{
 "id": "4.08",
 "slug": "board-level-power-vrms-power-stages-pol-power-semis",
 "url": "/parts/servers-racks-and-integration/board-level-power-vrms-power-stages-pol-power-semis",
 "name": "Board-level power: VRMs, power stages, PoL, power semis",
 "qualifiers": null,
 "layer": {
  "id": 4,
  "name": "Servers, racks & integration"
 },
 "parent_id": null,
 "children": [
  "4.08a"
 ],
 "summary": "The voltage regulator modules and point-of-load converters that step rack-level DC power down to the precise, high-current voltages each GPU and chip needs at the board.",
 "description_md": "This part sits between the rack's power shelves (4.12) and busbar (4.15) on one side and the GPU or CPU die on the other: VRMs and power stages take the incoming rail and regulate it down, at high current and tight tolerance, to the voltage a chip actually consumes. GPU-class VRMs are a harder engineering problem than a CPU's because GPU power draw is both higher and more transient — regulation has to respond fast enough that a sudden compute load doesn't cause the voltage to sag or overshoot. That has pulled wide-bandgap semiconductors (4.08a) into board-level power delivery as GaN and SiC devices allow smaller, more efficient power stages at the currents modern GPUs need. For investors, this tier is defined by a handful of suppliers with the analog and power-electronics design expertise to hit these specs reliably, and by how tightly a given VRM design is qualified against a specific GPU generation's transient response profile — a qualification cycle that resets with every new chip generation and tends to favor incumbents with an existing track record on the previous one.",
 "ai_delta": "GPU power draw is both higher and far more transient than CPU power draw, which pushes VRM design toward faster response and higher current density than board-level power delivery has historically needed.",
 "bottleneck_status": null,
 "scale_tiers": [
  "enterprise",
  "hyperscale_building",
  "ai_campus",
  "gw_class"
 ],
 "density_modes": [
  "any"
 ],
 "scale_notes": "present on every GPU and CPU board regardless of facility scale; what changes with rack density is the current and transient-response spec each VRM has to hit.",
 "flow": [
  "compute",
  "power"
 ],
 "companies": [
  {
   "company_id": "alpha-and-omega",
   "name": "Alpha & Omega",
   "role": "manufacturer",
   "confidence": "inferred",
   "ownership_type": "public",
   "ticker": "AOSL",
   "product_note": null,
   "note": null,
   "source_url": null
  },
  {
   "company_id": "analog-devices",
   "name": "Analog Devices",
   "role": "manufacturer",
   "confidence": "inferred",
   "ownership_type": "public",
   "ticker": "ADI",
   "product_note": null,
   "note": null,
   "source_url": null
  },
  {
   "company_id": "delta-electronics",
   "name": "Delta Electronics",
   "role": "manufacturer",
   "confidence": "inferred",
   "ownership_type": "public",
   "ticker": "2308.TW",
   "product_note": null,
   "note": null,
   "source_url": null
  },
  {
   "company_id": "infineon",
   "name": "Infineon",
   "role": "manufacturer",
   "confidence": "inferred",
   "ownership_type": "public",
   "ticker": "IFX.DE",
   "product_note": null,
   "note": null,
   "source_url": null
  },
  {
   "company_id": "monolithic-power",
   "name": "Monolithic Power Systems",
   "role": "manufacturer",
   "confidence": "inferred",
   "ownership_type": "public",
   "ticker": "MPWR",
   "product_note": null,
   "note": "leading GPU VRM supplier",
   "source_url": null
  },
  {
   "company_id": "onsemi",
   "name": "onsemi",
   "role": "manufacturer",
   "confidence": "inferred",
   "ownership_type": "public",
   "ticker": "ON",
   "product_note": null,
   "note": null,
   "source_url": null
  },
  {
   "company_id": "renesas",
   "name": "Renesas",
   "role": "manufacturer",
   "confidence": "inferred",
   "ownership_type": "public",
   "ticker": "6723.T",
   "product_note": null,
   "note": null,
   "source_url": null
  },
  {
   "company_id": "rohm",
   "name": "Rohm",
   "role": "manufacturer",
   "confidence": "inferred",
   "ownership_type": "public",
   "ticker": "6963.T",
   "product_note": null,
   "note": null,
   "source_url": null
  },
  {
   "company_id": "stmicro",
   "name": "STMicroelectronics",
   "role": "manufacturer",
   "confidence": "inferred",
   "ownership_type": "public",
   "ticker": "STM",
   "product_note": null,
   "note": null,
   "source_url": null
  },
  {
   "company_id": "texas-instruments",
   "name": "Texas Instruments",
   "role": "manufacturer",
   "confidence": "inferred",
   "ownership_type": "public",
   "ticker": "TXN",
   "product_note": null,
   "note": null,
   "source_url": null
  },
  {
   "company_id": "vicor",
   "name": "Vicor",
   "role": "manufacturer",
   "confidence": "inferred",
   "ownership_type": "public",
   "ticker": "VICR",
   "product_note": null,
   "note": "vertical power delivery",
   "source_url": null
  },
  {
   "company_id": "empower",
   "name": "Empower",
   "role": "manufacturer",
   "confidence": "inferred",
   "ownership_type": "private",
   "ticker": null,
   "product_note": null,
   "note": null,
   "source_url": null
  }
 ]
}