Vicor Corp

NASDAQ:VICR

Earnings Call Analysis

Vicor's Year of Opportunity Amid Challenges

Vicor Corporation experienced a revenue decline in Q4, with total revenue down 12.2% to $92.7 million, although year-end revenue rose slightly by 1.5%. Advanced products and shipments to stocking distributors saw a sequential drop, while brick product revenue saw an annual increase. Q4 gross margin slightly decreased but improved overall in 2023, with factors such as sales mix, royalty income, and reductions in supply chain costs contributing positively. Operating expenses lowered marginally, with full-year operating income growing significantly. Cash flow remained strong, but the company didn't give guidance for 2024 due to uncertainties, despite bk-to-bill improving. Vicor is set to exploit its AI power systems and automotive technology, with ongoing collaborations pointing to future growth.

Vicor Wraps Up Challenging Q4 with Modest Annual Revenue Growth

Vicor Corporation closed the fourth quarter of 2023 with a notable dip in revenue, reporting a decrease of 12.2% to $92.7 million compared to both the preceding quarter and the same quarter in the previous year. Despite a trying quarterly performance, the company did realize a 1.5% year-over-year increase in annual revenue, rising to $405.1 million.

Advanced Products Stumble, Brick Products Gain Ground Amidst Slowing Exports

A mixed bag in product performance, advanced products experienced a stark 20.1% sequential decline and an 8% yearly dip to $223.9 million. Meanwhile, brick products painted a contrasting picture with a 16.3% rise over the year, indicating a shift in product demand within Vicor's portfolio. Shipments to distributors also slackened by 23.5% quarter-over-quarter, counterbalanced by a robust 46.9% year-on-year growth.

Gross Margins Fortify but Operating Income a Mixed Blessing

The company's gross margin inched up by 5.4% for the year to reach 50.6%, an outcome positively influenced by factors such as improved product mix and lesser supply chain costs; however, operating income for Q4 demonstrated a 7.9% margin, culminating in a substantially improved $51.4 million for the full year, a bold leap from the prior year's $27.2 million.

Fiscal Prudence Reflects in Net Income and Tax Strategy

Net income for the quarter stood at $8.7 million, translating to GAAP diluted earnings per share of $0.19. In a broader context, 2023 saw net income more than double from the previous year to $53.6 million, with earnings per share increasing to $1.19. A key facet of this enhanced performance is Vicor's effective tax management, maintaining an 11% effective rate for the year.

Operating Cash Flow Boosts Liquidity, Despite Inventory Expansion

Q4 witnessed a healthy operating cash flow spurt to $22.1 million, fostering a robust cash and cash equivalents position of $242.2 million. All the while, inventory levels ticked up slightly by 1.9% sequentially, recording $106.6 million by quarter end. These factors combined underscore Vicor's liquidity strength and anticipatory inventory management.

Conservative Book-to-Bill Ratio and Ambiguous Outlook

Vicor's book-to-bill ratio remained below unity during Q4, reflecting subscription softness in their high-performance computing and industrial segments. Moreover, the company revealed a lack of quarterly guidance, citing the unpredictable nature of the opportunities and challenges ahead and emphasized adapting its strategies, particularly in long-term OEM licensing within the HPC business.

Earnings Call Transcript 2023-Q4

[Operator]

Welcome everyone to today's webinar entitled Vicor earnings results for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2023. My name is Jennel, and I'm your producer for today. [Operator Instructions] I would like to advise all parties this conference is being recorded.And now I'd like to hand it over to James Schmidt, Chief Financial Officer. Please go ahead.

[James Schmidt, executive]

Thank you. Good afternoon, and welcome to Vicor Corporation's Earnings Call for the Fourth Quarter and Year Ended December 31, 2023. I'm James Schmidt, Chief Financial Officer, and I'm in Andover with Patrizio Vinciarelli, Chief Executive Officer; and Phil Davies, Vice President, Global Sales and Marketing.After the markets closed today, we issued a press release summarizing our financial results for the 3 months and year ending December 31. This press release has been posted on the Investor Relations page of our website, www.vicorpower.com. We also filed a Form 8-K today relating 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. 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 risks 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 and/or implied by any of our remarks today.The risks and uncertainties we face are discussed in Item 1A of our 2022 Form 10-K, which we filed with the SEC on February 28, 2023. This document is available via the EDGAR system on the SEC's website. Please note the information provided during this conference call is accurate only as of today, Thursday, February 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 Q4 and full year 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 change for P&L and balance sheet items as well as full year-on-year changes and refer you to our press release for our upcoming Form 10-K for additional information.As stated in today's press release, Vicor recorded total revenue for the fourth quarter of $92.7 million, down 12.2% from the third quarter total of $107.8 million and down 12.2% from the fourth quarter '22 total of $105.5 million. Revenues for the year ended December 31, 2023, increased 1.5% to $405.1 million from $399.1 million for the prior year. Advanced products revenue declined 20.1% sequentially, while brick product revenue declined 7% from the third quarter. Revenues for advanced products for the year ending 2023 decreased 8% to $223.9 million from $243.3 million the year before. Revenues for brick products for the year ending 2023 increased 16.3% to $181.2 million from $155.8 million the year before.Shipments to stocking distributors decreased 23.5% sequentially, but increased 46.9% year-over-year. Exports for the fourth quarter decreased sequentially as a percentage of total revenue to approximately 56.5% from the prior quarter's 62.8%. On a year-over-year basis, exports decreased as a percentage of total revenue to approximately 63.1% from the prior year's 67.6%. For Q4, advanced products share of total revenue decreased to 50.4% compared to 54.2% for the third quarter, with brick products share correspondingly increasing to 49.6% of total revenue.Turning to Q4 gross margin. We recorded a consolidated gross profit margin of 51.1%, approximately 0.7% less than the prior quarter. For the full year 2023, gross margin rose by 5.4% to 50.6% from 45.2% in the prior year. A number of factors contributed to the year-on-year increase in gross margin percentage, including improved sales mix, increased royalty income, reductions in ChiP supply chain costs, and lower freight and tariff costs.I'll now turn to Q4 operating expenses. Total operating expense, including litigation expenses, decreased 0.4% from the third quarter. For the full year 2023, total operating expense as a percent of revenue decreased to 37.9% from 38.4% in the prior year. The amounts of total equity-based compensation expense for Q4 included in cost of goods, SG&A and R&D was $680,000, $1,895,000 and $1,007,000, respectively, totaling approximately $3.6 million.For Q4, we recorded operating income of $7.3 million, representing an operating margin of 7.9%. For the full year 2023, operating income totaled $51.4 million or 12.7% of revenue compared to $27.2 million or 6.8% of revenue in the prior year.Turning to income taxes. We recorded a tax provision for Q4 of approximately $1.9 million, representing an effective tax rate for the quarter of 18.2%. The tax provision for the full year 2023 was approximately $6.6 million, representing an effective tax rate for the year of 11%.Net income for Q4 totaled $8.7 million. GAAP diluted earnings per share was $0.19 based on a fully diluted share count of 45,017,000. For the full year 2023, net income increased to $53.6 million from $25.5 million in the prior year. In 2023, fully diluted earnings per share rose from the prior year, increasing to $1.19 from $0.57.Turning to our cash flow and balance sheet. Cash and cash equivalents totaled $242.2 million in Q4. Accounts receivable net of reserves totaled $52.6 million at quarter end, with DSOs for trade receivables at 40 days. Inventories net of reserves increased 1.9% sequentially to $106.6 million. Annualized inventory turns were approximately flat sequentially at 1.92.Operating cash flow totaled approximately $22.1 million for the quarter. Capital expenditures for Q4 totaled $7.7 million. We ended the quarter with a construction and progress balance primarily from manufacturing equipment of approximately $17.7 million, and with approximately $17.3 million remaining to be spent.It's worth noting that in Q4, we accrued approximately $13 million as an investment tax credit related to the CHIPS Act for equipment installed in our vertically integrated ChiP fab.I'll now address bookings and backlog. Q4 book-to-bill, while improving sequentially, came in below 1 and with one year backlog decreasing 8% from the prior quarter, closing at $160.8 million.Turning to the first quarter and the full year, 2024 is a year of uncertainty and opportunity. As of today, the year's 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 yourself to one question and a related follow-up so that we can respond to as many of you as we can in the limited time available. If you have more than one topic to address, please get back in the queue. Phil?

[Philip Davies, executive]

Thank you, Jim. As Jim covered in his update, our book-to-bill ratio was still below 1 in Q4, mainly due to low booking levels in our HPC business and the automatic test equipment segment of our industrial business. In HPC, Q4 bookings were lower than expected as we turned down deals inconsistent with our long-term OEM licensing strategy. The license gives OEMs access to alternate sources of supply for products covered by Vicor IP from otherwise infringing suppliers, enabling current and future gen AI processes to achieve higher performance.The OEM license provides access to game-changing technology from a single-source innovator through multi-source supply chains. The OEM license avoids the risk of exclusion orders and the OEM license respects the IP of American innovators and manufacturers. In anticipation of market needs, Vicor was the first to develop key technologies, control systems, topologies, components and packaging for 48-volt high-current processor power delivery networks. Those market needs are clearly with us now in the advent of gen AI, machine learning, 48-volt rack power systems and vertical power delivery.As evidenced by progress already made in forcing our IP to MBMs, our message to the market is clear. The OEM license gives you open-ended access to superior power system technology. It provides continuity of supply for otherwise infringing servers and AI processes.Additional customer engagements in Q4 confirm that gen AI and network processor platforms will require significantly higher current density and vertical power delivery. Our investment in the world's first ChiP foundry and our 5G product line once again anticipated these future AI power system requirements, uniquely positioning us to expand our share of the AI power system market. We are getting ready to deliver evaluation systems, models, tools and samples to lead AI processor customers.On other market and customer fronts, our new product and applications pipeline continues to grow, creating both near term and future demand to fill our vertically integrated foundry. In our automotive business, collaborations that were initiated with OEMs in 2021 have started to move into production with low volume platforms as we ramp our automotive qualification, manufacturing and OEM relationships through early learning cycles. Momentum is picking up in both the mild hybrid and BEV market from Vicor's technology in response to the 48-volt zonal architecture, first conceived and patented by Vicor and recently promoted by Tesla.Collaborations with larger OEMs on higher volume platforms are gaining momentum with visibility to production dates in coming years. We will be participating at WCX in Detroit once again this year with 4 technology papers that will showcase our technology and power system value propositions for 800-volt and 48-volt power modules.In our other business units, we continue to see stronger demand in our broad industrial, aerospace and defense markets for both large OEMs and smaller customers who purchased through our channel partners. Customer visits from our top 100 accounts have also continued to view and audit our new ChiP fab as we now ramp production of advanced products.Thank you and with that we will now take your questions.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] And the first question is coming from Jonathan Tanwanteng.

[Jonathan Tanwanteng, analyst]

So to clarify, you turned down data center or HPC deals. Are you saying for XPU power due to MBM licensing issues? Or were they just pure MBM deals? And kind of help me understand what the concerns were surrounding the technology. Was it economic or purely surrounding the IP?

[Patrizio Vinciarelli, executive]

Yes. So you're not going to have an opportunity to analyze it because we're not going to get into specific details. But I think it's important to understand that we have a clear vision of where we're going, and we're sticking to that vision as events unfold on a variety of fronts relating to asserting our patterns with respect to the MBM and other developments.So the marketplace, needless to say, is driven by a complex set of forces. On the one hand, there is a drive to multi-sourcing, particularly for very high-volume applications. But at the end of the day, there is also an overwhelming need for higher current density solutions, vertical power delivery. And these are areas where Vicor as a pioneer has established a strong beachhead of IP and opportunities that we're going to seek to realize through the right mix of licensing to facilitate a multi-sourcing as needed, where needed in participation directly with modular solutions from new fab.

[Jonathan Tanwanteng, analyst]

Is this something that can be resolved in the near term as you negotiate more? Is this something that will take the assertion of your litigation strategy and then the completion of that to complete?

[Patrizio Vinciarelli, executive]

Well, so as implied by Jim's point in his remarks regarding the uncertainty and opportunity that characterizes the last several quarters, we can't make that position. And we don't want to make that position because we want to retain the flexibility needed to implement our long-term strategy. So we're not going to work on them in terms of predicting when things will happen. I can tell you that my expectation is that we're going to be successful, we're going to be successful with our first litigation with respect to our certain MBM patterns. We're doing very well in that regard, and will follow on with respect to that process. And we're also going to fill the factory in due course. So we're very confident of our strategy, very determined to enable it and patient as need be in order to bring it about.

[Operator]

The next question is coming from Quinn Bolton.

[Quinn Bolton, analyst]

I guess I understand you don't want to provide a lot of detail, but I just want to try to make sure I understand sort of the range of alternatives. You said you're turning down deals for MBMs. It sounds like from your opinion or perspective, many of the competing MBMs may infringe your patents. And so if you turn down the deal, what's the alternative for the customer. They just use infringing MBMs until you have asserted those patents or competitors license to your patents?

[Patrizio Vinciarelli, executive]

So we have existing proof of a business model that works quite well. We have a significant licensee that has been sourcing MBMs from an otherwise infringing source by virtue of an OEM license with us. And that's, again, part of our overall strategy, which is expected to balancing a variety of needs and opportunities for our customers, the market a large, and ourselves with due respect for intellectual property as well as the needs of the customers that in some relevant instances do have an overwhelming need for multiples sources.

[Quinn Bolton, analyst]

I guess the second question, just sort of around the IP front. I know we've got the APEX show next week. A lot of papers at that conference. We'll be talking about vertical power delivery, I think, followed by power analog devices and Infineon, have all talked about vertical power delivery from the multiphase perspective. Can you give us your latest thoughts, Patrizio? Just where do you feel the industry is in terms of adopting vertical power delivery. And to the extent that multiphase competitors are moving in that direction, is that an area where you may have to assert your patents on that front? Because I know you've been talking about vertical power delivery now for probably 3-plus years.

[Patrizio Vinciarelli, executive]

Yes. So, vertical power delivery, it means certain specific things, one of them with what we call first gen VPD, the stacking of what we call a multi-cell converter. The multi-cell converter can be a Vicor current multiplier. It can also be a multiphase solution. It doesn't matter. It falls within our IP in the context of a stack solution with certain attributes.So we pioneered the concept. It's been implemented to limit the set by competitors with solutions, lack robustness, lacks scalability, lack cost-effectiveness, they suffer from all the trace of first-generation technology that, in many respects, is immature and not scalable. Without question, it's going to become somewhat more mature and somewhat more scalable as initially conceived by Vicor, but see a handicap in a variety of fronts, including the interactional property front.With our 5G technology, we are on what we call a second generation of VPD, which is much more scalable, much more cost effective, much lower profile, much more efficient and which we believe before too long will enable much more advanced solutions.

[Operator]

The next question is coming from John Dillon.

[John Dillon, analyst]

So, and in your prepared remarks, you were talking about some IP that you have in the automotive. And then right after that, you said it was promoted by Tesla. Can we infer from that that Tesla might be a customer of yours soon?

[Patrizio Vinciarelli, executive]

So I heard the word Tesla and 48-volt zonal and -- okay.

[James Schmidt, executive]

Is Tesla going to be a customer soon, I think is what John was asking.

[Patrizio Vinciarelli, executive]

Yes. So we're not going to make comments about specific companies or potential customers. But I will mention that as in other fronts, Vicor was a pioneer with respect to the concept of using bus converters within automotive power distribution. So that's an area of intellectual property that may come to fruition at some point in time. As you can imagine or as implied by earlier comments, there's no shortage opportunity. As of now, we're very focused on bringing to fruition our MBM initiative, but this is part of a very broad campaign, which again is part of a very comprehensive strategy to enable a more efficient, scalable and fair market when it comes to advanced power system technology.

[John Dillon, analyst]

Right. The other thing, I wanted to congratulate you on the bookings. It looks like from the press release, it's headed up, and it looks like your bookings are up about $13.5 million from the previous quarter. So I'm just wondering, Phil, do you expect this trend to continue? I don't want any specifics, but can we expect the trend to continue throughout the year?

[Patrizio Vinciarelli, executive]

Yes. So I don't think that the word trend applies or lean on separation, whatever you want to call it, to events unfolding over the next few quarters because as discussed earlier, I think we should all be clear with respect to this. There is a wide range of scenarios. And because of that, individual events could impact bookings, top line, bottom line from one quarter to the next in ways that are frankly unpredictable. And need to say, there is a book stop at the low end, but we're not going to quantify what that is. There is limited downside, I would say. There is quite a bit of upside, but that upside is hard to predict in terms of the time to fruition.

[John Dillon, analyst]

I get that. I understand that. So this is -- last quarter, you alluded to -- the last conference call, you alluded to a sizable upside. It sounds like a sizable upside is still out there, but it's not predictable at this time.

[Patrizio Vinciarelli, executive]

That's right. I will say that the cumulative impact over time is more predictable than instant contribution that may happen sooner or later. So fundamentally, our strategy, as it has always been, is to take a very long-term view. We're not -- now we're in the context of reporting the financial markets, but we are not, to be perfectly honest with you, making decisions based on what may look particularly good in any one quarter. We are making decisions based on what we think is in the long-term interest of the shareholders, again, balancing the various factors at play in a comprehensive strategy.

[Operator]

The next question is coming from Quinn Bolton.

[Quinn Bolton, analyst]

I just wanted to follow up on John's question. There are, obviously, a range of scenarios you're talking about. But to the extent the upside scenario plays out, I assume that those are likely either MBM or fourth generation or more hopefully fifth generation design wins. How quickly could you ramp that business? I mean I think in past quarters, you've talked about manufacturing lead times that are about 6 months. And so would it take a couple of quarters to sort of start to realize some of those upside opportunities? Is that the right kind of way to think about the timing to the extent the upside case begins to play out? And then I've got a follow-up.

[Patrizio Vinciarelli, executive]

So we have capacity in place now. We could, in the next quarter, the quarter after that, manufacture more subject to, obviously, material procurement lead time than we would based on what we said currently in terms of the bookings and backlog situation. Just as a reminder, the issues and challenges of yesteryears when we didn't have a vertical integrated factory where we were dependent on outside sources of supply for critical process steps are gone. Those are no longer challenges.Now we face a different type of challenge, which again is resulting from sticking to a strategy that has us balance variety of considerations. But as I think back about historic challenges, I feel that with the establishment of our first ChiP foundry, we are in a position we've never been in, in answer to your question, regarding scalability. We have a level of capability that Vicor never had. We manufacture advanced products in panels, which are akin to wafers. And in our ChiP foundry, we can make a very, very large quantity of panels. We have a lot of capacity.Needless to say, there's still going to be a lead time. There's no set function to be had, but demand can be addressed with supply within a relatively short cycle time.

[Quinn Bolton, analyst]

Patrizio, the follow-up question is, in the current latest generation GPU market, one of the multiphase vendors that has pretty high share recently had some testing issues. And I'm wondering if you've had any discussions sort of since that event that might lead you to believe that any of the large AI processor, GPU vendors, won or are now more open to having multiple sources of supply. And particularly, has this event potentially raised some concerns about the multiphase approach in general, given that you've got one or more controllers that may have to control 20, 30, 40 phases? Have you seen anything coming out of that event that may benefit Vicor either in the near term or the longer term?

[Patrizio Vinciarelli, executive]

So multiphase systems have challenges. And those challenges get compounded in a VPD type of solution. So the underlying primary challenge of multiphase is that in FE is a lower current density type of solution. It involves the averaging down of a voltage to step up the current through switching elements that need to support a much higher voltage we send, and do so reliably and with safe operating area, than with Vicor current multiplier, which can, in effect, multiply current and do so much more efficiently with lower voltage semiconductors without commensurate safe operating area challenges.There are -- the benefits have to do, in particular, just to give you some examples, with the fact that with our proprietary approach, there is no multiplicity of phases, each one of which should fail, could take a GPU or the AI processor with it as you can fail with a top switch short, which could happen with any of a larger multiplicity of phases. So we have many, many advantages in terms of the power distribution architecture, the topology, the type of components that these solutions require which are fundamentally different.But then getting back to the VPD side of things with a multi-cell approach involving a multiplicity of phases as opposed to a multiplicity of current multipliers as we have, you have in effect the compounded challenge of a power conversion topologies, back converter, which is in entity low current density compounded by the mechanical challenges with first-generation VPD of stacking this multi-cell topology with gearboxes or capacity of layers that are required in order to provide filtering and dynamic response. And I don't mean to get too technical with this.Getting to the punch line, VPD -- first generation VPD implemented with multi-cell solutions in the form of multiphase is very, very challenged, costly not truly scalable in energy handicap and in need of an overall. And we're not seeing, based on our visibility, it being scaled up with the level of low defect rates and manufacturability that large OEMs would expect to have.

[Operator]

The next question is coming from Alan Hicks.

[Alan Hicks, analyst]

It sounds like the factory is virtually complete, although I know you have some more build-out. Is that -- can you confirm that?

[Patrizio Vinciarelli, executive]

Yes. We are -- we have a bar graph that we review every week. It used to be yellow and red. It's now all green in the sense that the green sourcing of yesteryear, which was yellow, red, it's become a green source has made an and/or in a vertically integrated facility. And those bars are rising from week to week. So we are doing well in that regard. So that challenge is essentially behind us.To your point, we're not totally done with bringing in equipment. There's still some additional equipment that is equipment we committed to. That's going to add some additional capacity and process capability is due in the next several months. But the core capability of -- in effect, building up the other layers of our unique converters in package type of technology through panels, again the wafer analogy, when it comes to [indiscernible] covert modules, that capability is in place. And we're using it and we're scaling it up.

[Alan Hicks, analyst]

Okay. So you would say your lead times are coming down?

[Patrizio Vinciarelli, executive]

Well, so what is going on in -- what has been going on in particular within the last quarter is that the mix has changed, right. With a different backlog situation and the need to utilize capacity to address some of the backlog that have been overdue, our mix has changed and that places its own constraint on total capacity. And that's frankly the reason why we fell short somewhat of our internal target in terms of top line within the quarter. It was that within a backlog. It's just that there was a bit of a mix challenge because instead of making lots of modules of a certain kind, we had to make somewhat smaller quantity of a variety of different things, right. So that's a factor with respect to our capacity. And it was a factor in particular with respect to the top line in the last quarter.

[Alan Hicks, analyst]

Okay. Then going forward, you're capable of building the 4G products lateral and vertical. And what's the interest in 4G?

[James Schmidt, executive]

I'm sorry, what is what -- interest in 4G?

[Alan Hicks, analyst]

Yes.

[Patrizio Vinciarelli, executive]

So, I think, frankly, our focus right now, we do have -- Phil, do you want to answer that question?

[Philip Davies, executive]

Well, we have some 4G design wins.

[Patrizio Vinciarelli, executive]

Yes.

[Philip Davies, executive]

Absolutely. So that will play out as we move through the year. But the real focus, and I think that's where Patrizio is going is really establishing the 5G technology because it's 3x the power density of 4G, which is a major value proposition to vertical power delivery and other lower current lateral applications too. So it opens up new markets for us, bigger markets. So I think it's an exciting time.

[Patrizio Vinciarelli, executive]

Yes. And in fact, we -- I'm not thinking about 4G. I'm thinking and the excitement theme is very much focused on making sure that we bring 5G to completion and get demo system poured out to customers, tools and begin that scale up.

[Operator]

Your next question is coming from Jon Tanwanteng.

[Jonathan Tanwanteng, analyst]

I was wondering if your expectations for the automotive applications have changed at all, just given the shift in automotive sentiment, where maybe hybrids are a little bit more back in fashion versus pure EVs and how that plays out to your 48-volt technology?

[Philip Davies, executive]

No. Hey Jon, it's Phil. So no, the market is sizable for us as a new entrant, of course. I mean there's still millions of BEVs and mild hybrids out there for us to go after with their 800-volt or 400-volt battery technology. And what we're seeing at the moment, it's actually quite interesting, is that we have powertrain solutions that go from 800 to 48 to 800 to 12. We have an onboard charger platform that is incredibly power dense and is getting a lot of interest in the market with 800-, 400-volt bidirectional conversion.And so what we're seeing recently actually different applications like, for example, converting a condenser or an active suspension system or a [indiscernible] from an 800- or 400-volt battery down to 48 volts, as 48 volts starts to take a hold in some of these electromechanical applications. So we've seen a lot more of that in the last -- I would say, the last 2 quarters, and that's exciting for us because those are relatively high-volume applications. Like the active suspension, for example, is 2 to 4 modules per vehicle. So we're encouraged about the continued progress in automotive. And the application spread is actually increasing for us.

[Jonathan Tanwanteng, analyst]

Understood. And then second, I just wanted to go back to the issues with the IBM and the IP. As you assert your intellectual property there, is there a risk that it deters you or potential customers from pursuing designs or closing deals on fifth generation VPD technology? Or do you view them as mostly ring-fenced here? I'm just thinking that maybe you're pursuing this path and the demand is out there for all these AI processes, maybe the customers might settle for something that's less than perfect, just to meet the demand that they see.

[Patrizio Vinciarelli, executive]

So I guess the way we view this is that in terms of encouraging or discouraging OEMs doing business with us, I would expect that OEMs make these decisions based on their considered interest, right, which involves access to competitive technology because needless to say if they are foreclosed from a power system technology that their competitors have, they are in a challenging competitive position of their own. And so to the extent that Vicor provides access to enabling power system technology, whether it's VPDs, particularly second-gen VPD, or high-con density solutions, customers come to us because they realize we have those capabilities, which the commodity pack of multiphase does not have.Now the enforcement of the IP is a necessity. IP needs to be expected. We can't have a market in which OEMs, particularly large OEMs, wish to commoditize a proprietary product covered by a lot of innovation and patents as is the case for the MBM and other unique Vicor capabilities. So we need to make the investment necessary in getting the respect that the intellectual property deserves and our first action in this regard is an action of the International Trade Commission. We're now more than halfway through that process. We are going to be at trial at the end of April. And thus far, we're winning on just about every key decisions has been made to-date.So I'm very encouraged with respect to the outcome. And we're very focused on bringing that to a successful conclusion later this year.

[Jonathan Tanwanteng, analyst]

Got it. When do you expect the final decisions to be made there? And what are the -- what are you expecting the legal cost to be just on a run rate basis as we get there?

[Patrizio Vinciarelli, executive]

So the LJ will render his decision by, I think, at the very beginning of October. The trial is at the end of April, beginning of May.

[Philip Davies, executive]

Actually brought some time --

[Patrizio Vinciarelli, executive]

-- in watching obviously. Good time to be watching.

[Jonathan Tanwanteng, analyst]

Got it. And the cost, the legal expenses associated with that?

[Patrizio Vinciarelli, executive]

It's significant, but not nearly as significant as our opponents because of how we structured our deal with law firms that work with us as partners. So we have a common goal and a common set of interest.

[Operator]

The next question is coming from John Dillon.

[John Dillon, analyst]

Patrizio, your cash keeps increasing even after investing in building a new factory. So I'm wondering, are you saving the cash for building a multiplicity of ChiP fabs? Or are you considering stock buybacks for that cash?

[Philip Davies, executive]

Building more fabs or stock buyback. Is it?

[Patrizio Vinciarelli, executive]

Yes. So I'm sorry, I wouldn't understand all of what you said. But regarding mul fabs, we first have to fill the existing one, right. And the existing one, which we have represented to have a capability of nearly $1 billion based on some of the advances we made with our 5G technology is now expected to be able to support considerably more that level of yearly revenues. So we got a while to go before having to invest in a second fab.

[John Dillon, analyst]

When that stock buybacks?

[Patrizio Vinciarelli, executive]

Well, we're focused on a variety of opportunities at this point in time. And frankly, that's not been on my radar screen. But it may get our radar screen, and if and when that happens, we'll all find out when it happens.

[John Dillon, analyst]

And what are you stating your cash point? What's -- you said a huge cash forward that keeps growing.

[James Schmidt, executive]

Yes. So what are we using the cash forward for. Well, I think at this point, it is the case, John, that one very favorable thing that occurred in the last couple of quarters is a couple of quarters is greater than $20 million per quarter of operating cash flow. So there is a sense now that with royalties and other parts of the P&L and the factory internalized and no more spend outside that we can be pretty efficient and very efficient, in fact, in generating cash. So -- but let's let the cash pile grow a bit, and then we decide. As Patrizio said, we'll look at it.

[Patrizio Vinciarelli, executive]

So needless to say, we particularly in the early stage of our IP campaign, we want to be in a very strong financial position, right. And there, I'd say conservative is with respect to being able to invest in the campaign to the extent necessary for as long as it takes to achieve the goals. And that's our top priority. That's most important strategically.Going back to your question, let's say we could buy back 5% or 10% of a float that opportunity, relatively speaking, payouts relative to the opportunity to double the value or do more than that by succeeding at the salvaging the mission. And that's our focus.

[John Dillon, analyst]

And Phil, can you just give us a brief update on your design wins, how they're going where you see coming up?

[Philip Davies, executive]

Sorry, John, I couldn't make out that question.

[Patrizio Vinciarelli, executive]

So very, very hard -- speak louder or?

[John Dillon, analyst]

Yes, sorry, I'm -- Phil, can you just give us an update on the design wins --

[James Schmidt, executive]

Design wins.

[Philip Davies, executive]

As I mentioned in my remarks, John, where the pipeline is continuing to grow. I mean we're -- as I talked about, we're focused as a strategy on 100 customers. We've identified those 100 customers with about a $6 billion SAM for Vicor. We're very focused on those top 100 with account managers on every single one of them, and every single one of them is targeted for a set of new products that will have started to release in Q4. We'll have more in Q1 and Q2. So the pipeline is growing. We've got a very healthy growing pipeline. I'm quite confident in all 4 business units achieving their goals over the next 3 to 4 years by 2027.

[Patrizio Vinciarelli, executive]

Yes. It's a part of the note. This is a diversified model, right. We're not -- even though there's been a lot of talk of ours, particularly from the investors community, on AI for obvious reasons, the center opportunities, that is one of the primary markets. It's not the only market. You heard us talk about automotive. That's an important market as well. Obviously, an emerging market for us, but we have 2 other end-markets that in the room right, represent a deal opportunity. Aerospace and defense, industrial market, our products have all the right trace for those applications in those end-markets and those in their own right represent the opportunity for us. And if you see here, the business model is obviously key to the overall strategy in terms of market transaction.

[Operator]

The next question is coming from attendee. [Operator Instructions]

[James Schmidt, executive]

You might want to go to the next questions operator.

[Operator]

Sure, the next questioner also joined over the phone. [Operator Instructions]

[Donald McKenna, analyst]

This is Don McKenna. I was following up on John Dillon's earlier question relative to bookings. And I know you said you didn't want to project any kind of trends. But can you give a rough idea how they're running so far? You're halfway through the quarter. How they're running compared to last quarter?

[Patrizio Vinciarelli, executive]

Again, setting expectations with respect to what is going to happen this quarter or next quarter is not something we're going to do because it could be misleading one way or the other, and we don't want to do that. So we want to be very honest, in effect sharing what we capitalize as challenges and opportunities that on balance could lead to a variety of outcomes. Given that setting any kind of specific expectation could be potentially misleading one way or the other, we don't want to do that.

[Operator]

And we have one more question from attendee who also joined over the phone. [Operator Instructions]

[Unknown Attendee]

This is [indiscernible]. General Motors announced that they're building a big plant domestically for EVs. Do you expect that you'll be selling your products to GM for this?

[Philip Davies, executive]

So we -- not again, not talking about any specific customers, but we have really covered most of the OEMs globally with our technology. It's been part of our strategy to get the OEMs excited about Vicor technology and what it can do in their BEV platforms or mild hybrid platforms. And for them to really start collaborations with us and to then bring in Tier 1s, and as our strategy for 2024 evolves, we're starting to work with more Tier 1s on those types of collaborations. So rather than get specific about one customer, I can say that generally and on a global footprint, we're doing very well with those collaborations and moving forward with our automotive strategy. But it's good to see the GM investment. That really is good to see.

[Patrizio Vinciarelli, executive]

If there is one more question before we close.

[Operator]

Right. The last question also joined over the phone. [Operator Instructions]

[Richard Shannon, analyst]

This is Richard Shannon with Craig-Hallum. I'm not sure what's wrong with this service, but I've been trying to get on for 45 minutes.So I guess maybe kind of a multiparter, as we look at your 5G technology. I think in your last call, you talked about wanting to deliver models and tools sometime this quarter. I think I got it early enough to hear the prepared remarks and didn't hear anything regarding that. So I'd love to get an update on whether those have been delivered yet here.And then as we think about you're getting to volume production with this, and I think you alluded to maybe by the end of this year, early next year, what needs to happen between now and then? And how do you exercise the new facility here to give confidence to large customers that you have the ability to ramp with high yields, high quality and low lead times?

[Patrizio Vinciarelli, executive]

So customers have come to visit the facility, kicked the tires as it were. And generally speaking, they've been very impressed. We had, as an example, a couple of weeks ago, the VP of Relations for a company with a very unique product in the realm of AI capabilities. And he commented having visited the factory that he never seen anything like that in terms of capabilities and state-of-the-art facilities. So the customer visits and customers being exposed to the equipment, the processes, the systems that our team has put in place speaks volumes to the scalability, the methodology of making panels of chips as if they were wafers of semiconductor devices.Regarding 5G, we are engaged with some lead customers, including one I was referencing a moment ago and another notable one. They come to mind as particularly keen on our technology, and we have a schedule that has us deliver them functional samples, tools and demo systems as we progress through Q2 and Q3 of this year.Regarding getting into production, we're going to have power production for 5G in the second half of the year. In terms of revenue opportunity, this is a Q1 2025 type of event. It's not in terms of contribution to revenue in any meaningful way in 2024 event, just to be clear.

[Richard Shannon, analyst]

Okay. Perfect. I wanted to get that confirmation. I appreciate that one. My last quick question here is there was a statement made by, I can remember either Patrizio or Phil, on the last call here about expecting a dominant share of AI power systems, I think referring to -- with 5G and over a period of time. I just wanted to -- especially given the step down in revenues that people might have concerned people. I wanted you to reiterate if you still believe that to be the case, to reiterate that that's what you think is going to happen.

[Patrizio Vinciarelli, executive]

It is. And it's not a dream, it's a vision that is rooted in hard numbers. The current density, the amps per square millimeter so to speak, the efficiency, the scalability, vertical power delivery, capabilities. The key attributes that we know data center, AI and customers need and with respect to which they are really today is severely handicap. The multiphase approach, particularly with VPD, but even without VPD, is very, very challenged. And it's been the de facto standard for obvious reasons because it is multisource. And historically, it has had a scalability of its own through the ecosystem of a large multiplicity of suppliers around the globe. But technically, it's very severely handicap.And it's that visibility that I have, which again comes down to numbers like amps per square millimeter and other attributes, the ability to provide a VPD solution in 1.5 millimeter thin current multiplier. That line up with what the AI processes require, we're looking at applications with 2,000, 4,000 amp requirements. In other cases, we're looking at vertical scale applications at the 50,000 amp level. You can't do that with a multiphase. You can only do it with our innovating technology. And that's what we're set to enable directly with our fab and to some degree indirectly through our license model.And with that --

[James Schmidt, executive]

We'll have to wrap it up. So operator, if you could close the call.

[Patrizio Vinciarelli, executive]

Thank you.

[Operator]

Sure. Thank you, everyone. That marks the end of your webinar. Thanks for joining and have a nice day.