QuickLogic Corporation (QUIK): History, Ownership, Mission, How It Works & Makes Money

QuickLogic Corporation (QUIK) is a small-cap semiconductor player, but how does a company with a market capitalization of roughly $117 million and trailing twelve-month revenue of $16.2 million continue to secure critical contracts in the defense and aerospace sectors?

They do it by specializing in embedded FPGA (eFPGA) intellectual property (IP) and Endpoint AI solutions, which are essential for low-power, customizable computing at the edge, winning a recent $1 million eFPGA Hard IP contract despite a Q3 2025 revenue of only $2.0 million.

Given the strategic pivot toward high-margin IP licensing and a focus on the USG Strategic Radiation Hardened FPGA Program, understanding QuickLogic's history, ownership, and core business model is defintely crucial for investors tracking the micro-cap semiconductor space.

QuickLogic Corporation (QUIK) History

Given Company's Founding Timeline

Year established

QuickLogic Corporation was established in 1988, right as the programmable logic device market was starting to heat up.

Original location

The company started in Sunnyvale, California, putting it squarely in the center of the Silicon Valley ecosystem. This location was defintely key for attracting the necessary engineering talent.

Founding team members

The company was founded by a team of semiconductor industry veterans: John Birkner, Hua-Thye Chua, and E. Thomas Hart. They brought deep expertise in Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), which was the core technology.

Initial capital/funding

QuickLogic secured its initial funding through venture capital. While the early-round VC figures aren't public, the company's Initial Public Offering (IPO) in 1999 provided a significant capital injection, raising approximately $60 million for expansion and R&D.

Given Company's Evolution Milestones

Given Company's Transformative Moments

QuickLogic's history is really a story of continuous reinvention, moving from discrete FPGAs to licensing embedded FPGA (eFPGA) IP and, most recently, focusing on Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (AI/ML) at the edge. The biggest shift was realizing the future wasn't just in selling chips, but in selling the core technology itself.

This IP-centric model means their revenue is increasingly driven by licensing fees and royalties, not just product sales. For example, in Q3 2025, total revenue was $2.0 million, and while that was a tough quarter, the strategic focus is on the large, multi-year IP contracts. The company is modeling its full-year 2025 non-GAAP operating expenses (OpEx) to be around $12 million, showing a tight control on costs as they invest in high-margin IP development.

The current strategy centers on three pillars, which are the real transformative moments of the last few years:

• The Pivot to eFPGA IP: Licensing their eFPGA technology, which allows customers to embed programmable logic directly into their own System-on-Chips (SoCs). This is a higher-margin, less capital-intensive business.
• Focus on Aerospace and Defense: Strategic work on the US Government's Strategic Radiation Hardened (SRH) FPGA Program is a major long-term opportunity, with commitments for SRH development kit orders expected by the end of 2025.
• AI/ML at the Endpoint: Integrating their eFPGA and SensiML Corporation subsidiary's AI/ML software to enable low-power intelligence on endpoint devices like wearables and industrial IoT. That's where the high-volume future is.

You can see how this strategy aligns with their core values and long-term goals by reading their Mission Statement, Vision, & Core Values of QuickLogic Corporation (QUIK).

QuickLogic Corporation (QUIK) Ownership Structure

QuickLogic Corporation is a publicly traded company on the NASDAQ Capital Market under the ticker QUIK, meaning its ownership is distributed among a diverse set of institutional and individual investors. As of November 2025, the company's market capitalization stands at approximately $117 million with roughly 17.1 million shares outstanding, with institutional holders wielding the most collective influence.

This structure means that while the executive team manages day-to-day operations, strategic decisions are heavily influenced by the interests of large financial institutions, which collectively hold a majority stake. You need to watch these large holders, as their simultaneous trading actions can defintely impact the stock price. To understand the company's long-term direction, you should also review the Mission Statement, Vision, & Core Values of QuickLogic Corporation (QUIK).

Given Company's Current Status

QuickLogic Corporation operates as a public company, having completed its Initial Public Offering (IPO) on July 11, 1997. This public status subjects the company to rigorous reporting and governance standards set by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and NASDAQ. As a fabless semiconductor company, QuickLogic focuses on intellectual property (IP) and design, developing embedded FPGA (eFPGA) IP and low-power, multi-core semiconductor system-on-chips (SoCs) for markets like aerospace, defense, and edge AI.

Given Company's Ownership Breakdown

The company's shareholder base is dominated by institutional investors, which is typical for a technology stock. This high institutional ownership-over half the company-gives major funds significant voting power on key corporate matters. The breakdown as of early November 2025 looks like this:

Here's the quick math: Institutional investors control the board, but the general public still holds a meaningful stake. For example, CEO Brian C. Faith directly holds about 1.4% of the total shares outstanding, aligning his personal financial interests with shareholder returns.

Given Company's Leadership

The company is steered by a seasoned management team with deep roots in the semiconductor and technology sectors, with an average management team tenure of over nine years. The executive team is responsible for driving the strategy of shifting toward higher-margin IP and AI-enabled solutions, a critical pivot for the company's profitability, which reported a trailing 12-month revenue of $16.2 million as of September 30, 2025.

Key members of the leadership team as of November 2025 include:

• Brian C. Faith: President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO). He has served in this role since June 2016 and has been with QuickLogic since 1996.
• Elias Nader: Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Senior Vice President of Finance. Appointed in February 2022, he manages the company's financial strategy.
• Timothy Saxe, Ph.D.: Senior Vice President of Engineering and Chief Technology Officer (CTO). He has been the CTO since November 2008, providing long-term technical vision.
• Rajiv Jain: Vice President of Worldwide Operations. He has been with the company since 1992, overseeing the complex fabless supply chain.
• Andy Jaros: Vice President of IP Sales. He joined in December 2024, focusing on monetizing the company's intellectual property portfolio.

The Board of Directors is led by Michael R. Farese, Ph.D., who serves as the Independent Chairman. The board's composition and the management's long tenure suggest a stable, experienced hand guiding the company's transition toward new AI-centric markets. Finance: monitor institutional holding changes weekly, as they drive short-term stock volatility.

QuickLogic Corporation (QUIK) Mission and Values

QuickLogic Corporation's core purpose is to democratize programmable logic technology, serving niche markets and empowering innovators globally through a commitment to open-source development and highly reliable, purpose-built silicon. This mission is defintely more than just a marketing slogan; it guides their significant investment in specialized technologies like the Strategic Radiation-Hardened (SRH) FPGAs for the defense sector.

QuickLogic Corporation's Core Purpose

You need to know what drives the company beyond the quarterly revenue reports. The core purpose centers on making advanced, customizable silicon accessible, especially for applications where failure is not an option, like in aerospace and defense. This focus is a clear counter-strategy to the high-volume, closed ecosystems of the industry giants.

Official Mission Statement

The formal mission statement for QuickLogic Corporation is two-fold, reflecting their technology and market focus. The broader goal is about access and innovation, while the critical infrastructure mission shows where the revenue is today.

• Serve underserved markets and empower all innovators to grow and shape the future through open-source technology.
• Be a trusted partner for the Critical Infrastructure Sector by delivering purpose-built embedded Field-Programmable Gate Array (eFPGA) Intellectual Property (IP), specialized Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) devices, and user tools.

This commitment to open-source is real; it is why they are the first programmable logic company to actively support a fully open-source eFPGA suite of development tools. That takes guts in a proprietary-driven industry.

Vision Statement

QuickLogic's vision is focused on leading the shift in how programmable logic is designed and deployed, putting the customer's needs and reliability first.

• Transform the landscape of programmable logic through open innovation.
• Lead by pioneering new pathways and revolutionizing the industry with open-source technology.

Their investment in the Strategic Radiation-Hardened (SRH) FPGA test chip on GlobalFoundries' 12LP process, which was financed by the company in 2025, is a direct, concrete action supporting this vision of pioneering new pathways for the defense industrial base (DIB). They are putting capital behind the vision.

Here's the quick math: The company's full-year 2025 non-GAAP gross profit margin is modeled to be in the low-to-mid 50% range, which shows the margin pressure of their strategic, high-R&D focus, even as they chase high-value contracts like the $1 million eFPGA contract announced in Q4 2025.

For a deeper dive into how this all connects, you can review the full details here: Mission Statement, Vision, & Core Values of QuickLogic Corporation (QUIK).

QuickLogic Corporation Slogan/Tagline

The most market-facing tagline emphasizes their role in high-stakes environments.

• Empowering Innovation in Critical Infrastructure.

Their core values are the cultural DNA that makes this mission possible, driving their team to deliver on complex, high-reliability projects:

• Collaboration: Working as 'One Team, One Vision.'
• Respect: Fostering a culture of mutual respect.
• Integrity: Integrity in Every Action.
• Results: Committed to building the future.

This focus on integrity and results is crucial when Q3 2025 revenue was $2 million, and the company is banking on a significant rebound to a target of $6 million in Q4 2025, contingent on a large contract. The pressure is on, so these values matter.

QuickLogic Corporation (QUIK) How It Works

QuickLogic Corporation operates as a fabless semiconductor company, meaning it designs chips but outsources manufacturing, to deliver highly customizable, low-power Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) technology and Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions. The company generates revenue primarily through licensing its embedded FPGA (eFPGA) intellectual property (IP) and selling discrete FPGA chips and AI software platforms.

You're looking for a clear picture of how this small-cap player makes its money, so here's the defintely breakdown of the products and the engine driving them.

Given Company's Product/Service Portfolio

Given Company's Operational Framework

QuickLogic's operational framework is built on a capital-light, fabless model, which lets them focus entirely on design and software without the massive overhead of owning a fabrication plant (fab). They partner with major foundries like TSMC and GlobalFoundries to manufacture their designs, which is smart because it keeps their fixed costs lower.

The business model splits into two main revenue streams: New Product Revenue (IP licensing and new chip sales) and Mature Product Revenue (legacy chip sales). In the third quarter of fiscal 2025, Total revenue was $2.0 million, with New product revenue at approximately $1.0 million and Mature product revenue at $1.1 million. Here's the quick math: the new products, which are the future of the company, accounted for about 47.6% of the revenue mix, so the transition to a higher-margin IP-centric model is still ongoing.

• Design: Use proprietary tools like the Australis eFPGA IP Generator to quickly create customer-specific, high-density eFPGA Hard IP cores, even on advanced nodes like 12-nanometer.
• Value Creation: Deliver a high-quality, silicon-proven IP block that customers integrate into their own larger Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) or System-on-Chips (SoCs).
• Software Integration: Utilize the SensiML platform to help customers quickly build and deploy tiny, power-efficient AI models directly onto QuickLogic's or partner's hardware.
• Outsource: Rely on third-party foundries for manufacturing, which keeps their non-GAAP operating expenses relatively low at approximately $2.9 million in Q3 2025.

Given Company's Strategic Advantages

The company's ability to compete against much larger rivals like Intel and Lattice Semiconductor comes down to a few very specific, defensible niches. They don't try to win the high-volume, general-purpose FPGA race; they focus on low-power, high-reliability, and customization.

• Rad-Hard Expertise: Their Strategic Radiation Hardened (SRH) FPGA technology is a crucial, high-barrier-to-entry advantage for the Aerospace and Defense market, where specialized, mission-critical hardware is mandatory. Exploring QuickLogic Corporation (QUIK) Investor Profile: Who's Buying and Why? This is a classic niche play.
• Open-Source Tooling: QuickLogic is unique in offering fully open-source user tools for their eFPGA IP. This reduces programmatic risk for customers, ensures longevity, and attracts a broader developer community, which is a big deal for long-term projects.
• Low-Power Focus: Their core technology is optimized for Size, Weight, Power, and Cost (SWaP-C) in endpoint and edge AI applications. This focus is essential for battery-powered or space-constrained devices in the Industrial IoT and Consumer markets.
• Australis IP Generator: The proprietary Australis tool provides a substantial competitive edge by accelerating the creation of custom eFPGA IP, allowing for faster time-to-market and better silicon utilization for their customers.

QuickLogic Corporation (QUIK) How It Makes Money

QuickLogic Corporation makes money primarily by selling its specialized silicon intellectual property (IP), specifically its embedded Field-Programmable Gate Array (eFPGA) technology, to other chip companies, and through the sale of its own discrete, often ruggedized, Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) chips. The revenue model is a mix of high-margin, non-recurring engineering (NRE) and licensing fees from IP, plus lower-margin product sales.

QuickLogic Corporation's Revenue Breakdown

Looking at the fiscal third quarter of 2025, which ended on September 28, 2025, the company's total revenue from continuing operations was $2.0 million, a sharp decline of 51.8% from the same quarter in 2024. The revenue streams are segmented into New Product and Mature Product, which gives you a clear view of where the business is growing and where it's contracting.

The Mature Product segment, which includes older discrete FPGAs, brought in $1.1 million in Q3 2025, which is actually an increase from the $0.7 million it generated in the third quarter of 2024. This stream is surprisingly stable, but it's not the future. The New Product Revenue stream, which includes the high-growth eFPGA IP and Endpoint AI solutions, was approximately $1.0 million, but this represents a massive decrease of 72.6% year-over-year. That's a huge drop, and it shows the lumpiness of large IP contract timing.

Business Economics

The core economic model is shifting toward a high-margin licensing and royalty structure, but the near-term financials are still exposed to the volatility of large contract timing. The eFPGA IP model is the high-potential driver, where a single non-recurring engineering (NRE) contract can be worth $1 million or more, like the eFPGA Hard IP contract secured for a high-performance data-center ASIC. This is a 'land and expand' strategy: get the IP into a customer's chip design, then collect royalties on every unit sold later.

• IP Licensing: This is the high-margin, upfront revenue stream, paid for design access and customization.
• Product Sales: This is the lower-margin, volume-based revenue from discrete FPGAs, including the government's Strategic Radiation Hardened FPGA Program, which is expected to contribute to Q4 revenue.
• Strategic Focus: QuickLogic is actively exploring options for its wholly-owned subsidiary, SensiML, to focus all resources on the more profitable eFPGA Hard IP and ruggedized FPGA core business. This is a clear move to simplify the model and chase higher-margin, more predictable IP revenue.

What this estimate hides is the long lead time on IP contracts; a design win today might not generate royalty revenue for years. You're hiring before product-market fit, so to speak, but for a massive, multi-year payoff. If you want to dig deeper into who is betting on this model, you should check out Exploring QuickLogic Corporation (QUIK) Investor Profile: Who's Buying and Why?

QuickLogic Corporation's Financial Performance

The Q3 2025 results show the financial strain of the revenue dip, but also the potential leverage in the business model. The company's GAAP gross margin from continuing operations was a negative (23.3%) in Q3 2025, a steep decline from 59.1% in Q3 2024. This negative margin is a direct result of lower revenue absorption of fixed costs, plus the allocation of R&D costs to Cost of Goods Sold (COGS). Honestly, that's a tough number to swallow.

• Gross Margin: Non-GAAP gross margin was a negative (11.9%) for Q3 2025, compared to a positive 64.7% in the year-ago quarter.
• Net Loss: The GAAP net loss for Q3 2025 was ($4.0 million), or ($0.24) per share. The non-GAAP net loss was ($3.2 million), or ($0.19) per share.
• Cash Position: At the close of Q3 2025, total cash was $17.3 million, but this includes $15 million drawn from a $20 million credit facility. This tells you they are managing cash tightly but are definitely relying on the credit line.
• Near-Term Outlook: Management's guidance for Q4 2025 is wide, ranging from $3.5 million to $6 million in total revenue, with a non-GAAP gross margin expected to rebound significantly to between 45% (at the low end) and 68% (at the high end). This hinges on the timing of a large contract, which is a key risk.

QuickLogic Corporation (QUIK) Market Position & Future Outlook

QuickLogic Corporation is in a pivotal transition, shifting from relying on one-off engineering services to a higher-margin, intellectual property (IP)-centric business model, particularly in the embedded Field-Programmable Gate Array (eFPGA) and specialized defense markets. While its trailing twelve-month (TTM) revenue as of September 2025 was approximately $16.18 million, the company is strategically positioned to capture growth in the high-reliability aerospace and defense sector, plus the burgeoning Edge AI market.

The company's Q3 2025 revenue of $2.0 million reflected the volatility inherent in large IP contract timing, but management has targeted a rebound to $6 million in Q4 2025, contingent on a major commercial contract. This near-term revenue swing highlights the high-risk, high-reward nature of their strategic focus on large eFPGA Hard IP deals for advanced process nodes like Intel 18A and 12nm data center ASICs.

Competitive Landscape

In the overall Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) market, which is projected to reach $8.37 billion in 2025, QuickLogic is a small, niche player. However, in the highly specialized embedded FPGA (eFPGA) IP market-estimated at $127.2 million in 2025-its position is far more significant, holding an estimated 12.7% share based on its TTM revenue. Its advantage is its open-source toolchain and ultra-low-power focus, which appeals to a different customer base than the FPGA giants.

Opportunities & Challenges

The company's future hinges on converting its recent design wins into recurring 'storefront' IP revenue, which is the licensing of its eFPGA technology for integration into customers' System-on-Chips (SoCs). This model promises higher, more predictable margins than one-time engineering contracts.

Industry Position

QuickLogic's position is defined by its specialization. It competes not on scale, but on niche expertise in programmable logic (eFPGA) and ultra-low-power consumption for the Edge. The low-end FPGA segment, where QuickLogic's products are best suited, is projected to hold a 38% share of the total FPGA market in 2025, showing a large addressable market for power-conscious devices.

• The USG Strategic Rad-Hard FPGA initiative provides a long-term, high-barrier-to-entry revenue stream, insulating the company from broader commercial competition.
• The shift to advanced nodes, such as delivering eFPGA Hard IP for Intel 18A, positions them as a key enabler for custom silicon (ASICs) in high-value, high-performance applications.
• Full-year 2025 non-GAAP operating expenses are modeled at approximately $11.3 million, reflecting a lean, focused operation designed to maximize returns from IP licensing.

To be fair, the company's forecast annual revenue growth rate of -1.21% for 2025 is defintely not beating the broader US Semiconductors industry average, but this hides the potential for explosive growth in 2026 as storefront revenue from new IP contracts begins to be recognized. You can read more about the company's core values here: Mission Statement, Vision, & Core Values of QuickLogic Corporation (QUIK).