Theme · Updated
What podcasters are saying about Manufacturing & industrial policy
Summary
In the past 30 days, 20 speakers on 11 finance podcasts discussed Manufacturing & industrial policy in 31 views. Chorus has followed Manufacturing & industrial policy since September 25, 2026: 32 views from 21 speakers on 12 shows.
Who talks about it most
- Connor Love · 4
- Erin Price-Wright · 2
- Palmer Luckey · 2
- Craig Fuller · 2
- Jesper Koll · 2
- Doug Petno · 2
- Maria Vassalou · 2
- Dominik Leusder · 2
- Tom Maher · 2
- Andrew McDermott · 1
The latest views
Newest first. Every quote is checked against the episode's transcript.
Erin Price-Wright · Andreessen Horowitz (a16z)
AI tools let line technicians reconfigure production lines in minutes instead of months and hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Low-mix, high-volume US manufacturing is hard to automate because changing a line is expensive. Erin says technicians who understand the physical process, not software engineers, now have software tools to reprogram and reconfigure lines on the fly. Previously a reconfiguration needed a system integrator, taking three months and hundreds of thousands of dollars. She says a manufacturing engineer using Claude can do it in about twenty minutes, which she calls a real game changer across portfolio companies.
“is now able to use these tools to reprogram and reconfigure their manufacturing lines on the fly... It takes three months and hundreds of thousands of dollars to reconfigure a line for a new setup. You can have a manufacturing engineer use Claude and do that in, you know, twenty minutes.”at 15:29
a16z Podcast: The Startups Rebuilding American Industry | The AD50 ·
Erin Price-Wright · Andreessen Horowitz (a16z)
New US PCB makers have sharply cut defect rates, so a portfolio customer now passes 70-90% of boards.
Three years ago, a portfolio company ordered twice the PCB boards it needed because it expected to scrap about half for quality failures from its supplier. Startups then emerged to rebuild PCB manufacturing in the US with software and modern technology, offering faster, cheaper and better output. The same company now buys from new suppliers and keeps 70 to 90 percent of boards passing quality tests. Erin argues the value of close co-development with end customers is underestimated.
“would order two times the number of PCB boards... they assumed that they would [throw] 50% of them away for quality issues... now that same company buys you know, PCBs from new suppliers and, you know, they're keeping 70, 80, 90% passing quality tests.”at 31:26
a16z Podcast: The Startups Rebuilding American Industry | The AD50 ·
Connor Love · Andreessen Horowitz (a16z)
A new middle layer of supplier co-engineers will redesign subcomponents for next-generation end systems.
Connor uses Boeing and Honeywell as an example. Boeing calls Honeywell for landing gear, and Honeywell keeps supplying a fifty-year-old design to spec because that is rational. But new end-system requirements and new materials mean the legacy subsystem no longer fits, and suppliers aren't positioned to change requirements. He expects a middle layer of supply companies to act as co-engineers with the end manufacturer. They will rethink and rebuild subcomponents, which he calls the manufacturing middle, a wave not seen in forty to fifty years.
“I think what's gonna happen in the future is you're gonna have this middle layer of supply companies that will effectively be co engineers with the end OEM of rethinking not just what the end system can do... but the individual subcomponents will be rethought, will be reengineered, and will be rebuilt.”at 34:23
a16z Podcast: The Startups Rebuilding American Industry | The AD50 ·
Connor Love · Andreessen Horowitz (a16z)
A new 'manufacturing middle' will emerge, with firms co-engineering design upstream instead of building to spec.
Connor argues that the individual parts and components of the physical economy are about to change after forty or fifty years without a real shift. He expects a new wave of companies he calls the 'manufacturing middle' that co-engineer and push design and development upward in the supply chain, rather than just receiving specifications and building the same thing as before. He frames this as the creation of an 'American manufacturing asset class.' He distinguishes it from private equity, which buys factories, improves costs and sells them without changing what gets built. Connor also argues that new technology architectures let firms rethink the whole supply chain from the ground up, because the components of the old world do not carry over.
“the individual parts and components will change, and I think that just hasn't happened in the last forty or fifty years... that will be co engineering and pushing design and development upward in the supply chain, as opposed to just being in receive mode”at 34:53
a16z Podcast: The Startups Rebuilding American Industry | The AD50 ·
Connor Love · Andreessen Horowitz (a16z)
Building physical factories and infrastructure at scale takes years, so capital markets need patience.
Connor argues that anything in the physical world takes time. Setting up a factory at a scale that affects power generation or military systems cannot be done by a few engineers working on screens. It requires physically moving dirt and understanding a supply chain in depth, which takes years. He says capital markets need some patience for this reason, even though he is optimistic that the build-out is happening.
“anything in the physical world takes time. To set up a factory at a scale where really you either affect our power generation, or you affect our military systems... these things take years”at 46:09
a16z Podcast: The Startups Rebuilding American Industry | The AD50 ·
Connor Love · Andreessen Horowitz (a16z)
Physical-world builders must bring host communities along; capital markets will eventually reward companies that do.
Erin says that physical infrastructure like a data center, power plant or mine has a visible effect on the people nearby, so they need a say and a stake in it. Connor agrees that people need to feel participation and economic upside. He expects capital markets to solve this over the long term because companies will learn to bring communities along financially and economically. He cites AMCA partnering with small machine shops rather than cutting management, as a positive example. He also argues that much of the new build-out will physically sit in Middle America, which he sees as net good, and Erin adds that it reduces wealth concentration on the coasts. He notes that some bad examples have existed in tech.
“companies will figure out how to bring communities along for the journey and make it financially and economically worth it.”at 47:48
a16z Podcast: The Startups Rebuilding American Industry | The AD50 ·
Palmer Luckey · Anduril Industries
US should rebuild end-to-end computer manufacturing; dependence on China is unacceptable and the cost objections are overstated.
Luckey argues America invented the computer industry, shipped it overseas, and now critical sectors (military, medical, hospitals, power plants) run on Chinese-made computers, which he calls crazy given China is the largest strategic adversary. He says Anduril has tried to get others to invest in domestic computer production and failed, so it is doing it itself, aiming for a computer made in the US from chips to glass, metals, batteries and plastics. He dismisses analyst estimates that an American iPhone would cost $37,000 or an American computer $100,000 as efforts to prop up a status quo that mega-corporations want to keep, since they prefer outsourcing to cheaper non-American labour. His evidence is that Anduril already builds drones that are essentially computers (memory, GPU, CPU, sensors, batteries, rugged integration), so the only difference from a laptop is a keyboard and screen. He says Anduril's own display glass is American, most assembly is in the US, and the panel is made abroad for now, putting the product at about 90% US and allies with a technical road map to 100%. He also says Anduril is sanctioned by China, which forced it to build a supply chain independent of China.
“I think it's crazy to have an entire country depend entirely on its largest strategic adversary for its most critical economic powerhouses.”at 2:50
Bloomberg Talks: Anduril Founder Palmer Luckey Talks Partnership With Qualcomm ·
Palmer Luckey · Anduril Industries
US chip subsidies mostly fund chip production while packaging and assembly stay in China, so they have little effect.
Luckey acknowledges Qualcomm's plan to make chips in Arizona but argues chips alone are not enough. His point is that US semiconductor subsidies and investment have no capacity to package the chips and turn them into finished products, and that packaging and assembly happen overseas, mainly in China, where the chips go to become laptops. In his view, American semiconductor subsidies have therefore been little more than a subsidy for Chinese-made computers. He argues the goal is to capture the entire value chain in the US, which is hard because suppliers have either never been in the computer industry or have been away from it for about twenty years since the last US plant closed.
“One of the problems with The US subsidies and investments in semiconductors is that at the end of the day, we don't have any ability to package them and then turn them, transform them into useful products. So from a certain point of view, American semiconductor subsidies have really just been a subsidy”at 5:31
Bloomberg Talks: Anduril Founder Palmer Luckey Talks Partnership With Qualcomm ·
Andrew McDermott · Mission Value Partners
Over $20B of Japanese investment in US Southeast is reshoring capacity once made in China.
He has tracked Japanese investment in Southeast US over the last couple of years, totalling over $20B in his state alone. It spans steel, rare earths, generation machines, nuclear plants, automated manufacturing, nuclear power and quantum computing. He says much of it was made in China three years ago and is now coming back, partly state-supported and partly driven by tariffs. Japan's record machine tool orders to the US and China support this. He says it is logical, but the distribution of gains and the dislocations it causes are the real question.
“I've been keeping track for the last couple of years of the size of those investments, and it's over $20,000,000,000 just in my state...”at 12:07
Top Traders Unplugged: GM109: Why Buffett Finally Went All In on Japan ft. Andrew McDermott ·
Craig Fuller · FreightWaves
US industrial expansion is the strongest in a decade and has rebounded since last November.
Craig's freight data shows the industrial sector, which had been a dog for years, rebounding sharply since November, and still expanding. He says heavy industry is ripping and that it is driven by its own engines (AI capex, cheap energy, defense) rather than by consumer demand, which is weakening.
“It's robust, I actually, I would say this is the strongest industrial economy that we have seen in in perhaps a decade.”at 4:03
Thoughtful Money: "No Signs Of The A.I. Party Slowing Down" | Craig Fuller ·
Craig Fuller · FreightWaves
Companies are reshoring to the US for cheap energy, with tariffs a less important factor.
Craig argues energy is about 40% of heavy manufacturing costs, far more than labor. He points to Germany decommissioning much of its energy production and hurting its industry, while the US has plentiful energy. Companies are coming to the US because of that energy advantage, and tariffs are a factor but not a major one because most people don't know what comes next or how long tariffs will last.
“what we're seeing is that companies are coming to United States because of energy, not due to tariffs. Tariffs are a factor, but they're not really that important”at 25:34
Thoughtful Money: "No Signs Of The A.I. Party Slowing Down" | Craig Fuller ·
Peter Tchir · Academy Securities
Production for security and onshoring is going global; every country will become more vertically integrated.
Tchir has been talking about onshoring and production for security, a concept he finds exciting because it is spreading globally. He cites Australia announcing refineries and the need to build refineries more broadly, and argues every country will look more like a vertically integrated nation.
“I think every single country across the world is gonna look a little bit more like a vertically integrated nation.”at 5:19
Bloomberg Surveillance: Market Uncertainty Ahead of the Midterms ·
Celine Woo · Lazard Asset Management
TSMC's Arizona fab shows a US workforce can be trained faster than expected.
Woo was once more sceptical that moving skilled fab labor to the US would take much longer. TSMC's Arizona fab changed her mind. Training, bringing people from home countries and working together can get it done much better than expected. She sees the US fab push as strategically sensible because the biggest customers are based in the US.
“I used to be more skeptical that that transition could be much more time consuming, but in the case of TSMC with their Arizona fab, I have changed my mind. You can actually get that done much better than people's expectation”at 21:32
Michael Gapen · Morgan Stanley
US capex is broadening beyond AI into manufacturing, driven partly by supply-chain redundancy and reshoring.
Gapen sees the US investment story broadening, most clearly in manufacturing. He links this to a multipolar world that needs redundancy and supply-chain build-out, which may create an incentive for reshoring, and to spillovers from AI and from geopolitics. He cautions that US manufacturing is only about 10% of output and employment, so the broadening is real but limited in scale.
“So it's not just an AI story. I think you can characterize it as a bit broader.”at 6:18
Thoughts on the Market (Morgan Stanley): Economic Roundtable: What’s Keeping Global Growth Going? ·
James Robinson · University of Chicago
The US could build competitive new industries like South Korea did, but only with serious planning and strategy.
Robinson rejects the argument that the US cannot build up industry. He points to South Korea, which built an internationally competitive shipbuilding industry from scratch; Hyundai had not built a rowing boat in the late 1960s. He argues the US could do the same, but only if it is immensely serious, plans and has a strategy. He says Korea's approach started under a military government in a geopolitical context with North Korea. It was sustained only because Korea later transitioned in the 1980s to more democratic, accountable governance, after which growth was even faster. He implies the US needs accountable process to avoid corruption.
“Of course it could actually. ... But in order to do it, you need to be immensely serious. You need to plan. You need to have strategy.”at 24:27
Odd Lots: James Robinson on What It Looks Like When a State is Failing ·
Jesper Koll · Monex Group
Japan is the only industrialized economy able to run a coordinated industrial policy, with the state backing projects.
The US is good at tariff pressure but outside forcing investment and tech transfer it lacks coordinated industrial policy. Japan's program is a 14-year industrial restructuring plan worth 370 trillion yen, about 60% of GDP. It is structured as public-private partnerships where the government provides 10-15% of capital and private firms provide the rest. Private contributions are expected to be significant in the next budget, which he argues should ease fears of bond issuance.
“Japan is the only industrialized economy actually capable of running a proper industrial policy.”at 33:48
Top Traders Unplugged: GM108: Maybe Japan Is Finally Changing for Real ft. Jesper Koll ·
Jesper Koll · Monex Group
Japan dominates high-tech component supply such as speed reducers and photoresist, not consumer products.
Koll argues Japan's edge is in analog-world components rather than mass consumer products. He cites Japanese firms supplying about 75% of the speed reducers used in robots, about 75% of China's photoresist supply through two companies, and 47% of the components in a Boeing jet. He says Japan's industrial strength lies in the middle layer of the supply chain, which makes it hard for the West to replicate.
“Well, 75% of the speed reducers, right, that you actually use are supplied by Japanese companies. ... about 75% of the supply of photoresist is done by two Japanese corporations.”at 47:42
Top Traders Unplugged: GM108: Maybe Japan Is Finally Changing for Real ft. Jesper Koll ·
Doug Petno · JPMorganChase
Supply-chain resilience will need capital far beyond current levels, with JPMorgan's $1.5T ten-year target.
Petno calls the challenges of the security and resiliency effort enormous, citing the large amount of capital that needs to be raised. JPMorgan has a $1.5 trillion financing goal, which it expects to facilitate or originate over ten years, and it is partway through an original $10 billion equity pool. He says that equity number could be much greater, which signals he sees capital needs in this area as large and growing.
“the challenges that we're facing in SRI are enormous. The amount of capital that we need to raise, the obstacles in front of us,”at 7:36
J.P. Morgan Making Sense: One Year In: Advancing Economic Security and Resiliency ·
Doug Petno · JPMorganChase
Securing supply chains requires government at the table; public-private deals have been essential so far.
Petno says the challenges of raising capital, overcoming obstacles, and dealing with mercantilist competitors make government involvement necessary. He points to a series of public-private transactions designed to solve these problems. He argues that without government involvement, rare earth magnet supply would not have been created, and cites policy work on workforce development, shipbuilding and advanced manufacturing as central to outcomes.
“You're gonna need the government, full stop, to be at the table and part of the solution.”at 8:01
J.P. Morgan Making Sense: One Year In: Advancing Economic Security and Resiliency ·
Jeff Snider · Atlas Financial
Inventory built ahead of price rises risks a 2022-style bust, since expected demand is not there.
Snider says manufacturers and wholesalers are stockpiling to get ahead of price increases and expect to sell the goods soon. He compares this to 2021-22, when suppliers over-ordered on the belief that the boom would last. Demand did not keep up, and manufacturing then slumped for a long time. He sees the same risk now, because the inventory is premised on a resilient consumer that he thinks does not exist.
“Because all that inventory is intended to be sold into a resilient economy that doesn't actually exist.”at 15:40
Eurodollar University: Gas Stations Just Confirmed the Worst-Case Scenario for the Economy ·
Neil Howe · Hedgeye Risk Management
In crises the state takes ownership of industrial capital, as in WWII and the Civil War.
Howe argues that in a real crisis, gains and losses get socialized, and the state will take over productive assets. He cites the fact that by the end of World War II the federal government owned slightly more than half the capital of US manufacturing companies, funding plants that were run by private operators on cost-plus contracts. He also points to the Civil War, when the Union took over the railways and requisitioned munitions inputs. He treats the current government taking equity stakes in strategic companies as part of this pattern and expects more of it.
“One little known fact is that half the capital of all manufacturing companies by the end of World War II was owned by the federal government, actually slightly more than half.”at 1:00:19
Thoughtful Money: Surviving The Fourth Turning | Neil Howe ·
Colin McQueen · T. Rowe Price
Tangible-goods companies have a better, more durable growth path as capex on grids, defense and AI accelerates.
McQueen sees a long list of tangible spending needs after COVID: infrastructure, localised supply chains, energy transition, grid buildout, defense rearmament after the peace dividend reversed, and AI. Suppliers to that spending are having a much better time, with margins improving and order books at record highs. He thinks this is more durable than the consumer-goods demand that tends to drive the rest of the economy. Industrial and commodity-linked companies benefit most.
“So, yeah, I think it gives them a better, more durable growth path.”at 15:57
Excess Returns: We Asked T. Rowe Price's $17B International Manager Why Value is Winning Again — and What the S&P 500 Leaves Out ·
Shahin Vallée · German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP)
France is much less exposed than Germany to the Chinese export surge, since deindustrialisation has largely already happened.
French policy circles have pushed Germany to treat the second China shock as a real issue, and a Franco-German non-paper and a recent trade-commissioner deal with China show Europe is more willing to use trade defence tools. Economically, though, France is much less exposed than Germany. France has already largely deindustrialised and is mainly a service-based economy, while Germany's deindustrialisation is still under way. The speaker calls it a fight France has already lost in part, while noting autos, the centre of the current fight, is not a central concern for France.
“economically speaking I would say France is a lot less exposed than Germany is. To some extent de industrialization has occurred in France already, it is occurring now in Germany”at 45:26
Odd Lots: The French Political Crisis That's Turning Into a Debt Crisis ·
Maria Vassalou · Pictet Group
US and Europe were naive to let manufacturing drain away; US share of global output fell from 45% to 19%.
Vassalou calls US and European long-term economic policy naive for letting their countries deindustrialize. She cites the US share of global manufacturing, about 45% after World War II, which has fallen to about 19%, and says Europe is now trying to reindustrialize. This shift increases economic vulnerability. The focus has moved from economic efficiency to economic resilience, so the mix of services and manufacturing has to be rebalanced, and current technologies can help.
“So I think if I remember correctly, after the Second World War, US manufacturing accounted for about 45% of global manufacturing, and now it's down to 19%.”at 37:38
Masters in Business: Balancing Conviction and Risk: Masters in Business with Maria Vassalou ·
Maria Vassalou · Pictet Group
US needs to reindustrialize in key industries to be self-sufficient and keep innovating.
Maria argues the US should not produce t-shirts and plastic toys but should be self-sufficient in certain key industries such as solar cells, pharmaceuticals and equipment, at least in a pinch. Producing goods also feeds innovation, since production builds knowledge and creates a pool of labor that can move across subsectors and cross-pollinate. She says China is benefiting from this Silicon Valley-style flywheel while the US is missing out.
“I think The US needs to some extent, reindustrialize, not produce t shirts and plastic toys, but be self sufficient in certain key industries.”at 1:09:17
Masters in Business: Balancing Conviction and Risk: Masters in Business with Maria Vassalou ·
Jim Iuorio · TJM Institutional Services
Reshoring is beginning and manufacturing data look strong, a possible benefit of tariffs despite his free-trade stance.
Jim is a free trader and opposes tariffs. He says tariffs can still have positive downstream effects. If companies are truly reshoring to the US, that would be good for the domestic economy, and he says the beginnings are visible. He says manufacturing numbers are very strong right now, and he is not sure whether tariffs are the cause.
“And if people are really reshoring here, that could be a good thing for our domestic economy. And I actually... We're starting to see the beginnings of that.”at 57:54
Thoughtful Money: Markets Face A Double-Threat Today | Jim Iuorio ·
Dominik Leusder · London School of Economics
German manufacturing is in disorderly decline, with over a million jobs lost since 2021 amid Chinese competition and the energy crisis.
Germany's industrial heartland is undergoing what looks like a disorderly decline in industrial employment. China was once a positive demand source for German high-tech goods but has flipped to a competitor that has moved up the value chain, aided by large IP transfer from Germany. Germany has shut over a million manufacturing jobs since 2021, compounded by an energy crisis and appalling European energy policy. Even the chemical industry, where employment has fallen least, is masked by labor hoarding in a dysfunctional labor market, so the true shock is understated.
“Germany... is currently experiencing, I think it's fair to say, what looks like a disorderly decline in industrial employment... Germany alone has shut over a million jobs in the manufacturing sector since 2021.”at 40:34
Odd Lots: What Everyone Gets Wrong About the Economic Problems in Europe ·
Dominik Leusder · London School of Economics
German chemicals are most exposed to energy costs and Chinese competition, with flat employment masking the true shock through labor hoarding.
German chemicals, a crown jewel of the industrial sector, are the most exposed to both the energy crisis and Chinese trade. Chemical export trade values are sharply down in both Germany and China, while Chinese export volumes are sharply up and German volumes down. Chinese imports from Germany are sharply down. Flat employment only reflects labor hoarding due to a dysfunctional labor market, masking the real extent of the shock.
“trade volumes for chemical have been sharply up from China and, of course, down from Germany... it's sort of masking the extent of all of this.”at 43:40
Odd Lots: What Everyone Gets Wrong About the Economic Problems in Europe ·
Tom Maher · Hilton Capital Management
Mainstream US industrial demand is recovering, with the ISM rising and heavy-haul trucking loads picking up.
Maher says the ISM was under 50 for a long period and is starting to perk up. He sees this in companies that supply machinery and other equipment to industry. He also hears from truckers that unsided and heavy-haul loads are picking up, which he says usually signals an industrial economy beginning to build. He adds that reshoring and US manufacturing buildup, along with AI construction, must be executed domestically, and small and mid caps are where that work will be captured.
“unsided or heavy, haul loads are starting to pick up. Those are usually indicative of some industrial economy starting to build.”at 7:19
Excess Returns: Tom Maher on Small-Cap Investing, AI Infrastructure and Opportunities Beyond Big Tech ·
Tom Maher · Hilton Capital Management
US industrial activity is gradually reviving as firms reshore supply chains to build resilience.
Maher says his firm started seeing improvement toward the end of last year or the start of this year. Trucking companies in his portfolio report more oversize and heavy-haul freight, which moves industrial equipment, and he treats that as a sign of activity. He credits three shocks for pushing firms to become more resilient and less globalised: COVID, tariffs that snarled supply chains, and the war involving Iran, which disrupted fuels and other commodities. He thinks these shocks were a bigger motivation than policy. Full first-year depreciation helps but is not the main driver. The gains are gradual, with growth rates improving from modestly negative to positive, and not an eye-catching surge.
“What it is, sort of manifesting is is a gradual improvement in growth rates, some from minus... Modestly negative to positive, some from, you know, modestly positive to a little bit higher positive on on the scale.”at 1:03:14
Excess Returns: Tom Maher on Small-Cap Investing, AI Infrastructure and Opportunities Beyond Big Tech ·
2 older views on Manufacturing & industrial policy are on the episode pages, and all of them are a question away in your AI with Chorus.
Ask your AI about Manufacturing & industrial policy
Chorus gives Claude, ChatGPT and other assistants every view on Manufacturing & industrial policy from the market's podcasts. Ask who's worried, who isn't, who changed their mind, and why.
Chorus reports what speakers said. It isn't investment advice.