My podcast guest this week is Ferric CEO Noah Sturcken. Noah and I discuss how Ferric’s innovations—specifically their ferromagnetic materials and on-chip power converters—are addressing the critical power, efficiency, and integration hurdles facing today’s AI processors. We also explore how IVRs enable higher instantaneous power delivery, simplify board design, and reshape processor architecture, and where Noah sees Ferric headed in the future.
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Amelia’s Weekly Fish Fry – Episode 674
Release Date: March 20, 2026
Host: Amelia Dalton
Guest: Noah Sturcken, Ferric
Transcript
Amelia Dalton:
Hello everyone, and welcome to Episode 674 of Amelia’s Weekly Fish Fry, brought to you by EEJournal.com and written, produced, and hosted by yours truly, Amelia Dalton.
High-performance processors—especially those fueling the AI boom—are facing immense power and efficiency challenges. And folks, that’s exactly what we’re talking about today.
My guest is Ferric CEO Dr. Noah Sturcken. Noah and I discuss how Ferric’s integrated voltage regulator (IVR) technology is addressing these hurdles, what makes their solutions uniquely flexible, and how power delivery is beginning to redefine processor architecture itself.
So without further ado, please welcome Noah to Fish Fry.
Interview Segment
Amelia Dalton:
Hi Noah, thank you so much for joining me.
Dr. Noah Sturcken:
Thank you so much for having me, Amelia.
Amelia Dalton:
Absolutely. First, tell me a bit about your background and the development of the integrated voltage regulator technology at the heart of Ferric.
Dr. Noah Sturcken:
Sure—happy to. I’m an engineer by training. I earned both my bachelor’s and PhD in electrical engineering, and I’ve been fascinated by high-performance computing my whole life.
My father and grandfather both worked on leading computing systems, and I’ve spent time in the trenches designing high-performance processors myself. Through that experience, I realized that power is a serious threat to continued improvements in processor performance.
While designing high-performance logic, I found that a noisy power supply could have more impact on circuit timing than any design decision I made. That led me to focus on improving power delivery.
I went on to Columbia University, where I worked with Professor Ken Shepard. Together, we developed core technologies to improve power delivery by miniaturizing power converter components so they can be placed much closer to processors—on top of, underneath, or right next to them.
At the end of my PhD, the industry was starting to demand integrated voltage regulators, and it became clear that I should start Ferric to commercialize this technology. It’s been a long journey, but now we’re delivering IVRs into some of the highest-performance AI processors in the industry and realizing benefits we envisioned over 15 years ago.
Amelia Dalton:
We’re seeing exponential demand for high-performance computing. What are the biggest challenges facing these processors today?
Dr. Noah Sturcken:
There are two main challenges. First, the sheer scale—massive data centers and huge processor counts. Second, per-processor power consumption has increased dramatically—sometimes 10x over the past decade.
At the same time, supply voltages have dropped, meaning more power is delivered as higher current. Essentially, we’re trying to push 10 times more power through the same power delivery infrastructure.
That’s a major bottleneck.
Ferric’s technology alleviates this by allowing power to be delivered at higher voltage and lower current, then converted near the processor. This reduces strain on the power delivery network and enables continued improvements in performance and efficiency.
Amelia Dalton:
Let’s dive into Ferric’s IVR technology. What sets your solution apart?
Dr. Noah Sturcken:
IVRs are essentially miniaturized versions of conventional power converters. But to make them viable, we need about a 100x reduction in size.
That requires innovation across the board—especially in magnetic materials. Traditional systems use bulky ferrite inductors, which don’t perform well at high frequencies.
We developed advanced ferromagnetic composite materials that offer high energy density and low loss at high frequencies. That’s actually where the name “Ferric” comes from.
We’ve licensed some of this technology to TSMC and continue to innovate in materials and integration to deliver industry-leading IVR solutions.
Amelia Dalton:
As AI systems scale, will power delivery shape processor architecture as much as compute?
Dr. Noah Sturcken:
Absolutely—and we’re already seeing it.
Processor architects want to optimize performance, but power engineers have to ensure the system can support those decisions. Improved power delivery allows architects to do things that weren’t previously possible.
For example, loading a full set of AI model weights in one cycle creates a sudden spike in power demand. With conventional power systems, that can cause voltage droop and errors, forcing designers to slow things down.
Our IVRs enable instant power delivery, allowing those operations to happen in a single cycle—improving performance significantly.
So yes, power delivery is directly influencing architecture.
Amelia Dalton:
What feedback are you hearing from engineers using IVRs?
Dr. Noah Sturcken:
In short—they’re not going back.
They see improved power integrity, better performance, and lower total cost of ownership. But there are also unexpected benefits, like simpler board design, fewer layers, and reduced system cost.
When engineers weigh all of that, it’s clear that traditional approaches are both less efficient and more work.
Amelia Dalton:
Where is Ferric headed in the future?
Dr. Noah Sturcken:
We’re continuing to push performance through innovation in materials, microfabrication, and packaging.
We’re also enabling deeper integration—our IVRs can be mounted on the motherboard, embedded in the package substrate, or even attached directly to the processor.
Closer integration improves performance, though it adds complexity. So we’re working closely with industry leaders to mature these approaches and give customers flexible integration options.
Off-the-Cuff Question
Amelia Dalton:
Alright, Noah—it’s time for your off-the-cuff question. If you could have one meal right now, anywhere in the world, what would it be?
Dr. Noah Sturcken:
Pizza. Probably the most common answer! I’m a New York native—I don’t even need to travel. I can just go across the street and get some of the best pizza in the world.
Amelia Dalton:
Fantastic answer!
Closing Segment
Amelia Dalton:
Well, Noah, that’s all I have time for today. Thank you so much for joining me.
Dr. Noah Sturcken:
Thank you, Amelia. Have a great day.
Amelia Dalton:
If you’d like more information about today’s topic, I’ve included links below the player on this week’s Fish Fry page on EEJournal.com and in the YouTube description.
Well folks, thats all I have for this week’s Fish Fry – but I have some exciting episodes on the horizon – including my discussion withJoe Adiletta, CEO at Volexion about the interesting intersection of battery manufacturing and advanced materials and why some battery materials perform great in a lab but fail in real world production. And last but certainly not least, I chat with an absolute EE rockstar Sandra Rivera from VSORA! Sandra about the role of inference in AI systems and what sets this AI accelerator startup from France apart from the pack when it comes to AI inference.
Hey, have you checked out EE Journal on Social Media yet? well you should! You can find us at facebook.com/eejournal. if LinkedIN is your I thing, you can follow us on LinkedIN and we are BlueSky social and Mastodon as well! And – we have that YouTube channel I mentioned earlier – youtube.com/eejournal – chock full of all kinds of techie videos, our very popular Chalk Talk webcast series and our animated series called Libby’s Lab! AND…you can subscribe to our EE Journal Youtube channel as well…I’m just sayin’…
Thank you everyone for tuning in. If you know of any cool new technology, or if you just want to chat – I promise I will respond…shoot me a line at amelia@eejournal.com or post a comment on our forums on EE Journal.
For the week March 20, 2026 – I’m Amelia Dalton and you’ve been fried
