Delta faces Vicor at the US ITC a second time, with royalties now $66.6 million a quarter

A second knock on Delta's door

On September 9, 2026, Vicor▲+9.44% — Vicor, up 9.44 percent today Corporation, a Massachusetts power-module maker, filed a Section 337 complaint↗ at the US International Trade Commission alleging that imported AI-server power delivery systems infringe its patents ¹². On October 9 the commission instituted the investigation, naming Delta Electronics▼−4.00% — Delta Electronics, down 4.00 percent today, Hon Hai (Foxconn▼−2.00% — Foxconn, down 2.00 percent today) and Quanta Computer▼−1.98% — Quanta Computer, down 1.98 percent today among twenty respondents ¹². Vicor seeks a Limited Exclusion Order and cease-and-desist orders, remedies that block imports rather than impose tariffs ¹².

Delta has been here before. In a final determination of February 2025, the commission found a Section 337 violation in an earlier Vicor case against Delta and issued the same pair of orders; Delta survived by developing alternative products designed around the patents ². Analyst Tsai Ming-han argues that precedent is instructive: Delta, which designs and manufactures its own power products, sits closer to the technological heart of the dispute than Foxconn and Quanta, whose server assembly leaves the disputed parts with their suppliers ².

The royalties running through the case

The money at stake is no longer small. Vicor's royalty revenue more than tripled to $66.6 million↗ in the third quarter of 2026, about 34 percent of its $197.1 million total, against roughly 20 percent a year earlier ³. That licensing income carries the margins of a patent, not a factory: Vicor's gross margin reached 68.3 percent, up 10.8 points ³.

The complaint itself is part of the sales machinery. Vicor disclosed that the ITC investigation has already prompted inquiries from potential licensees, and its press release tells OEMs and hyperscalers that computing systems containing components from respondents will need a Vicor license to enter the United States, with royalty rates that escalate as the case advances toward an exclusion order ¹³. Delta's choice is therefore a toll or a gate: pay royalties on the modules inside every AI server, or lose the US market for the accused products.

Who bleeds first, and when

Neither camp reports damage yet. Delta says the relevant products remain unaffected and it will respond through legal procedures; Quanta will require its suppliers to address the disputed components; Foxconn reports no material impact on production, shipments or customers ². Taiwan's trade agency notes these investigations typically run 12 to 16 months, which gives respondents time to contest, redesign or license ².

That runway is the whole game. Delta ran this playbook once and lived: its redesigns passed where its original designs did not ².

The risk this time is scope, since the respondent list reaches past Taiwan to Infineon, Luxshare, Monolithic Power Systems▲+2.18% — Monolithic Power Systems, up 2.18 percent today, Flex▲+2.38% — Flex, up 2.38 percent today, Celestica▲+4.01% — Celestica, up 4.01 percent today and Ingrasys, meaning an exclusion order could tangle sourcing across the whole AI-server chain ¹. Investors need not overreact to the filing alone, but Delta's AI-power premium now carries a documented, precedented legal overhang its assembly peers do not share. The next scheduled reading is the ITC's target date inside that 12-to-16-month window; watch Delta's design-around disclosures before Vicor's next royalty line ¹²³.