What Cernex does

Cernex, Inc. is a privately held U.S. manufacturer of precision RF, microwave, and millimeter-wave components and sub-systems, founded in 1988 and headquartered in Milpitas, California. The company designs and builds both catalog and custom components spanning a frequency range from 30 KHz to 500 GHz, using MIC (Microstrip Integrated Circuit), MMIC (Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuit), discrete, waveguide, and ferrite-based technologies. Its product portfolio covers signal conditioning (filters, phase shifters, limiters), amplification and generation (amplifiers in bench-top, GaN, rack-mount, and SATCOM LNA variants; oscillators; detectors), routing and distribution (switches, couplers, combiners/dividers, circulators/isolators), connectivity (coaxial and waveguide-to-coaxial adapters, connectors, cables, terminations, test kits), antennas, and fully integrated subsystems including transceivers, transmitters, receivers, and radar sub-assemblies.

The company sells primarily to defense, aerospace, telecommunications, and test & measurement customers under a quote-based B2B model with no public pricing. It holds ITAR registration, AS9100D compliance, ISO 9001:2015 certification, and MIL-STD process compliance, qualifying it as a supplier to U.S. military branches and prime defense contractors. The engineering team holds over 500 combined years of microwave and millimeter-wave design experience, supporting both catalog sales and custom sub-assembly design services. Named customers include Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, L3, General Atomics, Diehl Defence, Elbit Systems, Rafael, Leonardo, Thales, MBDA, USAF, Sandia, Keysight, ST, Samsung, and Mitsubishi. The company has no disclosed funding rounds, no acquisitions or divestitures, no parent company, and no public ownership structure, with all available indicators pointing to a stable, independently operated small business.

The revenue model is dual-track: hardware sales of catalog RF, microwave, and millimeter-wave components, combined with professional services revenue from custom sub-assembly design, prototyping, and subsystem integration. Distribution is exclusively direct enterprise sales, with customers engaging through the website's quote-request forms, email ([email protected]), or phone. Marketing is conducted primarily through the corporate website, technical documentation, and SEO targeted at RF engineering buyers. No app, no API, and no software product surface is present in the source material.

Name

Cernex

Legal name

Cernex, Inc.

Website

https://cernex.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1988

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Cernex, Inc. is a privately held U.S. manufacturer of precision RF, microwave, and millimeter-wave components and sub-systems from 30 KHz to 500 GHz, serving defense primes, aerospace, telecommunications, government, and test & measurement customers with catalog and custom designs.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

RF and Microwave Components

NAICS

Other Communications Equipment Manufacturing (334290), Capacitor, Resistor, Coil, Transformer, and Other Inductor Manufacturing (334416)

SIC

Electronic & Other Electrical Equipment (No Computer Equip) (3600)

akta.pro primary industry

Military Power Supplies, RF/Microwave Components & Ruggedized Electronics (IMABAGAJ)

akta.pro secondary industries

Microwave & RF Signal Chain ICs (Mixers/Detectors/Attenuators) (HDAHAMAL), RF & Microwave Connectors and Coaxial Assemblies (HDAHAOAD)

Keywords

• RF microwave components
• Millimeter-wave components
• Frequency multipliers
• Waveguide components
• Custom RF sub-assemblies

Headquarters

HQ city

Milpitas

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Personnel, Supply Chain, Operations, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. RF/Microwave Component Sales: Sales of catalog RF, microwave, and millimeter-wave components including amplifiers, frequency multipliers, couplers, switches, filters, circulators, and waveguide products.
2. Custom Design and Manufacturing Services: Custom sub-assembly design and manufacturing services including from-spec prototyping, subsystem integration, MMIC design support, and quick-turn rapid response engineering.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Cernex designs and manufactures precision RF, microwave, and millimeter-wave components and sub-systems covering a frequency range from 30 KHz to 500 GHz using MIC, MMIC, discrete, waveguide, and ferrite technologies. The company sells a comprehensive catalog of catalog components (amplifiers, frequency multipliers, couplers, switches, filters, circulators, waveguide products, antennas, mixers, oscillators, and adapters) along with custom-designed sub-assemblies built to customer electrical and mechanical specifications. All products are manufactured in the United States at the company's Milpitas, California facility and are qualified under ITAR, AS9100D, ISO 9001:2015, and MIL-STD processes for commercial, aerospace, and military applications.

Product overview

Cernex is a precision RF, microwave, and millimeter-wave components and sub-systems manufacturer offering a comprehensive portfolio of products spanning 30 KHz to 500 GHz. The company provides MIC (Microstrip Integrated Circuit), MMIC (Monolithic Microwave IC), discrete, waveguide, and ferrite-based technologies. The product line includes signal conditioning components (filters, phase shifters, limiters), signal amplification and generation products (amplifiers in multiple form factors including bench top, GaN, rack mount, and SATCOM LNAs, oscillators, detectors), signal routing and distribution devices (switches, couplers, combiners/dividers, circulators/isolators), connectivity and interface products (adapters including coaxial and waveguide-to-coaxial, transitions, cables, terminations, test kits), antenna products (horn, patch, omni-directional), and fully integrated subsystems (transceivers, radar subsystems, transmitters, receivers). Products are available as catalog items or as custom-designed sub-assemblies built to specific customer electrical and mechanical requirements.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Coaxial Adapters (RF & Waveguide-to-Coaxial) Coaxial adapters and waveguide-to-coaxial adapters enabling RF signal connectivity between different connector types and conversion between waveguide and coaxial transmission lines, for RF engineering and system integration use.
• Amplifiers RF and microwave signal amplifiers in multiple form factors including bench top, GaN, rack mount, SATCOM LNAs, and optical fiber communication variants for defense, aerospace, and telecom systems.
• Antennas Horn, patch, omni-directional, and other antenna types for RF transmission and reception in microwave systems.
• Attenuators RF signal attenuation components for power control and signal level adjustment in RF/microwave systems.
• Cable Assemblies Pre-assembled RF and microwave cable assemblies for signal transmission between components and subsystems.
• Calibration Kits Calibration kits for verification of test and measurement equipment in RF/microwave applications.
• Connectors RF and microwave connectors for cable and component interconnection in high-frequency systems.
• Couplers RF couplers for signal sampling and distribution in microwave systems.
• Detectors RF detectors for signal detection and measurement applications in microwave systems.
• Ferrite Circulators, Isolators & Dual-Junction Circulators Ferrite-based non-reciprocal RF components — circulators, isolators, and dual-junction circulators — for RF signal routing and isolation.
• Filters & Diplexers RF filters and diplexers for frequency selection and signal conditioning in microwave systems.
• Frequency Combiners Components for combining multiple RF signals into a single output.
• Frequency Converters Up and down converters for frequency translation in RF systems.
• Frequency Dividers Components for dividing RF signal frequency by integer ratios.
• Frequency Multipliers Frequency multiplier components for generating harmonic signals, including desktop variants for signal generation.
• Mixers RF mixers for frequency conversion and signal mixing applications in RF systems.
• Oscillators & Noise Sources Signal sources and noise generators for RF testing and systems.
• Phase Shifters Adjustable phase shift components for signal conditioning in RF systems.
• Power Combiner/Divider Components for combining or dividing RF power signals in microwave systems.
• Switches RF switches for signal routing between multiple paths in microwave systems.
• Terminations & Loads RF terminations and load components for proper signal absorption and impedance matching.
• Test Kits Testing kits for RF component verification and calibration in production and field environments.
• Waveguide Products Waveguide components including flexible and elliptic waveguides for high-frequency transmission in microwave and millimeter-wave systems.
• Transceivers Complete transceiver assemblies integrating transmit and receive functions for microwave subsystems.
• Transmitters RF transmitter modules for signal transmission in RF/microwave systems.
• Receivers RF receiver modules for signal reception in RF/microwave systems.
• Integrated Sub-Systems (including Radar Sub-Systems) Integrated sub-system assemblies including radar subsystems for complete microwave system solutions.
• Thin-Film Hybrid (MIC) Components & Sub-Systems Microstrip integrated circuit (MIC) components and sub-systems using thin-film hybrid technology from 30 KHz to 500 GHz, designed for high-reliability defense, aerospace, and commercial applications.
• MMIC Components & Design Support Monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) components and MMIC design support services for advanced RF applications.
• Discrete RF & Microwave Components Discrete RF and microwave component solutions for system-level integration.
• Custom RF/Microwave Sub-Assembly Design & Manufacturing Custom RF/microwave sub-assembly design and manufacturing services, taking customer electrical and mechanical specifications from concept through prototype to production, including subsystem integration, MMIC design support, and quick-turn prototyping for defense, aerospace, and commercial customers.

Named customers19 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Fairview Microwave: Fairview Microwave (Infinite Electronics) distributes and manufactures RF/microwave components including amplifiers, filters, attenuators, and waveguide products. Directly comparable in product mix and customer profile to Cernex.
• Mini-Circuits: Mini-Circuits is one of the largest catalog manufacturers of RF, microwave, and millimeter-wave components (amplifiers, filters, mixers, frequency multipliers). It directly competes with Cernex across most product categories and shares the same B2B custom-and-catalog go-to-market, making it the closest scale comparable.
• Herotek: Herotek designs and manufactures RF and microwave components including detectors, switches, mixers, and frequency multipliers. Its niche precision component focus and custom design service model are highly comparable to Cernex.
• Marki Microwave: Marki Microwave designs and manufactures high-performance RF/microwave signal chain components — mixers, amplifiers, filters, multipliers — serving defense, test & measurement, and commercial wireless. Directly overlaps with Cernex's MIC/MMIC and discrete component portfolio.
• K&L Microwave: K&L Microwave specializes in RF/microwave filters, diplexers, multiplexers, and switched filter banks serving defense and aerospace. It directly overlaps with Cernex's filter/diplexer catalog and military customer base.
• Pasternack: Pasternack (Infinite Electronics brand) offers a massive catalog of RF/microwave coaxial adapters, attenuators, amplifiers, and waveguide products. It is the most prominent catalog competitor to Cernex's connectors, adapters, and cable assemblies.
• Planar Monolithics Industries (PMI): PMI designs and manufactures RF/microwave components and subassemblies including amplifiers, frequency multipliers, mixers, and integrated subsystems. Its custom design and defense/aerospace customer focus is highly comparable to Cernex.
• MECA Electronics: MECA Electronics manufactures RF/microwave passive components — attenuators, couplers, dividers, and terminations — for commercial and military markets. Closely comparable to Cernex's passive RF component catalog.

Broad incumbents

• MACOM: MACOM designs and supplies RF, microwave, and mmWave semiconductor components and subsystems for defense, aerospace, and telecom. Operates at a higher integration level than Cernex but competes for the same defense and commercial design sockets.
• Qorvo: Qorvo is a large RF semiconductor company offering GaN/GaAs amplifiers, filters, and integrated modules for defense, aerospace, and commercial wireless. It competes with Cernex at the integrated module/RFIC level with substantially greater R&D scale.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/cernex-inc

Compliance4 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Cernex