CesiumAstro, the Austin-based phased-array antenna specialist, has decided that buying semiconductors from other people is for cowards. The company announced Aug. 12 that it is acquiring Jariet Technologies, a fabless semiconductor firm, for an undisclosed sum, absorbing roughly 100 employees across the U.S. and Switzerland.

Jariet, founded in 2015 and headquartered in Redondo Beach, California, designs radio-frequency chips used in satellite communications, electronic warfare, and radar systems, including tech for digital beamforming and wideband signal processing. Because nothing says 'we're serious about space' like also having your own chip design team.

A CesiumAstro spokesperson said, 'The team and capabilities will be integrated into CesiumAstro to support all their offers from ground, air to space.' And, in a rare moment of candor, added: 'This acquisition is a big part of enabling CesiumAstro's future satellite constellation.'

That constellation would be Synchronicity, a low Earth orbit network that CesiumAstro filed plans for with regulators last month. The proposed system involves 737 satellites using Ku-, Ka-, and V-band spectrum to provide reconfigurable connectivity for fixed and mobile enterprise and government users. Because what the world needs is another mega-constellation, but this one will be reconfigurable, so that's different.

The nine-year-old company has built its business on software-defined, multi-beam phased-array technology, and recently branched out into providing a satellite platform called Element to integrate those capabilities. The first Element is slated to launch in October 2026, with more scheduled on seven additional SpaceX rideshare missions booked over the following several years. So, if you're counting, that's at least eight launches, and a lot of fingers crossed.

CesiumAstro founder and CEO Shey Sabripour said in a statement: 'This acquisition brings a foundational semiconductor capability into CesiumAstro. Integrating advanced mixed-signal semiconductor design in-house gives us greater control over performance from the RF front-end through complete mission system, while enabling us to field new capabilities faster.' Translation: We're now doing chips too, because controlling everything is the only way to be sure.

This isn't CesiumAstro's first acquisition this year. In late 2025, it bought AI startup Vidrovr to embed machine learning across its payloads and satellites, which it said would help enable autonomous RF optimization, tasking, and edge processing. Because what's a satellite constellation without a little artificial intelligence to run the show?