# BONUS: Anduril Founder Palmer Luckey Talks Partnership With Qualcomm

An episode of [Bloomberg Tech](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1611767434), 28 Oct 2026, 15 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/15e00369-eef2-4085-a194-b00d01137fde/bf75c349-f958-43dc-8342-b4f0016c5438/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=9caafc41-289c-4115-995d-ae7c0030ab75

Anduril is partnering with Qualcomm on Blue Chip, an effort to rebuild an American computer supply chain and reduce reliance on overseas manufacturing. The first product is planned to be a laptop designed and assembled in the United States, with circuit-board assembly at Anduril’s Arsenal-1 facility in Ohio. In an interview with Bloomberg's Ed Ludlow, Anduril founder Palmer Luckey said the initiative grew from concerns that critical industries—including the military, hospitals and power plants—depend on computers made in China. He said Anduril first tried to persuade other companies to build computers domestically, but ultimately decided to invest itself. The goal, he said, is to make the computer in the United States, including its chips, glass, metals, batteries and plastics. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:02] Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios.
[0:04] Speaker 2: Podcasts. Radio.
[0:06] Speaker 1: News.
[0:07] Speaker 3: Defense tech startup Anduril is joining forces with chipmaker Qualcomm
[0:11] Speaker 3: on Blue Chip, an effort to rebuild an American computer
[0:15] Speaker 3: supply chain and reduce dependence on overseas manufacturing. The first
[0:19] Speaker 3: product will be a laptop designed, assembled in the U.S.
[0:23] Speaker 3: with circuit board assembly planned at Anduril's Arsenal One factory
[0:26] Speaker 3: in Ohio. Joining us now for an exclusive conversation, Anderil founder,
[0:31] Speaker 3: Palmer Lucky. This is something that you've talked about, the
[0:34] Speaker 3: problem you've talked about. But I think a good place
[0:36] Speaker 3: to start, Palmer, is why? Why Anderil's getting into computers?
[0:41] Speaker 1: Well, we're getting into computers because America invented the computer industry.
[0:45] Speaker 1: We perfected it and then we shipped it overseas. And
[0:48] Speaker 1: that might make sense from an economic perspective. But think
[0:50] Speaker 1: about the things that I'm working on. Think about the
[0:52] Speaker 1: things that the military is working on. Think about critical
[0:55] Speaker 1: industries like medical, hospitals, power plants. There's a lot of
[0:59] Speaker 1: people who are building stuff running on Chinese made computers.
[1:03] Speaker 1: And I think it's crazy to have an entire country
[1:05] Speaker 1: depend entirely on its largest strategic adversary for its most
[1:09] Speaker 1: critical economic powerhouses. And so The Android didn't actually set
[1:12] Speaker 1: out originally to build American computers because we wanted to.
[1:15] Speaker 2: We tried to get other people to do it.
[1:17] Speaker 1: We tried to get them to invest in this because
[1:19] Speaker 1: I can't be in the business of selling autonomous weapons
[1:22] Speaker 1: that are controlled by Chinese equipment. And we weren't able
[1:25] Speaker 1: to make it happen. So we decided this is something
[1:26] Speaker 1: that we were going to invest in. We're going to
[1:28] Speaker 1: bring silicon back to the valley. We're going to work
[1:30] Speaker 1: with the best companies in the United States to build
[1:32] Speaker 1: a computer that's not just designed here. Not just even
[1:37] Speaker 1: assembled here, but actually made in the United States. Everything
[1:39] Speaker 1: from the chips to the glass to the metals to
[1:42] Speaker 1: the batteries to the plastics.
[1:44] Speaker 2: Everything.
[1:46] Speaker 3: I have a lot of questions on the component level
[1:48] Speaker 3: and how this works with the supply chain. But you've
[1:51] Speaker 3: raised some interesting points, which is in the first instance,
[1:54] Speaker 3: who Blue Chip is actually for. Like this is a rug,
[1:57] Speaker 3: what we'd call a rugged computer, right? Directed at the military,
[2:01] Speaker 3: the public sector, first responders, emergency services, or your ambition
[2:06] Speaker 3: is broader than that.
[2:08] Speaker 2: Look, my ambition is broader.
[2:09] Speaker 1: Where we're starting is with these military applications, because those
[2:12] Speaker 1: are the most challenging requirements in terms of the heat requirements,
[2:15] Speaker 1: the shock requirements, the weatherproofing required, the security required. If
[2:20] Speaker 1: I can build a computer that meets the military's needs,
[2:24] Speaker 1: it's going to be more than enough to meet everyone
[2:25] Speaker 1: else's needs. And so I'd say right now we're focused
[2:28] Speaker 1: on government and then critical industry. So think about defense
[2:32] Speaker 1: companies that are handling classified data. energy companies that are
[2:36] Speaker 1: building grid-critical systems that need to really understand every piece
[2:41] Speaker 1: of hardware and not have back doors planted into their
[2:44] Speaker 1: machines by a foreign adversary. America has understood the importance
[2:49] Speaker 1: of domestic manufacturing in other areas for a very long time.
[2:52] Speaker 1: I was propagandized at a young age. My dad was
[2:54] Speaker 1: a car salesman selling Buick, Pontiac, GMC, and Hummer. And
[2:58] Speaker 1: if we didn't have American automotive, you can guess where
[3:01] Speaker 1: we would be in the automotive space.
[3:04] Speaker 2: Okay.
[3:04] Speaker 3: So there's the product, but in this first phase of
[3:07] Speaker 3: blue chip, you have to go about rebuilding a supply chain,
[3:10] Speaker 3: the displays, uh, you know, uh, Qualcomm is going to
[3:13] Speaker 3: come with the CPU, GPU and, and NPU. But, but
[3:17] Speaker 3: I mean, how do you do that?
[3:19] Speaker 2: Where do you start? It's really tough. We've been working
[3:23] Speaker 2: on this for years.
[3:24] Speaker 1: There's so many things where we've sent them overseas and
[3:27] Speaker 1: it's not just about the chips. Qualcomm has announced that
[3:29] Speaker 1: they're going to be making the chips in Arizona and
[3:34] Speaker 1: The thing is the chips aren't enough. One of the
[3:36] Speaker 1: problems with the US subsidies and investments in semiconductors is
[3:40] Speaker 1: at the end of the day, we don't have any
[3:41] Speaker 1: ability to package them and then turn them, transform them
[3:44] Speaker 1: into useful products. So from a certain point of view,
[3:47] Speaker 1: American semiconductor subsidies have really just been a subsidy of
[3:51] Speaker 1: Chinese made laptops, of Chinese made computers, because that's where
[3:54] Speaker 1: they go to actually get turned into products. We want
[3:56] Speaker 1: to make sure that America is capturing that entire value
[3:58] Speaker 1: chain here. And it's really tough. We're working with suppliers
[4:01] Speaker 1: who either have never been in the computer industry or
[4:05] Speaker 1: they haven't been in the computer industry for about 20
[4:07] Speaker 1: years now in the last U.S. plant shutdown after the
[4:10] Speaker 1: elite sold us out and sent everything overseas.
[4:13] Speaker 3: We are live on Bloomberg Television and on Bloomberg Radio
[4:17] Speaker 3: speaking to Parmalaki, the founder of Anduril, about Blue Chip,
[4:19] Speaker 3: which is an initiative to have a 100% U.S. manufactured computer,
[4:26] Speaker 3: a laptop, and I think future.
[4:27] Speaker 2: Products may come in the future. Starting with a laptop.
[4:29] Speaker 2: We'll get to the rest later.
[4:30] Speaker 3: Starting with a laptop. I mean, you know, the question
[4:32] Speaker 3: that you're raising is, is it realistic? Is it even
[4:35] Speaker 3: possible to reduce dependence on China 100% at the component
[4:41] Speaker 3: level and the raw materials level?
[4:44] Speaker 1: Look, I think that I have a more realistic view
[4:46] Speaker 1: than this than almost anybody. One of the problems with
[4:48] Speaker 1: all these analysts that are telling you that it's going
[4:51] Speaker 1: to cost $ 37, 000 to build an American iPhone or $ 100, 000
[4:54] Speaker 1: to buy an American computer. They're trying to prop up
[4:57] Speaker 1: a status quo that the mega corporations want to keep going.
[5:01] Speaker 1: They want to outsource everything. They want to hire cheaper,
[5:04] Speaker 1: non-American laborers. and they are willing to say and do
[5:08] Speaker 1: anything to convince you that it can't be fixed, that
[5:10] Speaker 1: it can't come back, that America is this helpless, neutered,
[5:14] Speaker 1: post-relevant empire, and it is just not the case.
[5:17] Speaker 2: How do I know that?
[5:18] Speaker 1: Because I have to make stuff in America every day,
[5:21] Speaker 1: because I work in the defense industry. The stuff that
[5:24] Speaker 1: Anduril makes every day is not actually that different from
[5:27] Speaker 1: a computer.
[5:27] Speaker 2: My drones are basically computers.
[5:30] Speaker 1: They have memory, a GPU, a CPU, sensors, batteries, a
[5:34] Speaker 1: rugged integration. The only difference between an Anduril attack drone
[5:39] Speaker 1: and a laptop is a keyboard and a screen.
[5:42] Speaker 2: And that is not.
[5:42] Speaker 1: That hard to figure out, especially for a guy like
[5:44] Speaker 1: me who started Oculus and comes from the consumer electronics space.
[5:48] Speaker 1: And so we're not going to let people lie about
[5:51] Speaker 1: what America can and can't do anymore.
[5:53] Speaker 3: We're just going to do it. And that was my question.
[5:57] Speaker 3: What is Anduril's advantage here in doing this? And I
[5:59] Speaker 3: think you've outlined it. You also said you tried.
[6:01] Speaker 1: One of the few companies that actually has had to
[6:03] Speaker 1: get good at this. Look, I'm personally sanctioned by the
[6:06] Speaker 1: Chinese Communist Party. I'm a separatist terrorist, according to them.
[6:09] Speaker 1: Anduril is sanctioned, too. So we've had to develop a.
[6:14] Speaker 1: We've had to develop a life independent of China in
[6:16] Speaker 1: a way that most American companies say they cannot, but
[6:21] Speaker 1: in reality just don't want to do.
[6:23] Speaker 2: And so we're the right company to be able to
[6:25] Speaker 2: do this.
[6:25] Speaker 1: And I think that our experience over the last 10 years,
[6:29] Speaker 1: learning how to build these advanced systems without a reliance
[6:33] Speaker 1: on our foreign adversaries, that's why I'm so confident that
[6:37] Speaker 1: this is going to be, maybe not a piece of cake,
[6:39] Speaker 1: but there's a reason I know this is doable.
[6:43] Speaker 3: A question I got for you from the analysts, for
[6:45] Speaker 3: what it's worth, is who are you going to convince
[6:47] Speaker 3: to manufacture displays in the US?
[6:51] Speaker 2: That is a great question.
[6:53] Speaker 1: The official answer is that we're going to have more
[6:55] Speaker 1: to announce in 2027. I'm hoping that we have something
[6:58] Speaker 1: to say at CES, but to tell you a little
[7:00] Speaker 1: bit more, we're talking with multiple vendors right now, and
[7:03] Speaker 1: we've got a plan with multiple vendors to solve that
[7:06] Speaker 1: specific problem.
[7:07] Speaker 2: So I'm not ignoring it.
[7:08] Speaker 1: Right now, the display is made in another country in
[7:12] Speaker 1: these prototypes we've been showing. The glass on it is
[7:14] Speaker 1: made in an American company. Much of the assembly of
[7:17] Speaker 1: the display is made in the United States. but the
[7:20] Speaker 1: actual panel itself currently is made in another country. We're
[7:24] Speaker 1: about 90% US and allies right now, but we have
[7:27] Speaker 1: a clear technical roadmap to 100% US. I can't tell
[7:31] Speaker 1: you just who it is just yet, honestly, because we're
[7:34] Speaker 1: still negotiating it.
[7:36] Speaker 3: I want to shift gears slightly. I haven't actually caught
[7:39] Speaker 3: up with you this year, which is unbelievable, but our
[7:42] Speaker 3: colleagues at Bloomberg Intelligence, which is our in-house research, launched
[7:46] Speaker 3: coverage of Anduril back in August.
[7:48] Speaker 2: And they're very.
[7:50] Speaker 3: closely following the balance between your software business, Lattice, and
[7:55] Speaker 3: a manufacturing ramp that's happening in Ohio. And I think
[7:58] Speaker 3: that it would be really useful to hear how you're
[8:01] Speaker 3: balancing that, those two programs, how they're integrated.
[8:04] Speaker 1: Well, look, at its core, Anduril is an AI company.
[8:08] Speaker 1: Our name, Anduril Industries, the acronym is AI for a reason.
[8:11] Speaker 1: But we started 10 years ago when AI wasn't cool,
[8:14] Speaker 1: when no one was paying attention to it. We've got
[8:16] Speaker 1: more people working on software in Anduril than in all
[8:19] Speaker 1: our hardware products combined. Lattice is the AI brain that
[8:22] Speaker 1: makes all of our fighter jets and submarines and missiles
[8:25] Speaker 1: and everything go. And we're applying that software expertise to
[8:28] Speaker 1: this as well. So we have to build a laptop
[8:30] Speaker 1: that's not just running Microsoft Office or a web browser
[8:34] Speaker 1: to check your Gmail. We have to work with a
[8:36] Speaker 1: lot of legacy government applications that were designed in the 2000s,
[8:40] Speaker 1: the 90s, even the 80s. We need to be compatible
[8:42] Speaker 1: with a lot of things that most consumer laptops never
[8:44] Speaker 1: even need to think about. We need drivers to be
[8:46] Speaker 1: able to interface with legacy systems that similarly, hardware systems
[8:50] Speaker 1: that have been around for a decade. That takes a
[8:52] Speaker 1: lot of software work. And so, again, Anduril is in
[8:55] Speaker 1: a bit of a different place than most other companies
[8:57] Speaker 1: where we're not just a hardware manufacturer. We are a very,
[9:01] Speaker 1: very competent software developer as well.
[9:03] Speaker 2: And we're doing things that nobody else is doing.
[9:06] Speaker 3: This is also the first opportunity I've had to ask
[9:08] Speaker 3: you about Project Meridian. You, Elon Musk, Newt Grinch leading
[9:12] Speaker 3: that project. I know this might sound like an odd
[9:14] Speaker 3: starting question, but what are those meetings actually like? Like
[9:18] Speaker 3: when you guys get together, what are the problems that
[9:21] Speaker 3: you debate with each other?
[9:24] Speaker 2: Well, a few things. One, there's actually about 20 people
[9:26] Speaker 2: that are on Project Meridian. You're right.
[9:27] Speaker 1: We're the three chairs of the steering committee. Look, we're
[9:33] Speaker 1: just getting started, right? It's a 120-day project. I think
[9:36] Speaker 1: that it's still starting to come together. The whole project's
[9:38] Speaker 1: being run by the MITRE Corporation, and they've done a
[9:41] Speaker 1: lot of analysis of this type of thing before. Uh,
[9:44] Speaker 1: what I've seen is that everyone is bringing a very different,
[9:47] Speaker 1: unique perspective. Uh, like I, I think it's a matter
[9:50] Speaker 1: of public record, so hopefully I'm not getting into trouble here,
[9:52] Speaker 1: but like Rick Smith, CEO, founder of Axon is one
[9:55] Speaker 1: of the other people there. And he's bringing a really
[9:57] Speaker 1: unique perspective on things that can reduce collateral damage, reduce
[10:01] Speaker 1: impact on civilian lives in warfare. You have other people
[10:04] Speaker 1: who are coming from the computing industry, other people who
[10:06] Speaker 1: are coming from the automotive industry. It's a lot of
[10:08] Speaker 1: different perspectives. And again, we need to wait until this
[10:12] Speaker 1: thing gets further along. But at least my personal opinion
[10:14] Speaker 1: is I'm hoping that the report reflects the diversity of
[10:19] Speaker 1: different perspectives that people are bringing to the table. I
[10:22] Speaker 1: don't want this to just be a think tank report
[10:24] Speaker 1: that says the same five things that everyone's known for
[10:27] Speaker 1: 10 years. Look, we all know what the threat is
[10:29] Speaker 1: in the Pacific. We all know what the threat is
[10:31] Speaker 1: in the bio and the chem side. I would really
[10:33] Speaker 1: like this to focus on the things that otherwise might
[10:36] Speaker 1: not get attention, including things that might not get my attention.
[10:40] Speaker 3: We're live on Bloomberg Television and Radio. We're speaking to
[10:42] Speaker 3: Palmer Luckey. I just asked about Project Meridian. I mean,
[10:45] Speaker 3: the report's due in January, right? And I get that
[10:47] Speaker 3: that's going to publish. You have to wait for that.
[10:49] Speaker 3: But that was really interesting. Rather than just a think tank,
[10:52] Speaker 3: I think people are asking, have you found evidence that
[10:55] Speaker 3: there are things the Pentagon can do differently, should do differently,
[11:00] Speaker 3: and how it conducts itself? Yeah.
[11:03] Speaker 2: I think they can, but I don't think that's really
[11:05] Speaker 2: what this is about.
[11:06] Speaker 1: I think there's been a lot of talk about how
[11:08] Speaker 1: this is– about how the Pentagon operates.
[11:10] Speaker 2: The reality is, I mean, you can go watch the announcement.
[11:13] Speaker 1: It's about what the future of warfare looks like, particularly
[11:15] Speaker 1: think about 2040, 2050, the things where you don't necessarily
[11:19] Speaker 1: have a daily impetus to– really spend your time thinking
[11:24] Speaker 1: about what it might look like and what steps you
[11:25] Speaker 1: might take today if you're building towards that future. The
[11:29] Speaker 1: things the Pentagon can change in terms of faster procurement,
[11:31] Speaker 1: in terms of more lean development cycles, or things that
[11:34] Speaker 1: I think everyone's learning from Ukraine, like the ability to
[11:37] Speaker 1: very rapidly procure the things that work and then critically
[11:40] Speaker 1: stop buying things when they're no longer working. That's maybe
[11:43] Speaker 1: the most important thing we've seen out of Ukraine, giving
[11:45] Speaker 1: units the decision to buy or stop buying things when
[11:49] Speaker 1: they're no longer relevant, no longer working. Yes. I mean,
[11:52] Speaker 1: that's a that's a really, really powerful development. But I
[11:55] Speaker 1: think everyone knows that we need to do it. But
[11:58] Speaker 1: it's the difference between knowing that you're fat and losing weight.
[12:02] Speaker 1: You can know what you need to do, but sometimes
[12:03] Speaker 1: you got to eat, eat less and move more. But
[12:06] Speaker 1: it's so painful that it takes time sometimes to make
[12:09] Speaker 1: it happen.
[12:09] Speaker 2: And I think that's the problem of the deity. They
[12:11] Speaker 2: all know what the problems are.
[12:13] Speaker 1: And it's really painful to actually go about solving it.
[12:18] Speaker 3: Palmer, we have two minutes here, which regrettably, but we're
[12:21] Speaker 3: seven days from the midterms and think a lot of
[12:23] Speaker 3: people look at, OK, if we get a blue wave,
[12:25] Speaker 3: does that have a material impact on defense spending? Actually,
[12:28] Speaker 3: lots of people see a tighter defense spending budget being
[12:31] Speaker 3: good for like Anderil, nimble solutions, cost effective solutions. But
[12:36] Speaker 3: just how are you preparing for that?
[12:39] Speaker 1: Look, I've seen these arguments, this idea that when belts tighten,
[12:42] Speaker 1: the more.
[12:43] Speaker 2: Efficient companies are going to do better.
[12:44] Speaker 1: When you have to decide which things to preserve and
[12:47] Speaker 1: which things not to preserve, the things that are most
[12:49] Speaker 1: relevant are probably going to win. I think that even
[12:54] Speaker 1: with a blue wave, you're not necessarily– I'm going to see.
[12:57] Speaker 2: A huge change in defense spending. Look, I could be wrong.
[13:00] Speaker 2: I'm not a politician. I'm an engineer.
[13:02] Speaker 1: So you're asking me to speculate outside of my area
[13:04] Speaker 1: of expertise. But a lot of the Democrats– like I
[13:07] Speaker 1: talk to Republicans and Democrats. The Democrats who are in
[13:10] Speaker 1: control of the budget, Democrats who are in control of
[13:13] Speaker 1: the defense budget.
[13:14] Speaker 2: They understand that we're in a really unique period in time.
[13:17] Speaker 1: They understand– that the world that we're in does need
[13:20] Speaker 1: investment to replace some of these legacy systems and that
[13:23] Speaker 1: we're facing a very near-term threat. And this is not
[13:25] Speaker 1: just the U.S. that's recognizing this. I mean, Japan is
[13:28] Speaker 1: now talking about how they need to engage with no
[13:31] Speaker 1: taboos with the idea that they can amend their constitution
[13:35] Speaker 1: so that Japan is able to host nuclear weapons. I mean...
[13:38] Speaker 1: We are living in a world where everything is on
[13:40] Speaker 1: the table. And so, look, the defense budget will go up.
[13:44] Speaker 2: It'll go down. It'll go up. It'll go down.
[13:47] Speaker 1: As of right now, I think most people on the
[13:49] Speaker 1: red and the blue side agree that America needs to
[13:53] Speaker 1: be investing in new technology. And I think I'm going
[13:57] Speaker 1: to be fine no matter what happens.
[13:59] Speaker 3: I just remind us very quickly for blue chip, the
[14:02] Speaker 3: first shipments next year.
[14:05] Speaker 1: That's right. So we're going to be going into production
[14:08] Speaker 1: next year. We're going to have more to announce next year.
[14:10] Speaker 1: I don't have information on the exact pricing, the exact timelines.
[14:15] Speaker 1: If you've been paying attention, if you've been paying any
[14:17] Speaker 1: attention at all, you'll know this is maybe the hardest
[14:19] Speaker 1: time in history to predict the pricing and delivery timelines
[14:23] Speaker 1: of computer chips because of this AI boom. Right. It's
[14:27] Speaker 1: not that I don't want to tell you the date.
[14:28] Speaker 1: It's that I can't give a date or an exact
[14:31] Speaker 1: price that I'm confident that I'm going to be able
[14:34] Speaker 1: to hit when I'm delivering next year. And so we'll
[14:36] Speaker 1: have more to say next year. We're going to be
[14:37] Speaker 1: in production next year. We're already actually in early prototype
[14:40] Speaker 1: production right now. And we're going to be building these
[14:43] Speaker 1: at Arsenal One and in a variety of other places
[14:46] Speaker 1: with about two dozen other American companies and getting them
[14:49] Speaker 1: out to you.

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