Why Rocket Lab USA Stock Just Jumped 7%
Rocket Lab USA (NASDAQ: RKLB) stock -- what else? -- rocketed on Wednesday morning, soaring 7.2% through 9:45 a.m. ET after releasing multiple positive pieces of PR.
The least interesting of these is that Rocket Lab signed a "preliminary memorandum of terms" with the Commerce Department yesterday, which could see the company awarded up to $23.9 million in direct funding under the CHIPS and Science Act.
It may seem curious that Rocket Lab -- a space stock that specializes in building small satellites and small rockets to launch them -- would receive a government subsidy to manufacture semiconductor chips. But as Rocket Lab explains, the government funding would "enable Rocket Lab to increase its production of compound semiconductors for spacecraft and satellites." And in fact, Rocket Lab owns a subsidiary, SolAero Technologies, that specializes in building space-grade solar cells -- a special kind of semiconductor.
Source Fool.com
