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BlackBerry's Alloy Kore Scores Big: Can It Unlock Higher QNX Revenue?

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Key Takeaways

  • BlackBerry's QNX posted record $80.3 million in revenue in fiscal Q2, up 27% year over year.
  • Alloy Kore's first design win could generate more than $100 million in future royalties for QNX.
  • BlackBerry is expanding QNX into robotics, industrial automation, Physical AI and other embedded markets.

BlackBerry Limited (BB - Free Report) is increasingly transforming QNX from a niche embedded operating-system business into a broader automotive software platform. The latest catalyst is Alloy Kore, a foundational vehicle software platform developed jointly by BlackBerry’s QNX and Vector Informatik. BB’s fiscal second-quarter revenue was $163.3 million, up 26% year over year. QNX generated a record $80.3 million, representing 27% growth. The company also raised its fiscal 2027 outlook following a strong first half. It now expects QNX fiscal 2027 revenue of  $315-$325 million, with adjusted EBITDA of $95-$105 million. Management expects third-quarter QNX revenue of $82-$88 million.

BlackBerry’s QNX is moving higher up the automotive software stack with Alloy Kore, which recently secured its first design win with Coretura, the Volvo Group-Daimler Truck commercial vehicle software joint venture. The platform will serve as the foundational software layer across multiple domains in next-generation vehicles, with an ASP per instance about 3x higher than the customer’s current QNX OS deployment. The design win is expected to generate more than $100 million in future royalties, making it QNX’s largest design win to date, though most revenue will be realized only after production begins.

By combining QNX foundational software, automotive services and Vector middleware into a pre-integrated, safety-certified platform, Alloy Kore aims to reduce software integration complexity for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). BlackBerry is also pursuing additional opportunities with global OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers, particularly in Europe and Asia, and further Alloy Kore wins could boost QNX’s average revenue per vehicle while strengthening its position in the rapidly evolving software-defined vehicle market.

Furthermore, BB is attempting to expand into general embedded markets, including robotics, industrial automation, medical devices, rail, aerospace, defense and Physical AI. It recently highlighted QNX's expansion into Physical AI, including an announcement involving Momenta and XHEART, which selected QNX OS for Safety as the foundation for a production-ready autonomous-driving platform certified to ISO 26262 ASIL D.

Can BB Defend Its Edge in Automotive Software Race?

NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA - Free Report) continues to build a longer-duration opportunity in automotive, robotics and other physical AI applications. NVIDIA expanded its DRIVE Hyperion robotaxi-ready ecosystem through collaborations with Foxconn, VinFast, Uber and HUMAIN and introduced Alpamayo 2 Super for autonomous vehicle development. The company also launched Cosmos 3, an open frontier model for physical AI, the Isaac GR00T reference humanoid robot and Halos for Robotics safety software. Management has positioned physical AI as one of the workloads supported by the same computing, model and software stack, which can extend platform adoption beyond Data Center deployments.

Qualcomm Incorporated (QCOM - Free Report) automotive growth increasingly reflects higher compute content and broader platform wins. In the fiscal third quarter, automotive revenue reached $1.59 billion, up 61%. Qualcomm expanded its relationship with BMW to become the lead compute silicon provider for next-generation ADAS and digital cockpit programs extending into the next decade. Its collaboration with Stellantis also supports programs into the 2030s. Management said the fifth-generation Snapdragon Digital Chassis will ramp in September 2026 and is driving a step-up in silicon content per vehicle. It now expects an annualized automotive sales run rate of about $7 billion exiting fiscal 2026, providing a clearer bridge from design wins to sustained revenue growth.

BB Price Performance, Valuation & Estimates

Shares of BlackBerry have surged 169.1% in the past six months compared with the Internet-Software industry’s growth of 33.4%.

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Regarding the price/book ratio, BB is trading at 6.47, higher than the industry’s multiple of 5.36.

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The Zacks Consensus Estimate for BB earnings for fiscal 2027 has been revised upwards over the past 60 days.

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BlackBerry currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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