotive OEMs across Asia Pacific and Europe is driving significant new opportunities for us, with lower voltage, fixed ratio bus converters, and regulated 48-volt DC-DC converter power modules. Our new Gen 5 product families, with their higher power density and lower cost, put Vicor in an excellent position to participate in higher volume, 48-volt zonal, BEV, and hybrid automobile platforms. These Gen 5 products were initially designed for our high-performance compute customers, but new automotive-grade versions will become available in Q1 of 2025.

Phil Davies
Phil Davies
VP at Vicor Corporation

With regards to automotive-grade capabilities, we were notified by the TÃœV that Vicor has met the requirements of the IATF 16949 standard.

Phil Davies
Phil Davies
VP at Vicor Corporation

This is a critical milestone in our journey to full certification and building out our full automotive design and manufacturing capabilities to meet the needs of our automotive OEMs and Tier 1s. Thank you, and with that, we will now take your questions.

Operator

Thank you so much. And as a reminder, to ask a question, press star one one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To remove yourself, press star one one again. We ask one moment, please, for our first question. And it comes from the line of Quinn Bolton with Needham & Company. Please proceed.

Quinn Bolton
Quinn Bolton
Analyst at Needham & Company

Hey, guys, congratulations on the nice September results. Wanted to ask first, obviously, you guys had a nice initial determination at the ITC against Delta. Could you give us an update, just, you know, what have you seen from OEM customers or, folks that may be currently using the Delta bus converter modules? You know, are you seeing increased interest in folks licensing your patents, or do you think that, you're gonna have to continue to pursue actions against, you know, folks in, you know, using those modules in the courts?

Patrizio Vinciarelli
Patrizio Vinciarelli
CEO at Vicor Corporation

So we've seen from multiplicity of sources indications that Delta is telling these customers not to worry. They're going to have a workaround. They're going to sample it late this year, and they'll have it ready to, in effect, replace existing solutions by the time the exclusion order comes down. Some of these customers are skeptical of these expectations. Some of these customers realize that beyond technical challenges and potential issues with requalification, robustness, reliability there are still significant legal challenges having to do with the feasibility of inventing around all of the asserted patents. And to be clear, what just came down is the first act of a number of acts that are yet to develop.

Patrizio Vinciarelli
Patrizio Vinciarelli
CEO at Vicor Corporation

To get to the point, the ability of companies that are playing a game of catch me if you can to escape the minefield of IP that Vicor has planted in connection with decades of innovation across the entire high density, high performance, power system infrastructure for cables at the point of load and elsewhere. That's a very tall order that I doubt very much our competitors are going to be able to achieve. So, customers that rely on the expectations are likely to be experiencing a variety of challenges with respect to redesign, requalification, and ongoing issues for years to come.

Quinn Bolton
Quinn Bolton
Analyst at Needham & Company

I guess, Patrizio, in that game of catch me if you can, are you seeing Delta customers looking to switch to, say, modules from other vendors such as Flex or Monolithic Power or others? Or do you think to the extent that they switch to modules from those vendors, that they may still be subject to the exclusion order, assuming that you get that in the final determination?

Patrizio Vinciarelli
Patrizio Vinciarelli
CEO at Vicor Corporation

Again, our action is the one for which we just received the initial action, is the first of a series of actions. And generally speaking, the issues with respect to intellectual property, they're not limited to the Delta modules.

Quinn Bolton
Quinn Bolton
Analyst at Needham & Company

Got it. And if I could squeeze in just one more on the Gen 5 sampling. It sounds like you said you've kind of re-spun one of the ASICs or one of the chips in that chipset, and you're proceeding now to schedule you know samples and meetings with the customers. Can you give us give us maybe then an updated timeline outside of perhaps one lead customer for Gen 5? When would you expect Gen 5 products to potentially be adopted and ship in volume in the HPC market? Is that now kind of a late 2025 timeline? Do you think you could ramp a program before that?

Patrizio Vinciarelli
Patrizio Vinciarelli
CEO at Vicor Corporation

So just to be clear, all of the ASICs and all of the unique semiconductors have been working fine, and they've been fully characterized. So we've completed the task with respect to those. As Phil mentioned earlier, the issue that sets us back by a number of weeks is an issue with the PC board in one of the current multipliers that had to be spun a couple of times to address issues at the PCB level. So the issues have nothing to do with the more critical, if you will, ASICs or power semiconductors. Those are in place for the first wave of Gen 5. We have all those components, we've had them for some time.

Patrizio Vinciarelli
Patrizio Vinciarelli
CEO at Vicor Corporation

In terms of next steps, you know, we will start with one key customer, and if things proceed according to expectations, we're going to be shipping initial quantities of Gen 5 VPD systems components to the customer in the next couple of months.

Quinn Bolton
Quinn Bolton
Analyst at Needham & Company

Got it. And thank you, Patrizio, for clarifying it was a PCB issue that needed to be reworked rather than an ASIC. Sorry to have missed that.

Patrizio Vinciarelli
Patrizio Vinciarelli
CEO at Vicor Corporation

Yep.

Operator

Thank you. One moment for our next question, and it comes from the line of Jon Tanwanteng with CJS Securities. Please proceed.

Jon Tanwanteng
Jon Tanwanteng
Analyst at CJS Securities

Hi, good afternoon, and thank you for my questions. Again, congratulations on Q3. Just to follow up on the VPD product, are those initial shipments you're talking about for testing and development for the customer, or are these production units destined for a product to be sold?

Patrizio Vinciarelli
Patrizio Vinciarelli
CEO at Vicor Corporation

The initial set of units in the hundreds, that's for initial customer bring up, power up production, is a first half of 2025 event, based on current schedule.

Jon Tanwanteng
Jon Tanwanteng
Analyst at CJS Securities

Got it. And you would be getting orders for those products sometime in the first half if things go according to plan, is that correct?

Patrizio Vinciarelli
Patrizio Vinciarelli
CEO at Vicor Corporation

We've had orders for this product which we're going to begin to fill. There's going to be additional orders once we get, you know, past the system-level validation of the customer.

Jon Tanwanteng
Jon Tanwanteng
Analyst at CJS Securities

Understood. Thank you, and just a quick question on the orders in the quarter and the way your revenues trended sequentially. I was just wondering what drove the strength there, and kind of what came into the quarter? Was anything pulled in or anything like that? Just if you could characterize the mix or the strength in any way, shape, or form, that would be helpful. Thank you.

Phil Davies
Phil Davies
VP at Vicor Corporation

Yeah, John, this is Phil. I mentioned that we had continued strength. We had it in Q2 into Q3 of our industrial, aerospace and defense markets. I mentioned temporary weakness in high-performance compute because orders there are typically very lumpy. So we see those come in and then disappear for a quarter and come back again. So that's where we had a little bit of weakness in hitting the one-plus book-to-bill ratio.

Jon Tanwanteng
Jon Tanwanteng
Analyst at CJS Securities

Understood. I'll jump back in queue. Thank you.

Phil Davies
Phil Davies
VP at Vicor Corporation

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Richard Shannon with Craig-Hallum. Please proceed.

Richard Shannon
Analyst at Craig-Hallum Capital Group LLC

Hi, guys. Thanks for taking my questions as well. I guess my first question is looking at your Gen 5 VPD product here, you know, in the context of Phil quantifying the pipeline for the automotive business last quarter, maybe if you can characterize or even quantify what the pipeline looks like for this product. You've talked about an initial customer you're shipping to. Do you have any sense of and even quantifying how much that looks like right now?

Phil Davies
Phil Davies
VP at Vicor Corporation

So, Richard, it's Phil. I think we had a little discussion on this at the end of last quarter's call. We're basically, as we talked about, rebuilding our HPC pipeline from the past highs of you know, the big GPU acceleration system that we were included in. So it's a rebuild, and it's across a number of fronts. One is obviously the VPD push with Gen 5, and as we mentioned, the interest in that is very, very high for a number of reasons I articulated. Then you have the 48-volt bus converter market, and that, you know, there are challenges and opportunities with that. And then we have OEM licensing.

Phil Davies
Phil Davies
VP at Vicor Corporation

So with those three, if you like, sets of products, is the way I look at it, we're positioned to rebuild our HPC pipeline and, you know, get it back to looking really great. I would say, as we go through, you know, the end of this year and into next year, we'll be rebuilding that pipeline. I'm very encouraged about the interest across all three of those products, as it were.

Richard Shannon
Analyst at Craig-Hallum Capital Group LLC

Okay. Thanks for those thoughts, Phil. Maybe a follow-up again in the HPC bucket here, specifically with Gen 5 products here. It sounds like you're talking to an initial customer. Maybe you can talk about the subsequent customers you're going to engage with, how many of them are there? Maybe you characterize them in any way. And what kind of timeframe do you expect to see them make decisions, you know, issue wins and orders, you know, over the next few quarters? Thank you.

Phil Davies
Phil Davies
VP at Vicor Corporation

Yeah. So we have. We're working with, I know, chip companies, AI accelerator companies, and of course, the hyperscalers as well, on coming to both Andover and also Santa Clara, where our lab is based for the demo of the VPD system. It's pretty much everybody. We'll also have demo systems over in Asia Pacific, Japan, Taiwan, as well in Q1 of next year, so it's a very, very high degree of interest in that family for VPD applications, because as I think everybody knows, the current levels for these processes are approaching two thousand amps. We've even seen some customers this quarter talking about four thousand amps. I mean, there's no way to deliver that other than with a you know high density, high current density product like we have in Gen 5.

Phil Davies
Phil Davies
VP at Vicor Corporation

The interest level is extremely high. We're gonna be very busy in Q4 and Q1 demoing that system, as I, as I mentioned.

Richard Shannon
Analyst at Craig-Hallum Capital Group LLC

Okay, great. Thank you, guys.

Operator

Thank you. One moment for our next question. It comes from the line of Don McKenna with DB McKenna & Company. Please proceed.

Don McKenna
Analyst at DB McKenna & Co

Hi, guys. My question goes back to the revenue side as well, and with revenues up, the way I look at it is $7.3 million, but the backlog only down $3.2 million. I was wondering if the other $4.1 million was the result of orders received during the quarter and shipped, or price increases or an increase in the royalty income?

Don McKenna
Analyst at DB McKenna & Co

So actually, the backlog was reduced by a couple of million, right?

Phil Davies
Phil Davies
VP at Vicor Corporation

Yeah, I think you got the numbers right. But basically, it's just the difference between orders during the quarter and the shipments.

Don McKenna
Analyst at DB McKenna & Co

Yeah.

Phil Davies
Phil Davies
VP at Vicor Corporation

That's the net number.

Don McKenna
Analyst at DB McKenna & Co

Yeah. So another way of saying it is we shipped 94?

Phil Davies
Phil Davies
VP at Vicor Corporation

Yeah.

Patrizio Vinciarelli
Patrizio Vinciarelli
CEO at Vicor Corporation

We booked about 92.

Phil Davies
Phil Davies
VP at Vicor Corporation

Yeah. Yeah, it's just that simple. I mean, it's the bookings are-

Don McKenna
Analyst at DB McKenna & Co

Okay.

Phil Davies
Phil Davies
VP at Vicor Corporation

They were. Bookings are shipments deliverable next year, and shipments are obviously revenue.

Patrizio Vinciarelli
Patrizio Vinciarelli
CEO at Vicor Corporation

Yeah, within 12 months.

Phil Davies
Phil Davies
VP at Vicor Corporation

Yeah. Yeah.

Don McKenna
Analyst at DB McKenna & Co

Okay. Fine. Thank you.

Phil Davies
Phil Davies
VP at Vicor Corporation

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. One moment for our next question, and it comes from Jon Tanwanteng with CJS Securities. Please proceed.

Jon Tanwanteng
Jon Tanwanteng
Analyst at CJS Securities

Actually, I wanted to follow up on that last point. Did the licensing increase sequentially at all in the quarter?

Phil Davies
Phil Davies
VP at Vicor Corporation

Yes. So yeah, the licensing increased, as did, well, product revenue was relatively flat, and there was increase in royalty revenue, in the quarter.

Jon Tanwanteng
Jon Tanwanteng
Analyst at CJS Securities

Got it. Thank you. And then, Phil, just maybe a little bit more on the fifth gen products. Outside of the GPU, are you seeing broader interest as well? I'm talking about, you know, network processors, CPUs, other forms of silicon. Is that things you're concentrating on as well, or is the leading edge AI where most of the meat is?

Phil Davies
Phil Davies
VP at Vicor Corporation

Look, network processors are very important, John. So that's part of the initial mix. I mean, this Gen 5, and Patrizio can talk about this better than me, but this Gen 5 technology is really going to enable a new suite of products also into our ATE customer base, Factorized Power there as well, across aerospace and defense for our radar systems. We're looking at this maybe sometime in the next three to five years for potentially space applications and other markets as well. So the Gen 5 technology is really going to be a spearhead for us across, I would think, the four main markets that we focus on.

Jon Tanwanteng
Jon Tanwanteng
Analyst at CJS Securities

Great. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. One moment for our next question. It comes from Quinn Bolton with Needham & Company. Please proceed.

Quinn Bolton
Quinn Bolton
Analyst at Needham & Company

Hey, guys, I wanted to follow up. Last quarter, you talked about sort of margins being under pressure from a legacy HPC, you know, program that had kind of come back in higher volume, and it looked like it likely continued here in the September quarter. I wondered if you could just confirm that. And then I know you're not giving guidance top line or margins for next quarter, but does that legacy HPC volume continue into the December quarter, or does that start to roll off, and you might see a better mix shift product mix in Q4? Thanks.

Patrizio Vinciarelli
Patrizio Vinciarelli
CEO at Vicor Corporation

So we're expecting improvements, partly due to your point, to the fact that the product mix issue that we referenced with the legacy product, which we discussed in the last quarterly call, was ongoing in Q3. It will be ongoing for parts of Q4, but for all of Q4, the effect will be somewhat diminished. Overall, there are other factors that should help us with respect to improving margins.

Quinn Bolton
Quinn Bolton
Analyst at Needham & Company

Got it. And then, I guess, you know, looking at the licensing, or the royalty, revenue stream, it's been up consecutively now for several quarters. As you look into the end of the year in twenty twenty-five, obviously customers, you know, across the AI market are moving to new generation GPUs and ASICs and accelerators. I guess, as you look at your licensees' product roadmap, is there anything that changes with their product roadmap that might reduce the royalties they pay or the royalty rate? Or would you expect that royalty to continue to trend with sort of unit shipments at your OEM licensee?

Patrizio Vinciarelli
Patrizio Vinciarelli
CEO at Vicor Corporation

We expect it to continue to trend up with volume, you know, based on continued use of our technology, either in module form or in terms of discrete solutions.

Alan Hicks
Analyst at Ainslie Capital Management

Got it. Okay. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you so much. One moment for our next question. It comes from the line of Jon Gruber with Lagunitas Investments. Please proceed.

Jon Gruber
Analyst at Lagunitas Investments

Hi, guys. You seem very positive on the prospects of Gen 5. When do you think Gen 5 revenue will surpass 10% of quarterly revenue?

Patrizio Vinciarelli
Patrizio Vinciarelli
CEO at Vicor Corporation

Just to be clear, we are positive about Gen 5 because it represents a revolution with respect to our point of load solutions. You know, I'm not taking the word revolution lightly, so I'll back it up with numbers. The competition has infringed a number of Vicor patents to deliver about one point six amps per square millimeter. We can deliver initially three, and before too long, more than that, in a solution that not only takes up a lot less footprint, but as suggested earlier by Phil, it's also a lot thinner, like one point five millimeter thin, as opposed to about three times that.

Patrizio Vinciarelli
Patrizio Vinciarelli
CEO at Vicor Corporation

So if you combine the footprint advantage, which is, to begin with, 3X, and the advantage in terms of thickness, overall volumetric density and weight, it's nearly an order of magnitude advantage in terms of overall density, volumetric density. Those are the foundations for our optimism and highest expectations with respect to Gen 5. It's really revolutionary technology in every respect, in terms of its control systems, packaging technology, ability to deliver much higher efficiency, much higher bandwidth, much lower noise, much improved signal integrity, all of which are critical to next generation AI systems.

Jon Gruber
Analyst at Lagunitas Investments

That's great. But then, when does that translate into serious revenue for the company?

Patrizio Vinciarelli
Patrizio Vinciarelli
CEO at Vicor Corporation

As Phil suggested, we are going to start ramping with a lead customer. It will take some time, the better part of next year, to get further with other customers. You know, we've been frankly taking it one step at a time. We don't want to be out there in front of a multiplicity of customers prematurely. And because of that, you know, beyond our lead customers, we have been playing it very close to the vest that we're going to transition to a different phase in a few months, and we expect to get a good deal of attraction as we get further into 2025.

Jon Gruber
Analyst at Lagunitas Investments

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. One moment for our next question. And it comes from the line of Alan Hicks with Ainslie Capital Management. Please proceed.

Alan Hicks
Analyst at Ainslie Capital Management

Yeah, good afternoon. Back on the question of, you said the product sales were flat, but royalties were up. Was that just on advanced product sales were flat or overall?

Jim Schmidt
Jim Schmidt
CFO at Vicor Corporation

No. I quoted the Advanced Products sales in the prepared remarks as well as Brick. So there was an increase in royalty revenue sequentially, and then the Advanced and Brick split is what I mentioned earlier in the prepared remarks. Advanced Products does include the royalty component.

Alan Hicks
Analyst at Ainslie Capital Management

Okay. So that suggests Advanced Products sales were down a little bit, but royalties brought it back to even or up for the overall?

Jim Schmidt
Jim Schmidt
CFO at Vicor Corporation

Sounds about right. Yeah, we-

Alan Hicks
Analyst at Ainslie Capital Management

Okay. And then, the second question is, are all your advanced products now being produced in your new factory?

Jim Schmidt
Jim Schmidt
CFO at Vicor Corporation

Yes.

Alan Hicks
Analyst at Ainslie Capital Management

So that's going well. Are there any problems, hang-ups, things you need to tweak, that kind of thing?

Patrizio Vinciarelli
Patrizio Vinciarelli
CEO at Vicor Corporation

In a factory, there's never a time when there isn't some issue or another issue. But generally speaking, we feel very good about the capability we put in place. This is the first foundry for power components in the world. So far so good. You know, we're happy with the progress we've made. If we go back a year and a half ago, we had serious challenges in terms of capacity, consistency with outside vendors, and the vertical integration we put in place has begun to pay off for itself in terms of giving us much shorter cycle time, much greater predictability. We can now complete all the packaging processes, what we call the SM-ChiP interconnect in, if necessary, two weeks.

Patrizio Vinciarelli
Patrizio Vinciarelli
CEO at Vicor Corporation

It used to take us three times, four times as long, a year and a half ago. So the benefits of vertical integration, other measure with respect to chip foundry is multifold. It's short cycle time, scalability with respect to capacity, and ultimately, it's cost effectiveness as we get to absorb, you know, the fixed costs that are now reflected in our financial statements, right? That are associated with the equipment we deployed and the people we've hired in order to execute on this vertical integration. So as we progress into a phase where we absorb that capacity, we're going to see some contribution to margins.

Alan Hicks
Analyst at Ainslie Capital Management

Okay. And I wanted to ask about the ChiP packaging, Converter housed in Package. I know you announced it over 10 years ago, and it seems like it's evolved quite a bit. Are you producing those whole panels? I think there's like 40 of them on a panel, or you can cut them up into modules. And does anybody else have anything like that? And what would you say is your-

Patrizio Vinciarelli
Patrizio Vinciarelli
CEO at Vicor Corporation

No, and nobody can short of infringing our IP, and if they do, they should understand by now that there's going to be consequences, right? So, no, this is a unique capability that Vicor pioneered and put in place, and, you know, we're quite proud of it. And, to your point, it gives us the ability to manufacture high-density components, with a constant denominator of panels, which are the counterpart to wafers in a semiconductor foundry. They are rectangular, as opposed to being circular.

Alan Hicks
Analyst at Ainslie Capital Management

Mm-hmm.

Patrizio Vinciarelli
Patrizio Vinciarelli
CEO at Vicor Corporation

But they share many of the attributes of the kinds of efficient process that goes on in semiconductor fabs.

Alan Hicks
Analyst at Ainslie Capital Management

Okay, so would you say it's like a very tiny brick, each one of these modules?

Patrizio Vinciarelli
Patrizio Vinciarelli
CEO at Vicor Corporation

I didn't catch the word. A tiny brick, did you?

Alan Hicks
Analyst at Ainslie Capital Management

A tiny brick. It's a very tiny brick. Was that what you'd say it was? Like a tiny brick.

Patrizio Vinciarelli
Patrizio Vinciarelli
CEO at Vicor Corporation

No, I think that's not a good analogy. Because you know, bricks were the power component paradigm that Vicor invented at the very beginning of the power module industry. And it's dramatically opposed to what we're doing with converters housed in packages. So, you know, bricks are, by their nature, made in a dedicated form factor, which is specific to the brick. So the processes are not scalable, not nearly as efficient.

Patrizio Vinciarelli
Patrizio Vinciarelli
CEO at Vicor Corporation

With Converters Housed in Package, to your earlier point, irrespective of what the particular type of device happens to be, and it can be a, you know, 800-amp point-of-load current multiplier in a 28-millimeter by 7.5-millimeter-wide package, or it can be a 40-kilowatt fast-charging bus converters for automotive. These are extreme opposites in effect, in you know the realm of power products that our technology supports. Irrespective of what the end market application is or what the nature of the power system requirement happens to be, they are built in our foundry using exactly the same processes, the same equipment, the same three-dimensional integration.

Alan Hicks
Analyst at Ainslie Capital Management

Mm-hmm. It sounds very impressive. Congratulations on everything you're doing.

Patrizio Vinciarelli
Patrizio Vinciarelli
CEO at Vicor Corporation

Thank you.

Alan Hicks
Analyst at Ainslie Capital Management

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. One moment for our next question. From the line of Richard Shannon with Craig-Hallum, please proceed.

Richard Shannon
Analyst at Craig-Hallum Capital Group LLC

Oh, hi, guys. Thanks for letting me ask a follow-up here. Patrizio, I'd love to get your sense from your initial customers you're engaged with on the Gen 5 VPD. What's their view of the supply chain that you have here? Do they view it as well tested enough to run real volumes here? Do you expect with these initial wins to be sole source? Do you think they'll be shared until they get more confidence? Maybe you just kind of help us understand the current state of view of that, please.

Patrizio Vinciarelli
Patrizio Vinciarelli
CEO at Vicor Corporation

I think in the foreseeable future, as I look out, let's say over the next year, year and a half, the customers were engaged for high-performance solutions for very high-performance AI. They recognize that, you know, the Vicor foundry, the first foundry, is the foundry for these products, for that timeframe. As we look beyond that, we expect, as we mentioned in the past, that there's going to be a second foundry and a third foundry, and that will bring about additional capacity and additional robustness to the supply chain, but you know, we view the existing capability at Federal Street as being quite robust.

Richard Shannon
Analyst at Craig-Hallum Capital Group LLC

Okay, great. Thank you, guys.

Patrizio Vinciarelli
Patrizio Vinciarelli
CEO at Vicor Corporation

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. And as a reminder, to ask a question, simply press star one, one in the queue. Our next question is from James Lieberman from American Trust Investment Services. Please proceed.

James Liberman
Analyst at American Trust Investment Services

Thank you. It's good to see the progress you're making. I wonder, is there a way to understand the next several legal steps? Not that you would, you know, comment on them, but, you know, as a process, in terms of as things are playing out, and, can the ITC begin to put sanctions in place even before all of the appeals processes play out? Is there any way to understand that?

Patrizio Vinciarelli
Patrizio Vinciarelli
CEO at Vicor Corporation

So I'm not sure I captured everything you said.

James Liberman
Analyst at American Trust Investment Services

Sure.

Patrizio Vinciarelli
Patrizio Vinciarelli
CEO at Vicor Corporation

It was a question about what might happen with the ITC, and correct me if I'm going off in the wrong direction in terms of answering your question. But, just in terms of explaining the process there,

James Liberman
Analyst at American Trust Investment Services

Yes.

Patrizio Vinciarelli
Patrizio Vinciarelli
CEO at Vicor Corporation

If that's the question.

James Liberman
Analyst at American Trust Investment Services

Correct.

Patrizio Vinciarelli
Patrizio Vinciarelli
CEO at Vicor Corporation

So-

James Liberman
Analyst at American Trust Investment Services

That is the question, yes.

Patrizio Vinciarelli
Patrizio Vinciarelli
CEO at Vicor Corporation

What happened, a few weeks ago, a couple of weeks ago, is that, the ALJ, the Administrative Law Judge, that has presided over the case, issued his initial determination. The process involves that determination being reviewed, you know, by the commission, before being subject to a presidential review process, before the exclusion order becomes operative.

James Liberman
Analyst at American Trust Investment Services

Okay.

Patrizio Vinciarelli
Patrizio Vinciarelli
CEO at Vicor Corporation

But even before Exclusion Order becomes operative, during the presidential review period, there is a bond that infringers have to post in order to be able to import into the country infringing products.

James Liberman
Analyst at American Trust Investment Services

Okay.

Patrizio Vinciarelli
Patrizio Vinciarelli
CEO at Vicor Corporation

And that bond, in the case of computing systems that are affected by the infringement, was set by the ALJ at 100% of their value. So,

James Liberman
Analyst at American Trust Investment Services

Right.

Patrizio Vinciarelli
Patrizio Vinciarelli
CEO at Vicor Corporation

The initial determination came down about a week ahead of schedule at the end of September. It was due in the first week of October. The commission is due to render its final determination by February 3rd, and that's when an exclusion order, we would expect, will issue subject to presidential review, but that's when the bond will go into effect.

James Liberman
Analyst at American Trust Investment Services

Thank you. That's very helpful.

Operator

Thank you. One moment for our next question, please, and it's from the line of Don McKenna with DB McKenna & Company. Please go ahead.

Don McKenna
Analyst at DB McKenna & Co

Hey, guys. Now that the new facility is completely operational, I'm wondering what your plans are to invite the investment community to see it?

Patrizio Vinciarelli
Patrizio Vinciarelli
CEO at Vicor Corporation

No immediate plans, but that's a good question, and we'll take it under advisement. But we have a busy calendar over the next few months. By the way, we are completing installation of a new MRP system, SAP, and that's going to become operative in the last week of the year. So we have a lot of things going on to bring about the operational excellence that, you know, Phil has talked about, and that's going to keep us quite busy for a little while.

Phil Davies
Phil Davies
VP at Vicor Corporation

Yeah, we also have lots of customers still coming through the facility, and we expect a lot more as we roll out Gen 5. So, we'll certainly keep it in front of us and, you know-

Don McKenna
Analyst at DB McKenna & Co

Yeah, we could tag along with some of those customers.

Patrizio Vinciarelli
Patrizio Vinciarelli
CEO at Vicor Corporation

And maybe a few competitors as well. Why not?

Executives
Analysts
    • Jon Gruber
      Analyst at Lagunitas Investments
    • Richard Shannon
      Analyst at Craig-Hallum Capital Group LLC
    • James Liberman
      Analyst at American Trust Investment Services
    • Quinn Bolton
      Analyst at Needham & Company
    • Don McKenna
      Analyst at DB McKenna & Co
    • Jon Tanwanteng
      Analyst at CJS Securities
    • Alan Hicks
      Analyst at Ainslie Capital Management
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