US to award Rocket Lab $23.9 mln to boost satellite, spacecraft chips

The U.S. Commerce Department said on Tuesday it planned to award Rocket Lab, $23.9 million to dramatically boost the production of compound semiconductors used in satellites and spacecraft.

The award for Rocket Lab unit SolAero Technologies Corp "would help create a more robust and resilient supply of space-grade solar cells that power spacecrafts and satellites", the department said, adding it would "increase Rocket Lab's compound semiconductor production by 50% within the next three years."

The funds are to come from the Biden administration's $52.7 billion chip manufacturing and research subsidy program that has benefited companies like South Korea's Samsung Electronics, Intel and Taiwan's TSMC.
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