Monolithic Power Systems, Inc. (MPWR)
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Earnings Call: Q4 2020

Feb 4, 2021

Genevieve Cunningham
Supervisor of Marketing Communications, Monolithic Power Systems

Welcome, everyone, to the MPS fourth quarter 2020 earnings webinar. Please note that this webinar is being recorded and will be archived for one year on our investor relations page at www.monolithicpower.com. My name is Genevieve Cunningham, and I will be the moderator for this webinar. Joining me today are Michael Hsing, CEO and founder of MPS, and Bernie Blegen, VP and CFO. In the course of today's conference call, we will make forward-looking statements and projections that involve risk and uncertainty, which could cause results to differ materially from management's current views and expectations. Please refer to the safe harbor statement contained in the earnings release published today.

Risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause actual results to differ are identified in the safe harbor statements contained in the Q4 earnings release and in our SEC filings, including our Form 10-K, filed on February 28th, 2020, and Form 10-Q, filed on November 6th, 2020, both of which are accessible through our website. MPS assumes no obligation to update the information provided on today's call. We will be discussing gross margin, operating expense, R&D, and SG&A expense, operating income, interest and other income, net income, and earnings on both a GAAP and a non-GAAP basis. These non-GAAP financial measures are not prepared in accordance with GAAP and should not be considered as a substitute for or superior to measures of financial performance prepared in accordance with GAAP.

A table that outlines the reconciliation between the non-GAAP financial measures to GAAP financial measures is included in our earnings release, which we have filed with the SEC. I would refer investors to the Q4 2019, Q3 2020, and Q4 2020 earnings releases, as well as to the reconciling tables that are posted on our website. I'd also like to remind you that today's conference call is being webcast live over the internet and will be available for replay on our website for one year, along with the earnings release filed with the SEC earlier today. Now, I'd like to turn the call over to Bernie Blegen.

Bernie Blegen
VP and CFO, Monolithic Power Systems

Thanks, Gen. For the full year 2020, MPS achieved record revenue, $844.5 million, growing 34.5% from the prior year. This performance represented consistent execution against our strategies and being recognized by more first-tier companies for our superior technologies, product quality, and excellent customer support. As we see more high-quality growth opportunities ahead of us, we continue to successfully invest in our infrastructure and capabilities that support that growth. Here are a few highlights which we achieved in 2020. Brought online a new 12-inch fab one year ahead of schedule, allowing for qualified parts to be shipped in Q4 of this year. We will continue to invest in the capacity and diversity of our supply chain with plans to bring up a new eight inch fab in 2021. Began volume shipments of 48-volt QSMoD technology for AI applications, proving the commercial viability of our leading-edge system solutions in this critically important market.

Designed an integrated power management solution for autonomous driving vehicles. Shipments began to ramp in Q3 of 2020. Launched our ESG website, aggregating all of our environmental, social, and governance values, policies, and practices into one easily accessed location. Customers, employees, shareholders are now able to fully appreciate MPS' commitment to sustainability, transparency of our business practices, and our ongoing social responsibility. While 2020 was very successful in terms of our financial performance, product development, and new customer acquisition, supply chain capacity constraints for much of the year limited our ability to fulfill all of our customers' demand. This was a result of demand increases during the year and industry-wide capacity constraints. We can take some solace in having recognized this issue in 2019, which propelled us to bring up our second 12-inch fab.

Maintaining our ability to meet strong demand while delivering high-quality products to our customers has represented an extraordinary challenge that continues into 2021. Despite these challenges, we will continue to execute on our strategic plan. Turning back to full year 2020 revenue by market segment compared with 2019, communications revenue up 67.9%, consumer revenue up 34.2%, computing and storage up 33.8%, automotive up 20.7%, and industrial up 20.3%, demonstrating just how broad-based our revenue improvement was. Communications revenue grew $57.5 million- $142.3 million. This improvement was primarily due to an infrastructure sales ramp. Communications revenue represented 16.9% of our 2020 revenue, compared with 13.5% in 2019. Consumer revenue grew $56.2 million- $220.4 million, reversing two consecutive years of sales declines. This growth reflected higher game console sales, along with increased sales of wearables and home appliances.

Consumer revenue represented 26.1% of MPS's full year 2020 revenue, compared with 26.2% in 2019. Full year 2020 computing and storage revenue grew $64.0 million over the prior year to $253.2 million. This 33.8% increase primarily resulted from strong sales growth for cloud computing and storage applications. Computing and storage revenue represented 30.0% of MPS's total revenue in 2020, compared with 30.1% in 2019. Automotive revenue grew $18.7 million to $109.0 million in 2020. This growth primarily represented increased sales of infotainment, safety, and connectivity application products. Automotive revenue represented 12.9% of MPS's full year 2020 revenue, compared with 14.4% in 2019. Industrial revenue grew $20.2 million to $119.6 million in 2020. This growth primarily reflected higher sales for applications and power sources. Industrial revenue represented 14.2% of MPS's full year 2020 revenue, compared with 15.8% in 2019.

Switching to Q4, MPS had a record fourth quarter, with revenue of $233.0 million, 10.2% lower than revenue generated in the third quarter of 2020, 39.8% higher than the comparable quarter of 2019. By market segment, revenue for consumer grew 69.7% year-over-year, automotive grew 63.1%, industrial grew 38.8%, communications grew 35.6%, computing and storage grew 11.1%. Fourth quarter 2020 GAAP gross margin was 55.3%, 20 basis points higher than both third quarter 2020 and the fourth quarter of 2019. Our GAAP operating income was $40.0 million, compared to $60.0 million reported in the third quarter of 2020, $30.7 million reported in the fourth quarter of 2019. Fourth quarter 2020 non-GAAP gross margin was 55.7%, 20 basis points higher than both the third quarter of 2020 and the fourth quarter of 2019.

Our non-GAAP operating income was $66.3 million, compared to $84.9 million reported in the prior quarter, and $50.8 million reported in the fourth quarter of 2019. Let's review our operating expenses. Our GAAP operating expenses were $88.9 million in the fourth quarter, compared with $83.1 million in the third quarter of 2020, and $61.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2019. Our non-GAAP fourth quarter 2020 operating expenses were $63.6 million, up from the $59.1 million we spent in the third quarter of 2020, and up from the $41.8 million reported in the fourth quarter of 2019. On both a GAAP and a non-GAAP basis, fourth quarter 2020 litigation expenses were $1.5 million, compared with a $1.8 million expense in Q3 2020, and a $991,000 expense in Q4 2019.

The differences between GAAP and non-GAAP operating expenses for the quarters discussed here are stock compensation and income or loss from an unfunded deferred compensation plan. Fourth quarter 2020 stock compensation expense, including $686,000 charged cost of goods sold, was $23.0 million, compared with $23.0 million recorded in the third quarter of 2020. Switching to the bottom line, fourth quarter 2020 GAAP net income was $42.9 million, or $0.90 per fully diluted share, compared with $1.18 per share in the third quarter of 2020, and $0.70 per share in the fourth quarter of 2019. Q4 2020 non-GAAP net income was $62.5 million, or $1.31 per fully diluted share, compared with $1.69 per share in the third quarter of 2020, and $1.04 per share in the fourth quarter of 2019. Fully diluted shares outstanding at the end of Q4 2020 were 47.6 million. Now let's look at the balance sheet.

As of December 31st, 2020, cash equivalents, and investments totaled $598.0 million, compared with $554.5 million at the end of the third quarter of 2020. For the quarter, MPS generated operating cash flow of about $79.6 million, compared with Q3 2020 operating cash flow of $77.4 million. Fourth quarter 2020 capital spending totaled $11.5 million. Accounts receivable ended the fourth quarter of 2020 at $66.8 million, or 26 days of sales outstanding, compared with the $93.5 million or 33 days reported at the end of the third quarter of 2020, and the $52.7 million or 29 days reported in the fourth quarter of 2019. Our internal inventories at the end of the fourth quarter of 2020 were $157.1 million, up from the $148.1 million at the end of the third quarter of 2020.

Calculated on a basis consistent with our past practice, and as you can see from the webinar video, days of inventory rose to 137 days at the end of Q4 2020 from the 116 days at the end of the third quarter of 2020. Historically, we've calculated days of inventory on hand as a function of the current quarter revenue. We believe comparing current inventory levels with the following quarter's revenue provides a better economic match. On this basis, again, you can see days of inventory increased to 132 days at the end of the fourth quarter of 2020 from 129 days at the end of the third quarter of 2020. I would like to turn to our Q1 2021 outlook. We are forecasting Q1 2021 revenue in the range of $236- $248 million. We also expect the following. GAAP gross margin in the range of 55.1%-55.7%.

Non-GAAP gross margin in the range of 55.4%-56.0%. Total stock-based compensation expense of $27.0 million-$29.0 million, including approximately $800,000 that would be charged to cost of goods sold. GAAP R&D and SG&A expenses between $89.0 million and $93.0 million. Non-GAAP R&D and SG&A expenses to be in the range of $62.8 million-$64.8 million. This estimate excludes stock compensation and litigation expenses. Litigation expenses to be in the range of $2.3 million-$2.7 million. Interest income is expected to range from $1.4 million-$1.8 million before foreign exchange gains or losses. Fully diluted shares to be in the range of 47.3 million-48.3 million shares. Finally, we are pleased to announce a 20% increase in our quarterly dividend to $0.60 per share from $0.50 per share for shareholders of record as of March 31st, 2021.

In conclusion, our performance in 2020 validated our strategy to grow through diversification and sustainability. We will continue to execute this strategy and invest in our future. I will now open the phone lines for questions.

Genevieve Cunningham
Supervisor of Marketing Communications, Monolithic Power Systems

Thank you, Bernie. Analysts, I would now like to begin our Q&A session. As a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please click the participants icon on the menu bar and then click the raise hand button. Our first question is from Matt Ramsay from Cowen. Matt, your line is now open.

Matt Ramsay
Analyst, Cowen

Thank you very much. Good afternoon, good evening, everybody. Hey, Michael, hey, Bernie. Hope you're well. My first question is around the supply that you guys are bringing online. You talked about a couple of different efforts, and you have done over the last few quarters to add supply. I guess, Michael, I wonder if you might characterize it as, anyway, one, how much supply can you bring online in, say, the immediate term versus over the next couple of years to support what revenue levels? Two, do you feel like there's now a situation where your own supply is expanding to support your share gains, where the rest of the industry might be tightening a bit, and how does that play into your thoughts about revenue growth? Thanks. Then I have a follow-up.

Michael Hsing
CEO and Founder, Monolithic Power Systems

Well, we said it in a couple quarters ago. We're building a capacity to about $2 billion capability. That's our long-term strategy. We will do that anyway. Just in the recent, from the last year is we're pulling a little faster. We can't anticipate these goes up and downs, okay, and as we plan for our long-term futures. In the recent years, obviously, we're pulling in and increase capacities, okay, as we started in early last year and we're a little bit ahead of the market demands. From looking a year futures, we continue to do so, and we're still facing delinquent.

Matt Ramsay
Analyst, Cowen

Got it. No, that makes sense in the long term. I guess for my follow-up question is a more near-term oriented one. Bernie, if you might give some color as how you're expecting I mean, the guidance was well above consensus for the March quarter. Maybe you could talk about it by segment, what you're expecting the trends to be as you move from December into March. Thanks, guys.

Bernie Blegen
VP and CFO, Monolithic Power Systems

Sure. I think that we saw in 2020 that revenue in both automotive and industrial were probably most heavily impacted because of the COVID pandemic. What we saw in the second half of the year is that both of those two markets showed marked improvement and have significant momentum as we go into 2021. Really, we're broad-based. A lot of the trends that we saw, that we benefited from in 2020, will continue on. Possibly the only exception is communications, which had a strong three quarters that'll be difficult to compare against.

Genevieve Cunningham
Supervisor of Marketing Communications, Monolithic Power Systems

Our next question is from Tore Svanberg from Stifel. Tore, your line is now open.

Tore Svanberg
Analyst, Stifel

Yes, thank you. Congratulations on the execution. So far, I think you're the only company that I've seen actually increasing your inventory days, so congratulations on that, too. Last quarter, you talked about the size of the delinquencies you had in 2019. Could you give us a ballpark for where they stand right now?

Michael Hsing
CEO and Founder, Monolithic Power Systems

I think the way last quarter, we talk about in the last couple of quarters, we have continued facing delinquencies. This quarter and last quarter were relatively similar. Two quarters ago, we're facing quite a bit more.

Bernie Blegen
VP and CFO, Monolithic Power Systems

Yeah, I think that's a reflection of continued strong demand, in the face of industry-wide capacity constraints. We've actually had to manage at this level now for about the last three to four quarters. I'm not saying that we're getting good at it, but we certainly believe we have it as well under control as possible, a good handle on it, so that we're escalating shipments only based on the needs of the end user, as opposed to anyone building inventory in either the channel or on customer shelves.

Michael Hsing
CEO and Founder, Monolithic Power Systems

The reason we can meet the most of our customers' demand is due to we add a capacity at the beginning of last year, and now we can fulfill most of it.

Tore Svanberg
Analyst, Stifel

Very good. As my follow-up on capacity, you talked about the second 12-inch, also new eight-inch. I know you typically don't name your foundries on these calls, but could you at least talk about sort of the geographical aspect to where your foundry partners are at this point?

Michael Hsing
CEO and Founder, Monolithic Power Systems

No, we try to diversify outside the China as we're speaking. In these fabs, we're still exploring and at the beginning of engagement with both fab, within China and outside of China.

Tore Svanberg
Analyst, Stifel

Great. Thank you very much. Congrats again.

Michael Hsing
CEO and Founder, Monolithic Power Systems

Okay.

Bernie Blegen
VP and CFO, Monolithic Power Systems

Thanks, Tore.

Genevieve Cunningham
Supervisor of Marketing Communications, Monolithic Power Systems

Our next question is from Ross Seymore from Deutsche Bank. Ross, your line is now open.

Ross Seymore
Analyst, Deutsche Bank

Hi, guys. Can you hear me?

Michael Hsing
CEO and Founder, Monolithic Power Systems

Yes. Loud and clear.

Bernie Blegen
VP and CFO, Monolithic Power Systems

Hi, Ross.

Ross Seymore
Analyst, Deutsche Bank

Hi there. Congratulations on the growth, especially impressive, not only relative to the analog group, but the diversity of it. As you looked at 2020 as a whole, other than the year-over-year in comms, which I know is difficult, you talked a little bit about you expect it to be diverse, but if you just said what some of the idiosyncratic drivers, company specific things in 2020 would be, just kind of by end market, obviously not customer specific.

Bernie Blegen
VP and CFO, Monolithic Power Systems

Sure. I think that in the computing, we had seen in 2018 and 2019 a run up in notebooks, and really in 2020, it was increased demand in the data center, both in terms of powering servers as well as storage. In the consumer market, we benefited from the once every three-year refresh of the gaming console, and also we saw a nice uptick both in home appliances as well as wearables or mobility. When we look at industrial and automotive, as I said earlier, both of those seem to be handicapped at the beginning of the year, where we have design wins, but we can't guarantee what the market circumstances are going to be. The unit sales on some of the new products we are introducing were a little limited, but certainly showed a lot of strength in the second half of the year.

Ross Seymore
Analyst, Deutsche Bank

Actually, Bernie, forgive me if I misspoke. I was actually talking more about 2021.

Bernie Blegen
VP and CFO, Monolithic Power Systems

Oh.

Ross Seymore
Analyst, Deutsche Bank

What those drive, similar sort of story, but 2021 more looking forward than back.

Michael Hsing
CEO and Founder, Monolithic Power Systems

I think it's a repeat of same thing. Between the 2020 to 2021.

Bernie Blegen
VP and CFO, Monolithic Power Systems

I'd say that the only thing in the first half that gives us a little pause, aside from the communications comparable, is that there's probably going to be some softness in the first half of the year related to computing at the data center. Outside of that, Michael's exactly right.

Ross Seymore
Analyst, Deutsche Bank

Well, maybe that's a good-.

Michael Hsing
CEO and Founder, Monolithic Power Systems

Softness, it's not going down.

Still going, not as strong.

Ross Seymore
Analyst, Deutsche Bank

Yeah.

Michael Hsing
CEO and Founder, Monolithic Power Systems

The demand is still slightly more than we expected. Yeah.

Ross Seymore
Analyst, Deutsche Bank

Got it. Then I guess as my real follow-up, a lot of companies are questioning the sustainability of this demand, and I know crystal balls are always foggy. You guys would grow, if I just annualize your first quarter guidance, 15%. I know seasonality might not be the best framework, but there seems to be an active debate amongst investors on, are things just too hot and there's got to be a stumble because there's excess ordering, inventory's going to build, et cetera. How are you guys viewing that kind of supply versus demand balance and the trust in the quality of the orders?

Michael Hsing
CEO and Founder, Monolithic Power Systems

Well, if you look at it in the past three or four years, okay. We grow something like from 17%-25% in the levels. 2019, we grow only 8%, but our designing all these opportunities still there. We just shifted from 2019- 2020. Again, in the automotive, industrial, in the first half of the year wasn't there, but they catch up in the second half of the year. In the computing, communications, and what else am I missing?

Bernie Blegen
VP and CFO, Monolithic Power Systems

Consumer.

Michael Hsing
CEO and Founder, Monolithic Power Systems

Yeah, consumers. The beginning is a little bit stronger than normal. I would say that it's probably evened out from 2019. This year, we never forecast a macroeconomy condition, but we do see these products, and we're facing shortages on Amazon, on these Best Buy, and we believe it, and these orders are real.

Ross Seymore
Analyst, Deutsche Bank

Great. Thank you, and congrats.

Michael Hsing
CEO and Founder, Monolithic Power Systems

Sure.

Genevieve Cunningham
Supervisor of Marketing Communications, Monolithic Power Systems

Our next question is from Rick Schafer from Oppenheimer. Rick, your line is now open.

Rick Schafer
Analyst, Oppenheimer

Thanks. Let me add my congratulations on the execution, guys. I'm sure it wasn't easy out there, this quarter, especially. Couple questions. I guess I'd like to ask about a couple of your growth pillars, maybe start with auto. I think it grew about 15% last year, with SAR down about 15%. Just optically, it looks like you guys could do something around 50% growth this year. Maybe you could talk about what leads that growth. Is it ADAS, body control? Does BMS kick in at all and kind of give a little more wind to the sails this year? I guess, second part of that question, I'm just curious, are you worried at all about indirect supply constraints potentially limiting your upside here?

Michael Hsing
CEO and Founder, Monolithic Power Systems

All right. Let me talk about your second part first. The growth overall for MPS is limited by our capacities and utilization of our total capacity. As you know, we have a few thousand, 4,000 parts, and it's inconceivable we can utilize entire capacities. For the auto growth, yes, as Bernie said earlier, we have ADAS, and start to ramp in the last quarter or so. We have more customers start to ramp. These are the very high-end product and we are very pleased with it. Other products in autos, and we talk about it in the past, from lighting to lift gates to what else?

Bernie Blegen
VP and CFO, Monolithic Power Systems

Power modules, yeah.

Michael Hsing
CEO and Founder, Monolithic Power Systems

Yeah, all the other power modules in auto. Now, we see start to ramp. Just at the beginning, we see all these products start to ramp, but these are still at the beginning.

Bernie Blegen
VP and CFO, Monolithic Power Systems

Rick, just one more point is that, I think we've read that the auto industry is suffering from its own capacity issues or being able to have a stable supply chain. As I look at our Q1 numbers, that is not directly impacting our demand or our ability to ship.

Michael Hsing
CEO and Founder, Monolithic Power Systems

Yeah. We are so small in the market presence in auto industry. All these initial ramp and it changes the needles in the revenue stream.

Rick Schafer
Analyst, Oppenheimer

Okay. Well, thanks. That's kind of what I was asking about. I was just worried if those secondary supply constraints could end up hurting you, somebody else can't ship. Maybe my second question, Michael, just on cloud server. If you could talk about how that data center ramp looks like for Q2 this year? Is Ice Lake still a needle mover, or is it really more Sapphire Rapids later this year where we're maybe potentially see a step function in revenues as that starts to pick up?

Michael Hsing
CEO and Founder, Monolithic Power Systems

Yeah, I can't relate those acronyms. These are names with I know the 13.5, like in the-

Rick Schafer
Analyst, Oppenheimer

VR, yeah.

Michael Hsing
CEO and Founder, Monolithic Power Systems

Yeah, VR13.5 mostly is ramping now.

As we see the revenue growth. The VR14s, I think that'll be a next year story.

Rick Schafer
Analyst, Oppenheimer

Got it. Thanks.

Genevieve Cunningham
Supervisor of Marketing Communications, Monolithic Power Systems

Our next question is from Alex Vecchi from William Blair. Alex, your line is now open.

Alex Vecchi
Analyst, William Blair

Hi, guys. Congratulations on the impressive quarter from me as well. Maybe Bernie, just on a more housekeeping question. Your guidance for gross margin at the midpoint is looking flat quarter-over-quarter. Is that due to end market mix, or are you seeing any increasing manufacturing costs weighing on margins? How should we think about that resumption back to the 10- 20 basis points going forward?

Michael Hsing
CEO and Founder, Monolithic Power Systems

Yes. Okay. Obviously, now you see the consumer segment is growing too, and slightly, or even with the lower gross margin. On the other hand, yes, the manufacturing cost is going up.

Alex Vecchi
Analyst, William Blair

Okay, that's helpful.

Michael Hsing
CEO and Founder, Monolithic Power Systems

Yeah.

Alex Vecchi
Analyst, William Blair

Just on your inventory days, you guys have talked in the past about the 180, 200-day target. You've made some improvements this quarter. How do we think about getting back to an ideal inventory level in terms of timing?

Michael Hsing
CEO and Founder, Monolithic Power Systems

Well, it's the demand keep coming as is now, and it would be difficult. We think by the end of the year, we hope we can go back to 180- 200 days of inventory.

Bernie Blegen
VP and CFO, Monolithic Power Systems

I think if you look at whether it's the inventory that we hold on our books or particularly in the channel, it's very lean right now, and then we've already discussed delinquencies. We have a lot of catch-up to do before we really can get the model to the 180-200 day goal.

Alex Vecchi
Analyst, William Blair

Understood. That's it for me. I'll pass it along to the next.

Michael Hsing
CEO and Founder, Monolithic Power Systems

Great.

Genevieve Cunningham
Supervisor of Marketing Communications, Monolithic Power Systems

Our next question is from Quinn Bolton from Needham. Quinn, your line is now open.

Quinn Bolton
Analyst, Needham

Hey, guys. I'll offer my congratulations as well. Just wanted to follow up on Alex's question on the delinquencies and your ability to catch up with some of those delinquencies. How much of the ability to meet those delinquencies is going to come from the new 12-inch fab that you brought online in the fourth quarter of last year? Just kind of curious your ability to actually get to secure more wafer capacity from your five foundry partners in this very tight environment. I guess, a lot of companies are saying that they think supply is going to remain constrained all year, which makes it sound like being able to get back to 180-200 days of delinquencies is a pretty tall order in calendar 2021.

Bernie Blegen
VP and CFO, Monolithic Power Systems

It's a great question, and thanks for allowing us the opportunity to give a little more context here. With the new fab, we were very pleased to report as one of our highlights, that we were able to qualify parts and be able to inventory and ship them. That process of qualifying more parts, so that it can be meaningful as far as both deliveries and addressing our delinquencies, is ongoing. It's going to require an investment, both in the 12-inch capability, as well as this new fab that we're bringing up in 2021. Just because we've qualified a few parts and we've got the process started, it still takes about 9-12 months before you have the full capability up.

Michael Hsing
CEO and Founder, Monolithic Power Systems

Yeah. In 2020, we increased our capacity by 25.

Bernie Blegen
VP and CFO, Monolithic Power Systems

Yeah.

Michael Hsing
CEO and Founder, Monolithic Power Systems

Pulling up from my here, my rough calculations is about 20%-25% increase last year.

Quinn Bolton
Analyst, Needham

I guess my follow-up question was just on the comms space. Obviously, you had three very strong quarters in 2020, and then, one of your large customers, you were no longer able to ship. I believe you may now have a license to resume shipments to that customer, and I'm just wondering if that's the case. Do you have now perhaps a better outlook than you might have 90 days ago for the comms business in 2021?

Michael Hsing
CEO and Founder, Monolithic Power Systems

Absolutely. We have more clears, and the customer start placing orders now.

Bernie Blegen
VP and CFO, Monolithic Power Systems

Yeah, I think there's two forms. You identified one customer in particular, and I think we might see that begin to ramp in the second half of this year. I think more broadly, other opportunities are starting to come on, not just with the top tier, but some of the second-tier customers in the 5G and infrastructure area.

Quinn Bolton
Analyst, Needham

Great. Thank you.

Genevieve Cunningham
Supervisor of Marketing Communications, Monolithic Power Systems

Our next question is from William Stein from Truist. William, your line is now open.

William Stein
Analyst, Truist

Great. Thanks for taking my question. Michael, I'm wondering if you can update us on the longer-term transition to selling more modules. I know that's something that is, from a long-term perspective, potentially very accretive to growth and margin. I think we're still pretty early in that process, but any movement in the quarter that you'd like to highlight?

Michael Hsing
CEO and Founder, Monolithic Power Systems

I think the result is very good. In the middle of this is a high demand. Actually, Bernie can tell you what is the ramps. What is the increase?

Bernie Blegen
VP and CFO, Monolithic Power Systems

Yeah. We had revenue double-

Michael Hsing
CEO and Founder, Monolithic Power Systems

Yes

Bernie Blegen
VP and CFO, Monolithic Power Systems

In 2020, we exited the year where it continued to increase sequentially each quarter. It's interesting because we thought that it would have more narrow applications, particularly in industrial. In fact, it's proving to be very broad-based and also is sustainable. What I mean by that last point is that we thought that if people went to unit volumes, they might be more likely to go to components and just buy silicon. In fact, we're seeing a lot of people that are going into volume shipments, with modules as well.

Michael Hsing
CEO and Founder, Monolithic Power Systems

It's all across our product lines. I don't have total numbers for the modules that are in roughly, it's like a $30 million-$40 million now. Compare a year ago, as Bernie said, is half of that.

William Stein
Analyst, Truist

Great. One other thing I'd like to ask about is your MPS NOW service. Did you see any change in that in the quarter? I know that's something that seemed to come online sort of just in time for the work from home COVID situation, that I think was very helpful for you. Any change in that, any anticipated change, if we hopefully are able to return to offices in the next quarter or two?

Michael Hsing
CEO and Founder, Monolithic Power Systems

Yeah, actually, it's a great help. Again, we set it up just right before pandemic. All these softwares, videos, everything's with. Also the working bench, we just set it up. We turn along when the pandemic happens, and it's received enormous praise from our customers. In terms of how many new customers, that's what I'm really careful about. We increased a few thousand percent from the videos or from the virtual bench.

Bernie Blegen
VP and CFO, Monolithic Power Systems

Yeah.

William Stein
Analyst, Truist

Great. Thank you.

Genevieve Cunningham
Supervisor of Marketing Communications, Monolithic Power Systems

Our next question is from Kevin Garrigan from Rosenblatt. Kevin, your line is now open.

Kevin Garrigan
Analyst, Rosenblatt

Hi, guys. Congrats on the quarter, and thanks for taking my question. Just a quick one from me. You alluded a little to this earlier. In your automotive segment, you've expanded to several other features of the automobile besides kind of infotainment. Can you talk a little bit about some of your design wins there? Are you kind of seeing more design wins? The ones you already have, how are those progressing?

Michael Hsing
CEO and Founder, Monolithic Power Systems

Well, okay. I think I should answer Rick Schafer's question with more precisely that the battery BMS, we don't have clear design wins in the auto side. To answer your question, we have pretty much across the board, from the body controls to ADAS and to lightings and to LiDAR and also to all the sensors. We have pretty much across the board. Our content that we expanded from $150, $140 and essentially doubled it. Everything's at the beginning, but MPS's revenue is so small, but you see the net change.

Bernie Blegen
VP and CFO, Monolithic Power Systems

Yeah. On the dollar content, I just want to go back to that because it's an important part, is this is not just unit sales. Some of the new applications that we're bringing on, we go from having $10 of available content to upwards of $40 or $50 for a complete system. We're getting both the unit as well as the ASP expansion.

Michael Hsing
CEO and Founder, Monolithic Power Systems

Yeah. When I'm talking about revenue is small, is compare the market opportunity. As we said, we addressed the $6 billion market segment. As now all MPS as a product, that's a total stand. We only have over $100-some million in revenue.

Bernie Blegen
VP and CFO, Monolithic Power Systems

110.

Michael Hsing
CEO and Founder, Monolithic Power Systems

Yeah, $110 million. Most of the new products and the ramping start from last year.

Bernie Blegen
VP and CFO, Monolithic Power Systems

Yeah.

Michael Hsing
CEO and Founder, Monolithic Power Systems

Second half of the year.

Kevin Garrigan
Analyst, Rosenblatt

Yeah. Okay. Got it. Thank you.

Genevieve Cunningham
Supervisor of Marketing Communications, Monolithic Power Systems

Our next question is from Ross Seymore from Deutsche Bank. Ross, your line is now open.

Ross Seymore
Analyst, Deutsche Bank

Hey, guys. Thanks for letting me ask a couple quick follow-ups. Just two quick ones. First, you mentioned in answering a prior question about your ability to ship to the formerly banned product or banned customer. Is that just in the comm space, or is that ban some of why your computing and storage segment also went down sequentially in the fourth quarter?

Bernie Blegen
VP and CFO, Monolithic Power Systems

Again, we don't generally talk about individual customers, but since this one's gotten so much visibility. We actually have three primary lines of business with them. One is in the consumer, one is in the data center, and the other is in infrastructure.

Ross Seymore
Analyst, Deutsche Bank

Infrastructure meaning comms, right?

Bernie Blegen
VP and CFO, Monolithic Power Systems

Yes.

Ross Seymore
Analyst, Deutsche Bank

Got you. Okay. Is there any difference in what you're able to ship going forward out of those three things? Are you able to ship all of them, or is it just not the 5G stuff, but the other two?

Michael Hsing
CEO and Founder, Monolithic Power Systems

Well, our products, again, is the building blocks, okay. Particularly these are from a comm business and also.

Bernie Blegen
VP and CFO, Monolithic Power Systems

Data center

Michael Hsing
CEO and Founder, Monolithic Power Systems

The data centers.

Bernie Blegen
VP and CFO, Monolithic Power Systems

Yeah.

Michael Hsing
CEO and Founder, Monolithic Power Systems

Okay. They share same product. We don't know exactly how they divide it. Consumer device more in the chargers, that we know. That is a pretty much, it's continuous.

Bernie Blegen
VP and CFO, Monolithic Power Systems

Yeah.

Ross Seymore
Analyst, Deutsche Bank

Got you. The last question, a little bit more housekeeping-wise. Bernie, what are you thinking about tax rate for 2021?

Bernie Blegen
VP and CFO, Monolithic Power Systems

On a non-GAAP basis, we've historically used 7.5%, and now we've moved to 10%, which represents that there's certain stock comp that is not as deductible as it was in prior years. Looking ahead, we're not going to try to outguess what the Biden administration is going to do. I think that we need to be sensitive to the fact that there may be increases, both in the domestic rate as well as a higher tax rate on any international profits.

Michael Hsing
CEO and Founder, Monolithic Power Systems

Yeah. We don't know at this point.

Bernie Blegen
VP and CFO, Monolithic Power Systems

Yeah.

Ross Seymore
Analyst, Deutsche Bank

Got it. Thanks, guys.

Michael Hsing
CEO and Founder, Monolithic Power Systems

Okay.

Genevieve Cunningham
Supervisor of Marketing Communications, Monolithic Power Systems

If there are any follow-up questions, please click the Raise Hand button. As there are no further questions, I'd like to turn the webinar back over to Bernie.

Bernie Blegen
VP and CFO, Monolithic Power Systems

Great. Thank you, everybody. Appreciate you joining us for this conference call, and look forward to talking to you again in the first quarter of 2021, which should likely be in the April timeframe. Thanks again, and have a nice day.