IDT Shipped $1 Million in Orders for Wireless Charging Chips Q3

The handset vendor will use a WPC receiver in its smartphone, marking a major break for IDT, which so far largely shipped transmitters for WPC-compatible charging pads. Among the charging products is Technocel’s TYLT VU with three wireless charging circles built into a tilted stand compatible with 24 smartphones including the Nokia Lumia 820, 822, 880 and 920 as well as LG Electronics’ G2 and Samsung Galaxy Note II. McCreary didn’t identify IDT’s handset customer or which of the company’s chips was being deployed. It recently introduced the IDTP9025 and IDTP9035A WPC 1.1 receiver and transmitter.

"We are still in the very early stages of adoption of wireless power products,” McCreary said. “But we are optimistic about this market and we're tracking to our prior plans of expected receiver and transmitter solution shipments."

IDT hasn’t received any orders for its IDTP9021 dual-mode wireless power receiver that’s compatible with both WPC 1.0 and Power Matters Alliance (PMA) standards, McCreary said. IDT unveiled the dual-mode chip in April. The IDTP9021 can automatically switch between WPC and PMA standards and negotiate the power exchange without user supervision, IDT officials have said. Wireless carriers are supporting different wireless charging protocols, with AT&T and Sprint backing PMA, while Verizon supports WPC. The wireless charging business is divided into three incompatible standards, including WPC and PMA, which use magnetic induction technology, and Alliance for Wireless Power (A4WP) -- founded by Intel and Qualcomm -- that uses magnetic resonance.

"It’s absolutely impossible to call when the hockey stick” of sales “will explode because it depends on what the service providers do and on the infrastructure piece,” McCreary said. “No big player has said yet” that it will deploy wireless charging across its product line, McCreary said. IDT has had about $2 million in orders since it started delivering product in 2012, including the $1 million that’s shipping fiscal Q3, McCreary said. The $1 million in orders is with “multiple” customers, he said.

IDT has developed DDR4-compatible registered clock drivers, data buffers and temperature sensors, but the market for the next-generation memory technology isn’t likely to open until 2014, McCreary said. “It’s really next year before you get anything that is going to move the needle,” he said. “There’s just a ton of work going on right now with people evaluating the solutions. I know people think of it as tied to a commodity because it’s such a memory play, but it’s amazing how far out in advance you have to get to be successful in that space."

As it pushes forward with wireless charging and DDR4 technology, IDT is shedding some businesses. IDT received $96 million in fiscal Q2 in net proceeds from the $100 million sale of its enterprise flash controller business to PMC Sierra. It also got $6 million from the final release of funds escrowed as part of the sale of its image processor ICs. IDT also took $13.1 million in acquisition and restructuring-related charges against fiscal Q2 earnings, including cutting 90 jobs across the company, McCreary said.

IDT had an $83.6 million fiscal Q2 profit versus a $683,000 loss a year earlier due to the $96 million enterprise flash controller sale, the company said. IDT’s revenue slid to $124.6 million from $133.4 million amid a sharp drop in 2-channel and 6-channel audio codec sales for PCs, the company said. IDT had a 3 percent increase in Q2 consumer sales, short of the 18 percent rise it had forecast, because audio revenue was a “little bit lighter than we originally expected,” Chief Financial Officer Brian White said. The consumer business also includes clock ICs and timing controllers IDT supplies for Sony PlayStation 3 consoles as well as the upcoming PlayStation 4, the company has said. The downturn in audio was partly offset by gains in IDT’s communications business, which benefited from the deployment of the company’s RapidIO switches for 4G networks in China, including those being rolled out by China Mobile, IDT officials said. RapidIO switches are installed in cellular base stations. The communications segment accounted for 58 percent of IDT’s Q2 sales, while the consumer segment was 13 percent, company officials said.