Radio frequency technology specialist Filtronic has landed a $62.5m (£47.3m) contract with Elon Musk's SpaceX - the latest in a growing relationship between the County Durham firm and its US partner.
The deal is Filtronic's single largest order to date and concerns its proprietary gallium nitride ("GaN") E-band product which offers greater power density and efficiency in satellites. Initial products will ship in the firm's 2027 financial year, with revenues expected in 2027 and 2028.
Bosses at Filtronic have also extended an agreement which allows SpaceX to buy shares in their company. The deal will now cover E-band GaN products, with the vesting criteria amended to double the number of products required and include a delivery trigger to replace the previous purchase order trigger - a move which Filtronic says makes for closer alignment to the US giant.
Nat Edington, chief executive officer, said: "We are extremely proud to announce this landmark contract, which not only sets a new commercial record for Filtronic, but also reflect the success of our partnership with world-leading satellite company SpaceX, supporting the Starlink constellation. GaN represents a transformative opportunity for the ground segment of LEO communications, and this contract is further testament to the world-class engineering talent of both teams working together."
Mike Nicholls, VP engineering Starlink, said: "Filtronic is a valuable partner to SpaceX, and has been an important contributor to the rollout and success of the Starlink constellation. This next generation technology will provide further benefits to our system and our customers' experience, and we're excited to enter this next phase with Filtronic."
Filtronic's GaN technology is part of its next generation product lines and is said to deliver more than double the power of its existing gallium arsenide product line. GaN is said to give higher power, improved efficiency and operating temperature - all important advantages for satellite communications, aerospace and defence.
Bosses told investors on the London Stock Exchange that development of the new "benchmark" GaN technology was proof of Filtronic's capacity to overcome complex design and manufacturing challenges associated with high-power mmWave systems, including advanced packaging and thermal management.
News of this latest order follows bumper full year results for Filtronic, published in recent weeks. It saw a 121% leap in revenue to more than £56m and a 272% rise in operating profits to £13.4m in the year to the end of May. As well as its success in the space sector, Filtronic has been growing defence-based work, including via an airborne radar application contract with Italian contractor Leonardo and work with big names such as QinetiQ and BAE Maritime Systems.
Mr Edington call the firm's 2025 financial year "transformative" and said it was capable of scaling further. Filtronic's move into a new factory at its NETpark home has recently doubled its manufacturing capacity.
