Licence adds second source for novel power chips

Edited by the Electronicstalk editorial team Oct 31, 2003

Vicor has granted a nonexclusive licence to allow Celestica to manufacture and sell the VI Chip product family.

Vicor Corporation has granted a nonexclusive licence to allow Celestica to manufacture and sell the VI Chip (VIC) product family.

VI Chips are the building blocks of the new factorised power architecture (FPA) that Vicor announced in April 2003 VI Chips deliver up to 240W of power in a surface-mount (SMD) ball-grid array (BGA) package occupying less than 0.25in3 of space, with power densities up to 960W/in3 - five times better than competing products.

Available in both an in-board BGA configuration and an onboard leaded SMD configuration, and capable of efficiently delivering currents greater than 100A to the point of load, VI Chips set new standards for conversion efficiency, fast response to dynamic loads and low noise performance.

According to Andrew Hilbert, Senior Director of Marketing for Vicor: "When compared to the bricks of distributed power or the nonisolated point-of-load convertors powered by an intermediate bus, VI Chips and FPA represent a revolutionary and disruptive power system solution that offers step-function improvements in performance at a low cost.

Now, with Celestica as a licensee, OEMs will be able to source these products from two recognised leaders in the power conversion industry".

"We are pleased that Celestica has become a licensee for VI Chips", says Patrizio Vinciarelli, President and CEO of Vicor.

"Celestica's reputation as a first-tier supplier of high-quality power conversion products, and its leadership in innovative electronics manufacturing services, qualifies it to become an excellent alternate source.

We believe that this licence will amplify the market opportunity and accelerate the market penetration of VI Chips and factorised power".

VI Chips are currently available from Vicor and will soon be offered by Celestica.