The UK company Elon Musk’s Starlink depends on
Key Points
- Filtronic, a manufacturer based in Sedgefield, County Durham, made 68% of its revenue last year from SpaceX, the company behind Starlink.
- SpaceX placed a $62.5 million order with the firm during the year, the largest single contract in Filtronic's history.
- Under two separate agreements, SpaceX holds warrants that would let it buy more than 32 million Filtronic shares.
- Filtronic moved into a new Sedgefield headquarters built to support revenues above £200 million a year, and grew its workforce from 186 to 236.
- The company reported revenue of £55.50 million for the year to 31 May 2026, slightly down on the previous year, with profit falling to £4.56 million.
A manufacturer in County Durham makes more than two-thirds of its money from Elon Musk’s SpaceX, the company that operates the Starlink satellite internet network.
Filtronic, which listed on London’s AIM market and runs its headquarters and main factory at Sedgefield, published its results for the year to 31 May 2026 on Tuesday (4 August).
SpaceX accounted for 68% of everything the company sold during the year, down from 83% a year earlier.
The company designs and builds radio frequency hardware, including the solid state power amplifiers that strengthen the high-frequency signals satellites use to communicate with ground stations on Earth.
During the year Filtronic won a $62.5 million contract from SpaceX, worth £47.30 million, the biggest single order it has ever taken.
The deal covers the first production run of a new generation of E-band amplifiers built using gallium nitride, a material that handles higher power than the gallium arsenide the company used previously.
Filtronic expects that switch to shape its year ahead, with more of its work landing in the second half as production ramps up.
SpaceX can buy into the business
The relationship goes further than supply contracts. In April 2025 Filtronic granted SpaceX warrants giving it the right to buy up to 21,712,109 Filtronic shares at 33.0p each, equal to 10% of the company at the time.
In March 2026 the two signed a second arrangement covering a further 10,949,079 shares at 92.8p each, tied to SpaceX buying more amplifiers for Starlink.
Filtronic’s directors expect all the warrants to be taken up over five years. The company treats the value of those shares as a discount on the goods it sells, which reduced its reported revenue by £3.50 million in the year.
Sedgefield factory and new hiring
Filtronic completed its move into a new self-funded headquarters and factory at Sedgefield during the year.
The site has enough production capacity to support revenues above £200 million a year, roughly four times what the company currently turns over.
Staff numbers rose from 186 to 236, with the largest increases in manufacturing and engineering, and the firm now runs engineering sites at four locations in the UK including Cambridge.
The company also took on work outside SpaceX, signing a €7 million contract with a European space customer, a £13.40 million deal with a European defence manufacturer and an $8 million contract with an unnamed US customer.
Airbus and Viasat both became customers during the year. Revenue from aerospace and defence work grew by 135%.
Revenue slipped to £55.50 million from £56.30 million, and profit fell to £4.56 million from £14.05 million, which Filtronic attributed to spending on the new factory, staff and product development. The company is paying no dividend.
“With a strong order book already providing substantial coverage for FY2027 revenues and growing engagement across key programmes, we are excited about the opportunities ahead,” said Nat Edington, Chief Executive Officer at Filtronic.
Filtronic said its order book already covers around 90% of what the market expects it to earn in the current financial year.
