Rocket Lab is poised to obtain about $24 million in federal funding to dramatically improve manufacturing of its complicated semiconductors, also referred to as photo voltaic cells, which energy satellites and spacecraft.
The funding, which is able to go to Rocket Lab subsidiary SolAero Applied sciences, will assist improve semiconductor manufacturing by 50% over the subsequent three years. Rocket Lab-made photo voltaic cells have been used to energy tons of of satellites and spacecraft, together with essential ones for science just like the James Webb House Telescope and business constellations just like the OneWeb Web Satellite tv for pc Constellation.
On Tuesday, the US Division of Commerce introduced a non-binding preliminary financing settlement.
“Photo voltaic cells are crucial to protecting our communications and house applied sciences powered and operational, and this proposed award will assist our navy, NASA and our business house trade entry the specialty semiconductors they want,” Commerce Secretary Gina Raymond mentioned in an announcement. .
Along with the federal funding, the state of New Mexico, the place SolAero relies, has dedicated to offering $25.5 million in funding and incentives. The funding will assist the corporate construct out its amenities in Albuquerque and create greater than 100 direct manufacturing jobs, Rocket Lab mentioned in an announcement.
The brand new funding will come from $52.7 billion created by President Joe Biden’s CHIPS and Science Act of 2022. It goals to revive home semiconductor manufacturing and improve the resilience of home provide chains.
Rocket Lab acquired SolAero, which operates a ~115,000 sq. foot manufacturing facility, in 2022 for $80 million. The corporate is one in all solely two corporations in the US specializing in the manufacturing of space-grade radiation-resistant compound semiconductors or space-grade photo voltaic cells. SolAero may be very vertically built-in: along with photo voltaic cells, the agency additionally manufactures photo voltaic panels and energy modules.