Vicor Drags 20 AI Server Suppliers, From Luxshare to Foxconn to Quanta, Into Its Third ITC Patent War Over Vertical Power Delivery

The US International Trade Commission has instituted a third Section 337 investigation driven by Vicor Corporation, the Massachusetts power-module specialist, and this time the respondent list spans the AI server supply chain: 20 companies including Luxshare Precision, Foxconn and its industrial-internet unit FII, Quanta Computer and its cloud unit QCT, Delta Electronics, Infineon, Flex, Celestica and Monolithic Power Systems.

The case, docketed as 337-TA-1526 and announced in USITC news release 26-145 on October 9, targets "certain vertical power delivery systems, components thereof, and computing systems containing the same" — the power architecture that keeps kilowatt-class AI accelerators fed. Vicor filed the complaint on September 9 and supplemented it a day later, seeking a limited exclusion order and cease-and-desist orders that would block infringing hardware at the US border.

Per the USITC notice, the respondents are Delta Electronics with its Americas arm and DET Logistics, Infineon Technologies, Luxshare Precision and Dongguan Luxshare Technology, Monolithic Power Systems together with its Chengdu and Shanghai entities, Flex, Celestica, Quanta Computer, Quanta Cloud Technology and its US arm, Hon Hai (Foxconn), Foxconn Industrial Internet with FII USA, and Ingrasys with its US subsidiary. A win would let Vicor block not just modules but entire systems containing them.

It is the company's third bite at the apple. The first round, 337-TA-1370, ended in February 2025 with the ITC finding two Vicor patents valid and infringed and issuing a limited exclusion order; case analyses note that round settled for roughly $45 million in licensing months later. A second investigation, aimed at intermediate bus converter modules, was instituted in February 2026 and remains pending. Vicor also sued Monolithic Power Systems in Texas federal court the day before the ITC instituted the new case, according to reporting on the dispute.

The stakes track the physics of AI power. NVIDIA said at CES 2026 that its next-generation Rubin architecture uses vertical power delivery throughout, moving the power stage directly beneath the package as per-chip currents climb toward the thousands of amperes. TSMC has presented data at APEC showing board-level power network resistance falling from roughly 90 to 140 micro-ohms to 10 to 15 with VPD — an approximately 89% cut in distribution loss — and Vicor white papers claim as much as 95%. Case analyses put patent protection on the core structure out to about 2036.

Vicor has been explicit that licensing is now a business line rather than a legal footnote. In a company release, CEO Patrizio Vinciarelli said Q3 licensing revenues "surpassed Vicor's quarterly investment in R&D," that settlements and licensing agreements tied to the 2025 order are expected to contribute nearly $300 million through 2026, and that OEMs and hyperscalers "need a license, need to renew their license or need to expand its scope." Chinese market commentary puts quarterly licensing revenue at $30.4 million, up from $10.4 million a year earlier, with four major licensees signed — figures consistent with the company's own statements.

Procedurally, the ITC will set a target completion date within 45 days; final determinations in comparable cases have taken 16 to 18 months, and any exclusion order takes effect on issuance subject to a 60-day presidential review in which the US Trade Representative can veto it for policy reasons. For the named assemblers the practical exposure is narrower than the headlines suggest: power modules are customer-specified components that can be swapped for licensed alternatives, which is why analysts were quick to frame the case as a negotiation opener rather than a supply-chain break. Judging by round one, the likeliest ending is that the 20 defendants become licensees — and the rent roll grows again.