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.

Kitchen Table, or When Mildred Bailey Sings

Audio Poem of the Day

Winged Music and Home

The AI-powered Podcast Player