Rocket Lab (RKLB) Secures $23.9M Grant to Boost Semiconductor Production for AI and Space Tech

We recently published a list of 15 AI News Updates That Investors Are Watching. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Rocket Lab USA, Inc. (NASDAQ:RKLB) stands against the other AI stocks.

The chip wars between the United States and China are in full swing. After reports that the US was considering additional curbs on the export of advanced AI chips to Chinese companies, Beijing responded by saying it would take necessary actions to protect Chinese firms if the US escalated chip control measures. According to a report by news agency Reuters, when quizzed about reports that the US was planning to add 200 Chinese firms to a trade blacklist, a Chinese government spokesperson said China strongly opposes the US broadening the concept of national security, and the abuse of control measures targeting Chinese companies.

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He Yadong, a commerce ministry spokesman, said that these actions severely disrupt the international economic and trade order, destabilise global industrial security, and harm the cooperative efforts between China and the US, as well as the global semiconductor industry, per Reuters. If the US insists on escalating control measures, China will take necessary actions to resolutely protect the legitimate rights of Chinese enterprises, he added. The report adds that the US fears China using chips to strengthen military capabilities.

READ ALSO: 30 Most Important AI Stocks According to BlackRock and Beyond the Tech Giants: 35 Non-Tech AI Opportunities.

For this article, we selected AI stocks by combing through news articles, stock analysis, and press releases. These stocks are also popular among hedge funds. Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).

Rocket Lab USA, Inc. (RKLB) Secures $23.9M Grant to Boost Semiconductor Production for AI and Space Tech

A launch pad atop a grassy hill, smoke filled sky from a successful voyage to space.

Rocket Lab USA, Inc. (NASDAQ:RKLB)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 16

Rocket Lab USA, Inc. (NASDAQ:RKLB) is a space company that provides launch services and space systems solutions for the space and defense industries. It also makes semiconductors used in a variety of tech. The company recently announced that it had finalized a $23.9 million award from the US Department of Commerce to increase its compound semiconductor manufacturing capability and capacity at the company’s Albuquerque facility. The semiconductors produced by Rocket Lab are used in space-grade solar cells and other optoelectronic products that are important components for national security and commercial applications. Opto products use light instead of electricity to perform computations more quickly and with less power than its electronic counterparts use. This is important for AI use cases that require this power and efficiency.

Overall, RKLB ranks 14th on our list of AI news updates that investors are watching. While we acknowledge the potential of RKLB as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than RKLB but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.

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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.