Defense contractor Anduril Industries Inc. in Costa Mesa has made another step deeper into military hardware through an acquisition of a company developing a drone that looks and performs like a fighter jet.
Anduril said its purchase of Morrisville, N.C.-based Blue Force Technologies, which makes the unmanned air combat vehicle Fury, significantly increases its reach within the U.S. Defense Department.
These types of advanced drones are ideally suited for different types of military missions, Anduril Chief Strategy Officer Christian Brose told industry website Defense One, noting the potential market for the product “is considerable.”
Terms of the acquisition were undisclosed.
Anduril Investing
Blue Force Technologies serves both military and commercial customers.
Anduril, founded by OC entrepreneur Palmer Luckey, said it is making significant investments to continue the development of the jet-powered Fury, expand manufacturing operations in North Carolina and accelerate development of critical technologies.
Anduril has built and acquired other military-grade drone and counter-drone products since its founding six years ago.
Anduril landed a nearly $1.5 billion investment in 2022, bringing the company’s valuation to $8.5 billion, while its business wins range from the purchase of a rocket motor company to coming a step closer to helping develop a new tank for the U.S. Army.
Broadcom VMware Buy Faces China Obstacle
China may be the last potential obstacle to semiconductor Broadcom’s $69 billion purchase of Palo Alto-based cloud computing firm VMware, among the largest-ever planned tech acquisitions.
Broadcom (Nasdaq: AVGO), which got its start in Irvine before moving its headquarters to San Jose in 2018, still has substantial local operations, with an estimated 1,300 OC local employees as of January.
The purchase will move Broadcom further into the increasingly lucrative software and cloud computing market.
The European Union has given the deal a conditional green light and it’s received a provisional OK in the U.K., while U.S. authorities haven’t signaled they intend to halt the deal before the scheduled Oct. 30 closing.
That leaves China’s silence, which some are interpreting as a possible no vote as relations with the West deteriorate further.
Broadcom has filed for an antitrust review with China’s State Administration for Market Regulation.
Tower Blocked
In a previous, separate matter, Beijing effectively prevented Intel from acquiring Israeli firm Tower Semiconductor—perhaps in retaliation for U.S.-led actions against Chinese tech companies.
Tower has a foundry processing plant in Newport Beach. A May filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission does not indicate any major changes are imminent at the local facility.
Despite the uncertainty over the VMware deal, Broadcom’s stock was up more than 50% this year as of Sept. 8, closing at $857.55 per share for a market cap of $354 billion.