So that’s what I think investors should be reliant upon. But obviously, they have a choice to believe us or not believe us. We believe ourselves and time will tell with respect to that.
John Dillon: I completely understand. I was involved in programs when there was voltage drop, and I understand that all too well. And I don’t know if all the investors do, but I completely understand and I’m content with the technology.
Patrizio Vinciarelli: So if some don’t, that’s going to be too bad for them. But I think we need to move on to the next topic.
Operator: And the next question is coming from Quinn Bolton.
Quinn Bolton: I guess, first question. Last quarter, you guys seemed pretty excited about this new AI platform that you expected to ramp in the fourth quarter of ’23 and throughout 2024. Can you just give us any updates on that program? How you’re feeling about it? Is it still on track? Have you started to see more bookings associated for that? And a related question, there are now 2 platforms on the market, one by NVIDIA, one by AMD that I think both are rated at 1,000-watt TDP. It seems like 1,000 watt is kind of the key power level where you guys bring some real advantages, especially with lateral vertical. Can you confirm whether this AI platform is indeed a 1,000-watt here?
Phil Davies: So Quinn, this is Phil. So the first part of your question, I think, was what we talked about on the last call. And in my prepared remarks, I basically said that the first area of focus was to ramp in Q4, our 48-volt bus converters and factorized power solutions. So I hope that answers that question pretty clearly. The second, in terms of power, we’re seeing 1,000 watt GPUs and network processes and all sorts of ASICs and mixes of CPU, GPU combos out there. As Patrizio talked about, we have the technology to address those that offers, as I mentioned in my prepared remarks as well, significant power savings with lateral vertical solutions of the scale of megawatts in data centers, which is really critical to any data center company.
And with our Gen 5 technology coming along, I mean the level of engagement now is very, very high. As I said, we’re having substantial conversations now with customers that will diversify us away from the 2 big guys that we’ve been doing business with for the next — for the last few years. So as I said, I’m very confident in the future and where we stand. And it’s a bit of a complex landscape, as I said, because you’ve got new programs starting up, old programs ending. There’s a bunch of other stuff going on out there with technology and product introduction. So as I say, we’re confident in our position in the market.
Quinn Bolton: I guess a question, and this is kind of highlighted, I think, some of your legal proceedings, the ITC complaints against Delta. But it looks like one of your big motherboard customers has moved — it looks like in scale to a 2-stage architecture and away from factorized power. And I think Delta has come in and won some of the sockets away from your MBM. I guess can you give us any sense of what’s going on in the motherboard business, how much of that business do you think goes 2-stage? How much of it stays single-stage? Because it seems like a big customer has moved away from Vicor with that transition to 2-stage architecture and Delta has come in to do the 12 — or 48 to 12-volt module.
Patrizio Vinciarelli: So as you may know, Vicor pioneered the MBM bus converter. We have substantial IP. We’ve asserted 3 different patents coming at it from 3 different directions. And they’re not the only patents we have that cover that technology. We have licensed it. There are OEMs that they are paying royalties for those MBMs, and they are the ones that they have certainty or continuity of supply. There are other ones that have been taking chances, and those are going to go line down in the next year. That’s what’s going to happen.
Phil Davies: And Quinn, I would say that when our Gen 5 technology is introduced to the market next year, what have been — the CPU requirements have been creeping up, 500, 600 amps now for some of these motherboards. I think our Gen 5 solutions will cause a number of customers to reevaluate that 2-stage approach given the performance that they can get from our Gen 5. So I think the market has moved from 2 to — 1 to 2, and it will go back to 1 in my opinion.
Patrizio Vinciarelli: Yes. I second that. So to be clear, in answer to your question, the MBM is not as much as we love it, we invested, right? But you hear it from me first, it’s not the long-term solution to 3 amp square millimeter, high-density VPD, scalable, robust cost-effective VPD for the next-generation AI. It is not since it’s societal. It’s an attempt to, in effect, drive multisource multi-phase capability that is fundamentally handicapped. it’s not really turning out to be when you get up to the kilowatt level or the 1,000 amp level. Truly multisource. It has brought about significant trade-offs in terms of performance, which are not sustainable in a competitive landscape.
Operator: [Operator Instructions] And the next question is coming from John Dillon.
John Dillon: On the last call, you stated you had a lateral and a lateral vertical opportunity to a major customer. And I was wondering if that was for the same.
Patrizio Vinciarelli: John, sorry to interrupt you, but it’s hard, at least for me to hear what you’re saying. Phil, can you hear?
Phil Davies: Yes. It’s coming across a little bit muted and mumbled, John. If you can do something with your speaker there, that would be great, yes.
John Dillon: Yes. Let me just — is this a little bit better?
Phil Davies: Yes, it is. Yes.
John Dillon: On the last call, you stated you had a lateral and a lateral vertical opportunity with a major GPU customer. And I was wondering, was that for the same GPU, or was it for 2 separate GPUs?
Phil Davies: So what we talked about there was that we have lateral and lateral vertical solutions for not just one customer. We are bringing that solution forward and we have customers looking at that — both of those solutions. And certainly, the number of customers looking at lateral deployments are a little bit higher than the number with lateral vertical but we have both.
Patrizio Vinciarelli: And that’s also the way in which systems have evolved, but make no mistake in the future and the future is coming next year. It’s no longer with lateral PDNs. In fact, all of the design activities that we’re engaged in at this point is beyond lateral PDN. I’m on a call with an important potential customer tomorrow. We’re not even going to consider or entertain a lateral PDN. It’s either lateral vertical or what we call second-generation VPD, which is a more advanced, more scalable, more robust form of VPD that falls on the heels of the first-generation VPD that Vicor pioneer and other companies have tried to copy.
