China Has Mass. Can America Catch Up?
Show notes
Ben, Marc, and Erik Torenberg are joined by Brian Schimpf, Cofounder & CEO of Anduril, and Chris Power, Founder & CEO of Hadrian. Together, they dig into America’s defense production gap: why the U.S. can out-innovate but not out-produce—and what it will take to turn that around. They discuss why U.S. war games show we run out of munitions in a week, the myth of “exquisite-only” systems, how to rebuild industrial capacity with software-led automation, financing factories like data centers, and what it takes to create real deterrence in a Taiwan scenario. Timecodes: 0:00 Introduction 0:54 The Myth of Technical Superiority 3:31 Erosion of US Manufacturing 6:50 Challenges in Rebuilding Industrial Capacity 8:31 The Skilled Labor Crisis 15:01 Automation and the Future of Manufacturing 17:57 Supply Chain Vulnerabilities 26:05 Regulatory and Policy Barriers 36:49 Financial Engineering vs. Industrial Policy 46:15 US vs. China: Strategic Competition 46:55 The Taiwan Scenario & War Gaming 52:55 Demographics, Economics, and CCP Strategy Resources: Find Chris on X: https://x.com/chris_power Find Brian on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bschimpf/ Marc on X: https://x.com/pmarca Marc’s Substack: https://pmarca.substack.com/ Ben on X: https://x.com/bhorowitz Listen to Us! Apple: https://bit.ly/3SdsfNt Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3SclPOr Stay Updated: Find us on X:https://x.com/a16z Find us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16z The views expressed here are those of the individual personnel quoted and are not the views of a16z or its affiliates. This content is provided for informational purposes only, and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, or tax advice. Furthermore, this content is not directed at nor intended for use by any investors or prospective investors and may not under any circumstances be relied upon when making a decision to invest in any a16z funds. PLEASE SEE MORE HERE: https://a16z.com/disclosures/ Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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