Cedar Park’s rocket maker posts its biggest quarter yet, Silicon Labs swings to a profit ahead of its sale to Texas Instruments, Flex lays out its Axiom spinoff and drone-defense firm ACS moves into lasers.

Firefly Aerospace reported third-quarter revenue of $110.7 million, up 259% from a year earlier, and a record $1.7 billion backlog. Silicon Labs posted a 22% revenue gain and returned to profitability as it awaits a $7.5 billion takeover by Texas Instruments. Flex told investors at its Austin headquarters that its Axiom spinoff remains on schedule, and Austin defense startup ACS launched a division to build high-energy laser weapons.

Firefly Aerospace revenue jumps 259% as backlog hits $1.7 billion

Firefly Aerospace’s third-quarter revenue climbed to $110.7 million from $30.8 million a year earlier, according to its earnings release issued Tuesday after the market closed. The Cedar Park-based space company’s net loss narrowed to $94.2 million from $133.4 million, and its backlog reached a record $1.7 billion, up from $1.5 billion at the end of June. Firefly expects full-year revenue of $440 million to $450 million.

The quarter’s contract wins were spread across the business. Lockheed Martin extended its agreement for up to 25 of Firefly’s Alpha rockets through 2031, and Japan’s Synspective signed for up to 10 Alpha launches through 2030. Firefly also landed its first European launch contracts, two missions from Sweden’s Esrange Space Center for SSC Space, and received a third hypersonic task order for Alpha.

On the lunar side, Firefly finished the critical design review for its Blue Ghost mission to the moon’s south pole and added Zeno Power as a payload customer. Testing of the Miranda engine, which will power the larger Eclipse rocket and is the centerpiece of Firefly’s previously announced engine-supply deal with AST SpaceMobile, has passed 170 hot-fire runs.

The results underscore how quickly Firefly has grown since its 2025 public listing. The company builds and tests its rockets at its Rocket Ranch site in Briggs, north of Austin.

Silicon Labs returns to profit as Texas Instruments deal pends

Silicon Labs reported third-quarter revenue of $251 million, up 22% from a year earlier, according to its earnings release. The Austin chip designer earned about $8.9 million, or 26 cents a share, under standard accounting, compared with a loss of about $9.9 million a year earlier.

Silicon Labs makes low-power wireless chips used in smart-home devices, industrial sensors and medical equipment. It has stopped issuing financial guidance while Texas Instruments completes its acquisition. TI agreed in February to buy the company for $231 a share in cash, a deal valued at about $7.5 billion that is expected to close in 2027, subject to regulatory approval, Spectrum News reported. The sale would end Silicon Labs’ run as one of Austin’s longest-standing independent public chip companies.

Flex says Axiom spinoff on track for early 2027

Flex hosted an Innovation Day for investors and analysts at its Austin headquarters Tuesday, where executives said the planned separation of its cloud and power infrastructure business into a standalone public company called Axiom remains on track for the first calendar quarter of 2027, according to a summary of the presentations. The event was announced in a Nov. 6 release.

Axiom, formerly Axiom Solutions International, will make power, cooling, and compute systems for AI data centers and other critical facilities. Flex estimates the unit’s 2026 calendar-year revenue at about $10 billion, with roughly 35,000 employees and 19 manufacturing sites. Flex CEO Revathi Advaithi is expected to lead Axiom. In October, Flex agreed to sell $2 billion of convertible preferred stock in Axiom to investors led by General Catalyst and Koch Equity Development.

ACS launches directed-energy laser division

ACS, the Austin defense robotics company behind the Bullfrog autonomous weapon station designed to shoot down drones, said Tuesday it formed a Directed Energy division to develop high-energy laser weapons for the U.S. and allied governments, according to a company release.

The division will be led by Amanda Clark, who spent 17 years at the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command and most recently ran its directed-energy division, and John Mason, a former branch chief for directed-energy technologies at the command. CEO Joe Bingold said Bullfrog’s targeting and engagement capabilities will carry over to laser systems. The company tied the move to the spread of cheap weaponized drones. ACS, also known as Allen Control Systems, has offices in Alexandria, Virginia, and a lab in Huntsville, Alabama.

Also in Silicon Hills

  • XLIO, a London- and Seattle-based firm that builds startups to order for corporate buyers, opened an Austin office led by CEO Ron Kornfeld and added $100 million to its funding facility, bringing it to $150 million. PR Newswire
  • Onramp, an Austin bitcoin financial services firm, launched Onramp Business, a bitcoin account for companies holding the asset on their balance sheets, plus higher-end Treasury and Enterprise tiers. GlobeNewswire
  • ESO, the Austin emergency-services software company, launched Pre-Bill Assist, a tool that checks patient insurance eligibility before EMS claims are created. GlobeNewswire
  • Oracle, which moved its headquarters to Austin in 2020, broke ground Tuesday on its future global headquarters campus in Nashville, with the first buildings expected in 2030. Yahoo Finance
  • Vixul will host an invitation-only AI Native Services Summit for founders and investors at Pershing House in Austin on Monday, Nov. 16. GlobeNewswire
  • The Real Deal looked at how defense-tech firms such as Saronic, Aeon Industrial and ACS, along with Blue Origin’s record 1.3 million-square-foot lease, are reshaping Austin’s industrial real estate market. The Real Deal

Only in Austin

Fresh off Veterans Day, consider the military post hiding in plain sight beside MoPac. Camp Mabry dates to 1892, when Austin boosters, eager to keep the Texas Volunteer Guard’s rotating summer encampment in town, helped buy land northwest of downtown and deed it to the state. Early guardsmen staged “sham battles” firing blank cartridges, and the guard sold tickets to the spectacle to help pay for more land; a round-trip train ride from downtown cost a quarter. Today it is the third-oldest continuously occupied military post in Texas and home to the Texas Military Forces Museum. Texas Escapes

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