Having jumped out of the PC ODM and camera modules markets, Flextronics is rushing headlong into the lower-volume but higher margin territory of M&M: military and medical.

The world’s second-largest EMS company today snatched up Stellar Microelectronics, another California-based manufacturer whose current run rate is about $100 million in revenue. (Given the relatively small size of Stellar, Flextronics did not have to disclose what it paid.)

It’s a little late to the party. Automotive has been going gangbusters for a year, and military and aerospace programs might actually start slipping.

Still, Flextronics is clearly banking on its size and financial strength as leverage to force its way into the M&M markets. It booked $300 million worth of new business in those areas over the past nine months, and expects growth in excess of 15% in that area in the coming year. Flextronics has set a a target operating margin of 4% (currently, the company is closer to 3%), and COO Paul Read told a Goldman Sachs investors conference that the company hopes to generate some 30% of its revenue from higher margin product in the coming years (up from 20% today). Given its size and ability to jump in and out of end-markets, Flextronics is becoming something of a General Electric of the EMS space.