Relentless How to Dominate Manufacturing in the US | Chris Power, Hadrian
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Sep 21, 2026 
Chris Power, founder and CEO of Hadrian, is rebuilding American manufacturing with automated, software-powered factories. He discusses GPU-style facilities for high-mix production, betting on capacity before contracts, surviving catastrophic equipment failures, and financing rapid expansion. He also explores modular teams, defense-driven opportunities, organizational bottlenecks, and earning trust through honest execution.
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Make CapEx Flexible Across Programs
- Break capital equipment into shared and program-specific components before making large bets.
- Shared equipment can serve drone, missile, casting, or munitions programs, making an apparently risky investment substantially more flexible.
Hedge Irreversible Factory Decisions
- Hedge irreversible equipment decisions when engineering uncertainty could threaten the delivery date.
- Spend modestly on reusable components and flexibility rather than discovering mistakes after nine-month equipment lead times.
Overbuilding Foundations Bought Design Time
- Hadrian overbuilt foundations and electrical drops to preserve layout flexibility while construction began.
- Spending $25 million instead of $15 million on foundations bought four months for engineers to optimize the factory design.