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

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