Three years after settling a bitter trade secret lawsuit, electric aircraft company Archer Aviation is taking ownership of its former rival, Wisk Aero.
Under the terms of the transaction, Boeing has agreed to sell Wisk Aero along with two other subsidiaries to Archer in exchange for an ownership stake in the company, according to a regulatory filing released Monday. The other businesses involved in the deal are SkyGrid, a digital airspace and air traffic management software company, and drone manufacturer Insitu.
Boeing will receive newly issued Archer shares equivalent to 19.75% of Archer’s outstanding shares immediately before the transaction closes. Following the deal, Boeing is expected to hold approximately a 16.5% stake in Archer, according to the regulatory filing and a person familiar with the matter.
The acquisition marks a remarkable turnaround in the relationship between the two companies, which were once locked in a bitter legal battle over their competing electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft programs.
In April 2021, Wisk sued Archer, accusing the company of the “brazen theft” of confidential information and intellectual property. The legal dispute continued for two years before the companies reached an unusual settlement that ended both the lawsuit and Archer’s counterclaim against Wisk, which sought $1 billion in damages.
Instead of ending their relationship, however, the settlement paved the way for a new partnership. Under its terms, Archer agreed to make Wisk the exclusive provider of autonomous technology. Archer also agreed to give Wisk the option to purchase up to 13,176,636 shares of common stock for $0.01 per share.
Wisk Aero traces its origins to Kittyhawk, an electric aviation startup led by Sebastian Thrun, co-founder of Alphabet’s X moonshot factory, and backed by Google co-founder Larry Page. Kittyhawk shut down in September 2022 after developing several aircraft programs, including Flyer, a single-seat all-electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicle, and Heaviside, a more advanced and quieter electric aircraft that was once kept secret and designed to fly and land autonomously.
However, Kittyhawk’s Cora program ultimately survived. In late 2019, the program was spun out into a joint venture with Boeing. The venture was later renamed Wisk and focused on developing and commercializing autonomous electric air taxis.
Boeing invested heavily in the project. In early 2022, the aerospace giant invested another $450 million in Wisk. By 2023, Wisk had become a wholly owned Boeing subsidiary.
Meanwhile, Archer, the California-based startup founded in 2018, has expanded its electric vertical takeoff and landing ambitions well beyond its original plan to create an air taxi network.
The company entered the defense sector several years ago and raised $430 million in December 2024 to support its Archer Defense program. In 2025, Archer secured another $300 million from institutional investors including BlackRock and Wellington.
Archer also entered an exclusive partnership with weapons manufacturer Anduril to jointly develop a hybrid gas-and-electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft for critical defense applications.
At the same time, Archer has continued advancing its all-electric Midnight aircraft. The company, which went public in 2021 through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company, recently completed a piloted round-trip flight between Salinas Municipal Airport and Monterey Regional Airport.
The flight comes as Archer prepares to begin operations later this year under the White House’s eVTOL Integration Pilot Program.
The acquisition of Wisk gives Archer access to a company with an established history in autonomous electric aviation, while transforming what was once a bitter legal rivalry into a corporate combination.
