QuickLogic Narrows 2026 Growth Guidance to 70-80% as Intel 18AP Transition and Post-Quantum Cryptography Demand Reshape Pipeline
Q2 2026 earnings call, August 11, 2026
QuickLogic delivered a Q2 that fell at the low end of guidance and set up a flat Q3, but management used the call to reaffirm a full-year growth target of 70% to 80% and reiterate its call for non-GAAP profitability and positive cash flow in the second half of 2026. The quarter's shortfall traces to two specific, well-explained setbacks rather than broad demand weakness, and CEO Brian Faith spent much of the call detailing why the company's confidence in the back half — and in 2027 — has actually increased even as near-term timing slipped.
Contract Delay Reveals How Customers Are Wrestling With eFPGA-vs-Fixed-Logic Tradeoffs
The most instructive disclosure of the call involved a seven-figure contract extension that QuickLogic had expected to book in Q2 and Q3. The customer is now reevaluating which functions to implement in embedded FPGA versus which to lock into fixed logic on its ASIC before finalizing the design — and separately is considering a move to a more advanced process node, which would ultimately mean a larger contract for QuickLogic if signed. Faith framed the delay as a rational, if inconvenient, outcome of increasingly expensive process nodes. "Moving to any more of these advanced process nodes, especially more than what we were already at, is going to be a very significant mask cost for them, and I think they wanted to make sure they're doing their diligence from their end customer perspective before they make that call," he said. The extension has been pulled out of the 2026 forecast entirely and pushed to 2027. Separately, the company also removed a commercial ASIC design targeting Intel's 18A process from its second-half forecast, citing "several uncertainties" that arose recently; in the best case, that eFPGA hard IP contract becomes a 2027 opportunity.
Guidance Math: Same Midpoint Despite Lost Business Signals Conservative Baseline
Despite yanking two identifiable revenue sources from the 2026 forecast, QuickLogic's full-year revenue growth midpoint didn't move, prompting a direct question from Craig-Hallum's Richard Shannon. Faith's explanation was straightforward: the initial guidance range was deliberately conservative and didn't assume every pending deal would close. "We weren't putting everything in the kitchen sink," he said. The heavy lifting for the year now falls to Q4, anchored by the company's U.S. government contract, which carries an $89 million ceiling value after being increased last year. Management expects government revenue recognition to represent "a significant percentage" of total Q4 revenue and anticipates securing another contract tranche before year-end, layered on top of a base of mature product demand, RAD-PRO dev kit orders, and IP contracts already on the books.
Intel 18A Customers Are Moving to 18AP, and Porting Costs Are Described as Minimal
A significant structural update: QuickLogic said the majority of its Intel 18A development and customer design activity has shifted to Intel 18AP, which the company says delivers over 9% higher performance at equivalent power or more than 18% lower power at equivalent performance versus 18A. Because QuickLogic can leverage prior 18A development work, Faith said the time and cost to build eFPGA hard IP for 18AP "will be de minimis," and the company expects a follow-on contract from the customer that funded its original 1 million LUT development on 18A, this time targeting an 18AP implementation for Q4 delivery. In response to a Needham analyst's question about whether active 18A engagements risk delay while customers wait for 18AP designs, Faith acknowledged a gradual transition is likely for customers already deep into an 18A design, since ecosystem-wide IP dependencies mean not everyone can pivot immediately. But for high-digital-content designs, he said, "we can move a lot faster like we are with our porting."
Post-Quantum Cryptography Emerges as a Distinct, Revenue-Generating Vertical
Perhaps the most novel disclosure came in response to an analyst question about QuickLogic's work with PQSecure, a Florida Atlantic University-linked collaboration on post-quantum cryptography. Faith explained the use case clearly: post-quantum algorithms remain unstable and still evolving, which is precisely the environment where reprogrammable eFPGA logic has an advantage over fixed silicon. "You can manufacture it into your silicon and program the functionality later," he said, allowing customers to forward-deploy chips now and update cryptographic functionality as standards mature. He noted this is not limited to defense, citing satellite communications and critical infrastructure such as water systems as exposed targets, and referenced a recent presidential order pushing agencies toward more advanced cryptography ahead of quantum computing's eventual arrival. Importantly, Faith distinguished this program from QuickLogic's earlier ETH Zurich collaboration on low-power computing, which he characterized as academic proof-of-concept work. The PQSecure engagement, by contrast, involves actual companies rather than research institutions and is, in his words, "much more... closer to real products and solving real problems and generating real revenue for QuickLogic."
Chiplet and Storefront Strategy Still Pre-Revenue but Expanding
QuickLogic's chiplet ambitions remain in the proof-of-concept stage but are gaining traction. The company has taped out a discrete FPGA test chip under a $2.7 million GlobalFoundries 12LP contract announced in May, with an evaluation kit compatible with third-party development environments scheduled for release in Q4. Two more tape-outs are planned for late 2026. Management said more than five active chiplet proposals are underway across GlobalFoundries 12LP, Intel 18A, and 18AP, and expects meaningful chiplet revenue to begin in 2027 rather than this year. On the RAD-PRO radiation-hardened FPGA dev kit business — aimed at strategic and defense programs — Faith said the number of engaged customer groups has expanded since the Q1 call, though he declined to quantify the opportunity, previously bracketed at 10 to 20 sockets across multiple programs, beyond saying it has grown. He expects "single digit millions of dollars" in combined storefront revenue next year across RAD-PRO and other test chips, contingent on decisions from lead customers he expects by year-end.
Mature Product Line Gets an Unexpected Second Wind
QuickLogic's legacy one-time-programmable antifuse FPGA business, sold primarily into defense and aerospace, is seeing renewed interest. A defense industrial base customer has funded qualification of a smaller package option for the existing device line, which management believes could open a new multi-million dollar market requiring minimal incremental investment. Full-year 2026 mature product revenue is now expected to be flat with 2025 at approximately $3.3 million, below an earlier expectation for growth, but the new package qualification points to upside starting in 2027.
Margins and Balance Sheet Show the Model's Operating Leverage
Non-GAAP gross margin came in at 46.8% in Q2, above the midpoint of a 42% outlook and sharply higher than 31% a year earlier. CFO Elias Nader guided Q3 gross margin to roughly 47%, plus or minus 5%, and full-year gross margin to approximately 51%. Non-GAAP operating expenses are being raised modestly to a range of $13.7 million to $13.9 million for the year, up about 17% from 2025 — a figure management explicitly contrasted with its 70% to 80% revenue growth target to underscore operating leverage. Net cash stood at $13.5 million at quarter-end, up from $3.8 million at the close of 2025, aided by $9.8 million raised through the company's at-the-market equity program. Q2 non-GAAP net loss narrowed to $1.1 million, or $0.06 per share, from $1.5 million a year earlier, and management guided Q3 to a non-GAAP net loss of about $900,000.
A Second Architectural License Could Land Before Year-End
QuickLogic said it completed a five-figure feasibility study for a new customer evaluating its eFPGA IP for a proprietary fabrication process, with "promising" initial results. If the customer's power-performance-area requirements are met, Faith expects this to convert into the company's second-ever eFPGA IP architectural license before the end of 2026 — a milestone that would validate the licensing model beyond QuickLogic's existing customer base and open a new category of recurring revenue tied to a third-party process node.