‹ Rocket Lab
Ch 3 · The Vertical Bet
Chapter 3 · Competitive Position
Most space companies do one thing. Rocket Lab does two.
Build the rocket. Build the satellite on top. The integration is the moat.
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✦ The bottom line
SpaceX launches. Maxar builds satellites. Rocket Lab does both — and uses one to feed the other.
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✦ Teach me
Doing the whole thing under one roof
Most companies focus on one slice — just the rocket, or just the satellite. Vertical integration means doing the whole stack: build the satellite, launch it on your own rocket, run the mission. When it works, you capture more profit per customer and your two businesses help each other.
Wall Street calls this
Vertical integration
Rare in space. Tesla did it in cars. Apple does it in phones. The integration *is* the moat.
Cents kept per dollar of sales · latest quarter
38
¢
Up from 29¢ a year earlier. Real margin improvement — as production scales, each launch + satellite costs less to deliver.
Source · 10-Q · Income Statement · Q1 FY26 · Filed May 7, 2026
How the moat got built
2006
Peter Beck founds Rocket Lab in a New Zealand garage.
2018
First Electron rocket reaches orbit. Small-launch market opens up.
2020-22
Acquires satellite-component companies. Becomes a space-systems business too.
Now
70+ Electron launches. Space Systems is 68% of revenue. Two engines, one company.
✓
Strong
Margin improving. Vertical integration showing up in the numbers.
You just finished
Chapter 3 · MOAT
The Vertical Bet
you now read: vertical integration
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Then
Chapter 5 · BEHIND THE NUMBERS
The Story Behind the Numbers
Chapter 6 · RISK
The Neutron Question