Filtronic Shares Surge After Securing Landmark $62.5M SpaceX Order

Filtronic plc (AIM: FTC) shares surged in early Tuesday trading after it announced its largest single order to date, a £47.3 million ($62.5 million) agreement with SpaceX for its next-generation gallium nitride (GaN) E-band product.

This win underscores Filtronic's growing prominence in the space technology sector. The company's shares jumped to a high of 152p per share on the news. They currently trade at 147p, up 8.9% on the day.

The contract marks a significant milestone for Filtronic, with first production units slated for shipment in FY2027, promising substantial revenue contributions in FY2027 and FY2028.

The deal not only bolsters Filtronic’s financial outlook but also strengthens its strategic alliance with SpaceX.

In conjunction with this order, warrants related to the original Strategic Partnership agreement for next-generation technologies have been extended to include E-Band GaN.

The vesting criteria have been revised to double the required product volume for full vesting, now contingent on product delivery rather than purchase order placement, aligning the two companies' long-term strategic goals.

The company added that the contract represents the inaugural GaN product from Filtronic's new generation product lines, boasting more than double the output power of the existing gallium arsenide (GaAs) product line.

The enhanced power, efficiency, and thermal performance of GaN are said to be crucial advantages for satellite communications and aerospace and defence applications.

The successful development of this GaN solution highlights Filtronic's technical expertise and its ability to tackle complex design and manufacturing challenges associated with high-power mmWave systems.

This includes advanced packaging and thermal management, which, according to the FTC, results in a high-performance product that sets a new benchmark for size, weight, power, and cost (SWaP-C) in its frequency domain.

Nat Edington, Chief Executive Officer, stated, “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.”