BlackBerry's QNX division demonstrated solid growth and strategic expansion into adjacent verticals throughout 2025, positioning it for continued development in fiscal year 2026. The division's financial performance exceeded expectations, and its technology continued to secure significant design wins and partnerships beyond its traditional automotive stronghold.
Financial Performance and Growth Drivers (Fiscal Year 2025 & 2026 Guidance):
For the full fiscal year 2025 (ending February 28, 2025), QNX revenue grew 10% year-over-year, reaching $236.0 million. Its adjusted EBITDA saw a substantial 76% increase year-over-year, totaling $59.1 million with a 25% margin. The QNX royalty backlog also grew from approximately $815 million to $865 million during this period.1
Looking into fiscal year 2026, QNX continued its positive trajectory. In the first quarter (ended May 31, 2025), QNX revenue was $57.5 million, surpassing guidance.2 The second quarter (ended August 31, 2025) also saw QNX revenue exceed guidance, with the division achieving a "Rule of 40" quarter.3 By the third quarter (ended November 30, 2025), QNX recorded its highest revenue quarter ever at $68.7 million, marking a $6.4 million increase from the prior year's third quarter.4 BlackBerry's guidance for QNX revenue for the full fiscal year 2026 is projected to be between $250 million and $270 million, with adjusted EBITDA anticipated to be $55 million to $60 million.2
The revenue growth in QNX has been primarily driven by increases in development seat revenue, royalty revenue, and contributions from BlackBerry Radar.5
Expansion into Adjacent Verticals:
BlackBerry has explicitly stated its strategy to extend QNX "deeper into automotive and wider into adjacent verticals."4 A key area of this expansion includes industrial automation and robotics, as highlighted by John Wall upon his appointment as President of the QNX division in November 2025.6 QNX is also recognized as a preferred supplier of embedded systems for companies within the General Embedded Market (GEM space).7
Furthermore, the BlackBerry Radar, which is part of the QNX division, provides asset monitoring and telematics solutions specifically for the transportation and logistics industry, indicating a diversified application of QNX technology beyond traditional automotive infotainment.7
Product Development and Key Partnerships in 2025:
Innovation and strategic partnerships have been central to QNX's growth. In 2025, QNX launched QNX® Hypervisor 8.0, built on its next-generation SDP 8.0 architecture, designed to facilitate high-performance virtualization of multiple operating systems on a single System-on-Chip (SoC).2 It also introduced the foundational, safety-certified QNX OS for Safety 8.3
Notable collaborations and design wins in 2025 include:
- QNX and NVIDIA announced the general availability of the NVIDIA DRIVE AGX Thor development kit, integrated with QNX® OS for Safety 8, to accelerate the development of next-generation autonomous drive systems.3
- WeRide launched its next-generation ADAS platform, which is built upon QNX® OS for Safety.2
- Leapmotor selected QNX® technology to power the intelligent digital cockpit and autonomous drive domain controllers in its new B10 electric SUV.2
- A prominent Chinese automaker chose QNX® Sound for its luxury EV lineup.4
QNX's strategy in the automotive sector includes promoting the adoption of its QNX SDP 8.0 and collaborating with partners to develop vehicle platforms with pre-integrated middleware solutions. This aims to capture a larger share of the automotive software stack and increase future royalties per vehicle.7
Overall, QNX's growth prospects appear robust, driven by strong financial performance, strategic expansion into high-growth adjacent markets like industrial automation and robotics, and continuous innovation supported by key industry partnerships.
