China Has Scale. Can America Catch Up?

Ben, Marc, and Erik Torenberg are joined by Brian Schimpf, Co-Founder & 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 Introduction0:27 Technical Superiority vs. Industrial Scale 3:59 The Decline of US Manufacturing 7:23 Challenges in Onshoring & Skilled Labor 13:27 Supply Chains & Rare Earths 15:34 Automation, Software, and Catching Up 17:15 Complexity of Modern Production 23:34 Strategic Policy & Industrial Planning 26:37 Regulatory Barriers & State vs. Federal Roles 35:27 Talent, Data Centers, and Financial Engineering 38:33 China’s Industrial Policy & US Response 46:07 US Manufacturing, National Security, and the China Challenge 52:00 Demographics, Long-Term Outlook, and Closing Thoughts Resources: Find Chris on X: https://x.com/chris_powerFind Brian on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bschimpf/Marc on X: https://x.com/pmarcaMarc’s Substack: https://pmarca.substack.com/Ben on X: https://x.com/bhorowitz Stay Updated: Find us on X:https://x.com/a16zFind us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16zThe 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/ Stay Updated:Find a16z on XFind a16z on LinkedInListen to the a16z Podcast on SpotifyListen to the a16z Podcast on Apple PodcastsFollow our host: https://twitter.com/eriktorenberg Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see 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.