The Companies Changing Warfare Forever: Palantir & Anduril Execs on Drones, AI & the Future of War

Synopsis

Palantir's Shyam Sankar and Anduril's Trey Stevens make the case that America's defense crisis isn't a technology problem — it's a manufacturing and industrial base problem. The U.S. has shifted from a dual-purpose economy where companies like Chrysler built ICBMs and General Mills built torpedoes, to one where 86% of defense spending flows to pure-play specialists who can't scale fast enough when conflict demands it: Ukraine burned through 10 years of weapons production in 10 weeks of fighting, exposing that stockpiles never deterred adversaries — factories did. Both executives argue that software-defined, product-led companies like Anduril (building a 5-million-square-foot modular factory in Columbus, Ohio) represent the only viable path to closing gaps like a 10,000-to-1 drone production disadvantage against China. For any professional thinking about industrial policy, venture capital in hard tech, or where the next decade of consequential company-building is happening, this conversation reframes defense not as a niche sector but as the defining business and national security challenge of the moment.

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