The Ben & Marc Show: 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 Introduction

0:27 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_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

 

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/

Stay Updated:

Find a16z on YouTube: YouTube

Find a16z on X

Find a16z on LinkedIn

Listen to the a16z Show on Spotify

Listen to the a16z Show on Apple Podcasts

Follow 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.