WASHINGTON, Nov 25 (Reuters) - The U.S. Commerce

Department said on Monday it is finalizing nearly $60 million in

government subsidies for BAE Systems to build chips used in jets

and satellites, and for Rocket Lab to build compound

semiconductors used in satellites and spacecraft.

The department is finalizing $35.5 million to BAE

to quadruple production in New Hampshire for key semiconductor

chips used in F-35 fighter jets and commercial satellites. The

investment will cut the company's planned modernization timeline

in half, Commerce said.

The Pentagon plans to spend $1.7 trillion on the F-35

program including buying 2,500 planes in the coming decades. The

chips are critical to F-15s and F-35s.

The Commerce Department is also finalizing $23.9 million for

Rocket Lab unit SolAero Technologies Corp, which the government

said would boost the company's production of solar cells by 50%

over the next three years.

Rocket Lab, founded in 2006 by New Zealander Peter

Beck, is one of two U.S. firms specializing in the production of

highly efficient, radiation resistant compound semiconductors

called space-grade solar cells.

The company's solar cells support U.S. space programs,

including missile awareness systems, the James Webb Space

Telescope, NASA's Artemis lunar explorations, Ingenuity Mars

Helicopter, and Mars Insight Lander.

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told Reuters this month the

department is racing to complete as many agreements as possible

under the Biden administration's $52.7 billion "Chips and

Science" program before President-elect Donald Trump, who

criticized the program, takes office on Jan. 20.

Commerce earlier this month finalized its first major award

- a $6.6 billion subsidy for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing

Co's ( TSM ) U.S. unit.

Last week, Commerce finalized a $1.5 billion subsidy for

GlobalFoundries ( GFS ) to expand semiconductor production in

Malta, New York and Vermont.