Bloomberg Businessweek Weekend - June 19th, 2026

Summary

Bloomberg Businessweek Weekend – June 19th, 2026

Hosts: Carol Massar & Tim Stenovec | Date: June 19, 2026

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Episode Overview

This Bloomberg Businessweek Weekend episode dives deep into three interlinked macro themes shaping global markets:

1. The record-breaking SpaceX IPO and the AI-driven IPO boom
2. America's urgent race to secure critical minerals (silver, antimony, etc.)
3. The “golden age” of U.S. commercial and industrial construction fueled by these developments

Featuring insights from capital markets executives, mining CEOs, and industry analysts, the episode explores how money, technology, and resources are converging to reshape the post-pandemic economy.

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1. SpaceX’s Historic IPO and the Coming AI IPO Wave

[02:43–14:13]

Key Discussion Points

• SpaceX’s Public Debut

  • Largest IPO on record, catapults SpaceX into the top ranks of public companies
  • Lead-underwritten by a syndicate of major banks, led by JPMorgan Chase

• Capital Market Dynamics:

  • Ongoing euphoria in the IPO market, seen as fundamentally driven versus the more speculative 2021 environment
  • Market is looking “three to five years out,” focusing on transformative potential in space, AI, and new industrial sectors

• AI as a Market Driver:

  • AI is central to current market narratives, influencing not just tech, but industrial firms, energy, and infrastructure
  • Anticipation for next blockbuster AI IPOs (Anthropic, OpenAI)

• Broader IPO Window:

  • Despite the attention on mega-IPOs, new issuance is increasing across healthcare, biotech, industrials, and energy
  • Stronger emphasis on proof points and fundamentals over hype

Notable Quotes & Moments

• "For somebody in the ECM world, what a time to be alive... This is the reindustrialization of America."
  — David Bauer, JPMorgan Chase ECM Head [04:53]

• On AI’s Role:

  • "When I look at it... your TAM is either infinite because you have AI behind it, or it's zero because your software."
    — Tim Stenovec, Bloomberg [06:41]

• On Valuations:

  • "We're not terribly stretched... in 2021, software valuations were hitting new records; we're not seeing that writ large now."
    — David Bauer [10:53]

• Advice for Sponsor-backed Firms:

  • "It's a good time to... get the puck on the ice. Proof points in the public market are worth even more than in the private market."
    — David Bauer [07:03]

Key Timestamps

• [02:43] SpaceX IPO and significance
• [04:53] David Bauer discusses generational change and investment themes
• [07:03] Broader IPO activity and AI’s impact
• [10:53] IPO market fundamentals vs. 2021 cycle
• [13:41] Private equity IPO opportunities for the second half of the year

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2. The Race for Critical Minerals: Domestic Resource Security

[17:03–33:01]

Key Discussion Points

• U.S. Government Initiatives:

  • New multi-million-dollar defense grants and the $12B Project Vault initiative underscore urgency
  • Western countries racing to reduce reliance on China for critical minerals

• Industry Voices:

  • Paul Andre Hewitt, CEO, America’s Gold and Silver Corporation
  • Gary Evans, CEO, United States Antimony Corporation

• Supply Chain Developments:

  • JV between America’s Gold & Silver and US Antimony to build a state-of-the-art antimony plant in Idaho
  • U.S. Antimony’s new smelter in Montana, heavily funded by Pentagon grants

• Domestic vs. Foreign Competition:

  • China’s transition from exporter to importer of antimony, with their own supply now depleted
  • U.S.-made branding and supply is increasingly valued, especially for defense and high-tech

• Challenges:

  • Federal grant disbursements are slow due to government bureaucracy, despite high-level prioritization
  • Environmental opposition at the local/community level varies by state

Notable Quotes & Moments

• "We want to have a fully domesticated line of antimony production here in the very near future – that will last decades to come."
  — Paul Andre Hewitt [17:45]

• "As the only antimony supplier to the US government... we are delivering now with a $240M contract. Our year-end revenues will be a hockey stick."
  — Gary Evans [19:16]

• On Government Bureaucracy:

  • "We’re waiting six months to a year for a grant that we've applied for... The whole purpose of these grants is to speed things up."
    — Gary Evans [25:50]

• On Environmental Misconceptions:

  • "We're completely a new animal today. We reclaim land, sometimes the same month that we dig it up."
    — Gary Evans [27:06]

• Antimony's Use Case:

  • "One of the biggest uses for antimony is fire retardant... If you don't have antimony for it, it's the biggest use."
    — Paul Andre Hewitt [32:10 approx.]

Key Timestamps

• [17:19] Pentagon’s Project Vault, resource vulnerabilities
• [17:34] JV update and Idaho plant progress
• [19:06] Montana smelter, government contracts
• [20:33] Ongoing government focus and behind-the-scenes work
• [23:48] Scale of government grant requests and lengthy wait-times
• [26:27] Local environmental and community challenges
• [28:54] 50% of U.S. demand for antimony soon to be domestically supplied
• [29:18] China becomes a net importer of antimony
• [30:23] Policy is broadly bipartisan; Trump administration accelerated investment
• [31:09] U.S. Strategic reserves now at WWII lows

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3. The Golden Age of US Construction: Reindustrialization in Action

[36:01–47:30]

Key Discussion Points

• Unprecedented Capex Boom:

  • Money raised in tech/IPOs and critical minerals is flowing into massive physical projects: data centers, airports, pipelines, utilities

• Why “Golden Age”?:

  • U.S. has not built on this scale for 40 years; now, the pendulum is swinging back from globalization
  • Construction boom goes beyond tech: airports, utilities, and new towns/cities springing up around new megaprojects

• Job & Economic Impacts:

  • Mega-data center construction often provides decade-long employment cycles; smaller centers also sustain jobs in major cities and tertiary markets
  • Difference from prior boom/bust cycles — this one appears more diversified and regionally spread

• Energy & Power Grid:

  • Data centers are straining existing grid capacity; some must build their own dedicated generation (sometimes even supporting local communities)
  • Policy and regulatory battles looming over who pays for grid expansions

• Investment Opportunities:

  • Demand for “old economy” basics like crushed rock, concrete, and steel (companies: Martin Marietta, Vulcan, CRH, Construction Partners, Suncrete Rmix)
  • Many industry leaders remain private, underpinning decades-long family or employee ownership

Notable Quotes & Moments

• "The US hasn't built in 40 years. We are in the golden era of US construction."
  — Katherine Thompson, CEO, Thompson Research Group [37:02]

• On Economic Impact:

  • "For the 'meta data' center site in north Louisiana, prep site is 1 mile by 5 miles... It's creating cities that didn't even exist before."
    — Katherine Thompson [37:40]

• On Power:

  • "There will be a policy push to create power... in many cases, the data center is generating the power itself. It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when."
    — Katherine Thompson [42:02]

• On Old Economy Opportunities:

  • "The most basic material used in any construction could be a nuclear plant, data center, or highway is... crushed rock.”
    — Katherine Thompson [44:09]

• Political Support:

  • "Infrastructure funding right now has more visibility than I've had in my entire career... It's not divisive politically — both Democrats and Republicans want it."
    — Katherine Thompson [46:33]

Key Timestamps

• [36:28] Physical reindustrialization as the “endgame” for capital and materials
• [37:02] Construction boom explained
• [38:33] Data center buildouts: jobs and long tail
• [41:24] Lawmakers, costs, and power grid challenges
• [44:09] Investment basics: rock, concrete, steel
• [45:54] Private, family-owned construction companies
• [46:33] Political consensus around infrastructure funding

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Memorable Moments

• "If you think about the industrial revolution, steel powered it. Silver is going to be the power revolution for AI."
  — Paul Andre Hewitt [21:52]
• "China is now an importer [of antimony]... Nothing comes back. They're using it themselves."
  — Gary Evans [29:18]
• "We're not becoming just a nation of data centers, but it will end up getting regionalized."
  — Katherine Thompson [40:46]

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Takeaways

• Tech, industry, and resources are merging in a new phase of the U.S. and global economy, with ripple effects on capital markets, supply chains, and infrastructure.
• The SpaceX IPO signals not just investor optimism, but a shift towards fundamental, long-term theses — with AI and physical industry finally converging.
• Critical mineral independence and supply chain security have moved from talking points to urgent, government-backed priorities, though hampered by bureaucracy and local resistance.
• America’s “golden age” of construction is not just about tech, but a generational rebuilding of physical infrastructure, providing profound investment and employment opportunities in both high-tech and “old economy” sectors.

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Tune in for comprehensive reporting on these macro shifts, driven by the voices shaping the future of money, power, and technology.

Transcript

[Narrator/Voiceover]

What if data didn't sit still? What if intelligence moved with us, not buried in reports but activated in real time? Where lives are being shaped, where decisions are being made. It all starts with a Where is the potential? Totality turns data into clarity, intelligence into insight, insight into action. Because when intelligence moves, we all move forward. Intelligence Beyond Bounds the thing about AI

[IBM Representative]

for business, it may not automatically fit the way your business works. At IBM, we've seen this firsthand. But by embedding AI across hr, IT and procurement processes, we've reduced costs by millions, slashed repetitive tasks, and freed thousands of hours for strategic work. Now we're helping companies get smarter by putting AI where it actually pays off, deep in the work that moves the business. Let's create smarter business.

[Public Investing Representative]

IBM when you're running a business, the best days are the ones where priorities stay on track. For midsize and large companies, risk can affect multiple parts of the organization at once, from property and liability to cyber and regulatory challenges. At that level, managing risk becomes an ongoing discipline. At the Hartford, the focus is on helping businesses manage risk before it turns into something more disruptive. And when losses do happen, that work is paired with insurance coverage here shaped by years of underwriting, risk engineering and claims experience. Learn more@the Hartford.com riskmitigation policies provided by Hartford Fire Insurance Company and its property and casualty affiliates. Hartford, Connecticut

[Bloomberg Host]

Bloomberg Audio Studios Podcasts Radio

[Bloomberg Host (Carol Massar or Tim Stenovec)]

News this is Bloomberg BusinessWeek daily reporting from the magazine that helps global leaders stay ahead. We with insight on the people, companies and trends shaping today's complex economy. Plus global business, finance and tech news as it happens. The Bloomberg Business Week Daily Podcast with Carol Massar and Tim Stanvak on Bloomberg Radio hi everyone.

[Bloomberg Host]

Welcome to the Bloomberg businessweek Weekend Podcast. A lot came at investors in a shortened trading week because of Friday's Juneteenth market holiday week. We had the first FOMC meeting presided over by new Fed Chair Kevin Warsh. The latest actions between the US and Iran in ending that war, which brought enthusiasm back into the markets. And Speaking of that, SpaceX continued to capture a lot of attention on Wall street and in the overall narrative. For the latest, head on over to bloomberg.com or to the Bloomberg Terminal.

[Bloomberg Host (Carol Massar or Tim Stenovec)]

Speaking of SpaceX, the historic milestone on Wall street that just might reshape the entire late stage private ecosystem. We dive into the massive SpaceX public debut, the largest IPO on record which is still sending shockwaves through tech and capital markets and has us all eyeing the next big AI ipo. Could it be anthropic could it be OpenAI could be. That's the question. It's also one of the macro themes, new companies, AI and IPOs that we're focusing on this hour.

[Bloomberg Host]

Yeah, and another major macro theme, the race to secure critical minerals and build up their supply chains. It's all in keeping with countries protecting their national interests. Those critical minerals, by the way, also important to AI and SpaceX overall. For more on silver, antimony and kind of the whole industry and what's going on, we checked in with the CEOs of two publicly held mining companies.

[Bloomberg Host (Carol Massar or Tim Stenovec)]

And our third theme this hour that's on our radar, the push to build, manufacture and physically rebuild America's industrial base from the ground up with the CEO over at Thompson Research Group. She shares why we are in what she calls, quote, the golden age of commercial construction.

[Bloomberg Host]

All of that to come. We begin with the company that's captured our imagination for a long time, first as a private company and now as one that just went public in the largest IPO ever one week ago. It's one for the history books and one that launched SpaceX into the ranks of the world's most valuable publicly held companies and this week overtook some of its Mag7 colleagues when it came to market cap.

[Bloomberg Host (Carol Massar or Tim Stenovec)]

The offering syndicate for the IPO included several lead underwriters, including JPMorgan Chase. The list, to be fair, reads like a who's who of Wall Street's biggest and best known banks. For an inside look at how this all played out, we caught up with David Bauer, head of Equity Capital Markets America's over at JPMorgan Chase also. Bailey Lipschultz, Bloomberg News IPO reporter, SpaceX, of course, the largest IPO ever. I'm just curious from your view, how you think market participants right now, Dave, should be looking at this in the context, not just of other potential IPOs in the future, but really in the context of everything we're seeing out there right now. The talk of people taking money from other assets, selling that, getting into space. X just your view?

[David Bauer (JPMorgan Chase ECM Head)]

I mean, first of all, for somebody in the ECM world, what a time to be alive. Like these are. These are great times for the markets. And I think unlike other cycles we've seen where IPO issuance has been extremely active. You have a real catalyst forming investment thesis behind this. This is the re industrialization of America. We're creating new ecosystems, new economies. I mean, you think about what space could become, what AI could come. These are, these are investment theses that many people haven't been able to invest behind before. And so I think seeing that this euphoria in the IPO market is warranted and appropriate, what's the signal to the

[Bloomberg Host]

market and market participants specifically?

[David Bauer (JPMorgan Chase ECM Head)]

I think right now you're seeing that the IPO worked. So I think it's all, it's all systems go to make a pun intended for SpaceX. But I think if there was any hesitancy of should I continue to buy up 20%, I think the answer is yes. And if you look long enough, there's a, you know, this is a business that could be generationally transformational.

[Tim Stenovec (Bloomberg Reporter)]

But thinking about the generational transformation, Dave, when I look at the pipeline or the kind of group of companies that could be coming public, they don't look like SpaceX. When you're meeting with people, maybe your former employer KKR, talking about something in their portfolio, a number of other private equity firms, what are they looking at? Obviously this is a big one for IPO buyers, but does that translate to someone who owns say software companies or, or other companies in other industries?

[David Bauer (JPMorgan Chase ECM Head)]

Look, the, the mega IPOs are getting the headlines right now, but there's been a very active and very accommodative equity market in general throughout this year. And putting SpaceX aside, new issuance volumes are up almost 2x this time from last year. And the vast preponderance of that has been other sectors. And we've seen health care coming back, we've seen biotech issuance coming, we're seeing industrial energy. So the markets are working at.

[Tim Stenovec (Bloomberg Reporter)]

But aren't all those themes still off of AI in some capacity? If the bottleneck is power, and I'm a power company, then I at least have an AI pitch because when I look at it or talk to folks, it's kind of like your TAM is either infinite because you have AI behind it, or it's zero because your software. And the worry is that your kind of total market could be at risk. How do you think about kind of other industries and how that fits into that?

[David Bauer (JPMorgan Chase ECM Head)]

Yeah, look, I don't think the market is shut out for certain issuers. I think it does come down to price and having the right starting point in the public markets. And I think there is a bid for those other businesses. You know, you mentioned sponsor backed businesses. It's a good time to, you know what I would say? Get the puck on the ice. Start it. And you know, we always say we're advising our clients and our issuers. Proof points in the public market are worth even more than in the private market. And so getting out there starting it and you can see how, you know, your valuation can expand as you perform. You can get your share price to a level that you might be more interested in selling at. But getting, you know, getting started can be helpful.

[Bloomberg Host (Carol Massar or Tim Stenovec)]

What is it about this moment right now, Dave, that is compelling so many of these companies not just to go public, but also to look into going public. And I am going back to sort of the companies that when they do go public will become mega cap companies.

[Bloomberg Host]

And just to tag on to what Tim's saying, opportunistic or fundamentally based on,

[David Bauer (JPMorgan Chase ECM Head)]

I think, I think this is a more fundamental base market and you look back to 2021, which felt a little bit more technical, like rates were zero and so therefore equities were attractive and yet a very different dynamic that drove that. I think this is much more of a fundamental. I think the market is looking at what the next three to five years could be and potentially looking past some of the near term volatility. And it's not saying they're ignoring downside risk, but I think saying there are certain businesses right now that are very much worth investing in. There's a whole slate of new issuance that is different than the portfolio I've had in the past and I'm going to take that opportunity to invest in it.

[Bloomberg Host]

I am thinking though about those mega IPOs, be it Anthropic or OpenAI. Should we make any assumptions about their market reception just because of what happened with SpaceX?

[David Bauer (JPMorgan Chase ECM Head)]

I think SpaceX is an end of one of itself from the fact that no one else is doing space at this scale, at this velocity.

[Bloomberg Host]

But it's an AI play.

[David Bauer (JPMorgan Chase ECM Head)]

But it is an AI play. But where I was going with that is I do think, I mean, this bodes if you're anthropic and open AI, you're, you're applauding that this type of market reception happened and you know, the size of the deal getting done, having a trade as well as it did, to me that that gives you more confidence that the next wave could get done in a very positive way.

[Tim Stenovec (Bloomberg Reporter)]

Well, when we look at what the next few months can look like, back to the broadening out, is AI still the flavor of the day? If we look at some of the reports that are out there in SK Hynix or other large companies in the AI space looking to tap the market like Carol was mentioning because of these tailwinds and kind of what does that mean for this July, this August class?

[David Bauer (JPMorgan Chase ECM Head)]

Yeah, look, I think we're going to have A very active summer, even, even the space X period of time, you know, a lot of people thought coming in we'd have a dearth of issuance and you'd have a real quiet period. We did $10 billion of equity capital outside of SpaceX last week. And so, you know, the market was still working. There were still a ton of deals getting done. I think this CapEx cycle, to your point of AI, people still want to invest on it, and that's across equity, debt, all the facets of capital here. And so the public markets are helping that, but it's also the private capital markets as well. We're seeing capital formation in almost every corner of the capital markets.

[Tim Stenovec (Bloomberg Reporter)]

You oversee ecm. I come back to the point that Google Alphabet, however you want to call them, raised close to $90 billion across a suite of products. Is that something we should expect from all these hyperscalers who need capital to attack the equity market? And is there any risk that that gets oversaturated?

[David Bauer (JPMorgan Chase ECM Head)]

I think the speed at which Google is able to raise in the public markets shows the depth and the capacity for the capital markets. And I think as long as companies are showing an ROI and a good use of proceeds to raise that equity capital, the markets will be there for them.

[Bloomberg Host]

How do we know when it becomes uncomfortable, Crazy, exuberant, frothy, frothy.

[Tim Stenovec (Bloomberg Reporter)]

Well, think back to 20 and 21. It's easy now to say that these were companies that were advantageous. But in the moment, did it feel that way?

[David Bauer (JPMorgan Chase ECM Head)]

I go back to when you look at fundamentals and you look at valuations, we're not terribly stretched and we're not at a, you know, a new point in time. And you go back and you look at, you know, for example, software valuations in 2021, those were hitting new highs and they were hitting kind of new records of where the market was trading that we, we're not seeing that writ large in the public market.

[Bloomberg Host]

SpaceX isn't profitable.

[Bloomberg Host (Carol Massar or Tim Stenovec)]

No, it's not, but it's. And it's being valued on a sales multiple for 20, 25 sales and that. And I think that some people have come and sat here and said, you know, it's starting to feel like, you know, when we're valuing IPOs on sales multiples, it started to feel a little bit like the dot com boom. Why is this time different?

[David Bauer (JPMorgan Chase ECM Head)]

Well, one, I think, I think that's unique. One, Space X, I think is its own animal. And I think when you're thinking about the space economy, you have to look at that in a very different way. I don't think you're seeing the rest of the market being valued aggressively on a sales multiple or other metrics where people are trying to extend and get comfortable with it. I think these are based more in fundamentals. It's based on growth right now and people are seeing where the capital being laid today has a return in the future. And I think you can pull that forward and that's what's going on.

[Bloomberg Host]

But the circular financing doesn't worry you guys? What are the, what's the. We have this conversation a lot. Are we stupid to have that conversation about a company that seems to buy from another part of its product properties or invests in a chip maker because they need to like, you know what I'm saying? What's the conversation you guys have about that circular financing?

[David Bauer (JPMorgan Chase ECM Head)]

The, the, what keeps me sleeping well at night about this is the fact that we're having the conversation. And I think if, if people are acknowledging it, we're talking about it, you're dissecting it, you're diligencing it. I think this cycle has room to continue and, and to grow. I think it's the unknown risks, not less. The, the known risks that I think, you know, could, could derail the cycle.

[Tim Stenovec (Bloomberg Reporter)]

And when we look at this market, is there a risk? And kind of just thinking about the difference between a hyperscaler who is historically been the best cash flow cows in the history of mankind, they can at least turn off spending. How do you think about companies that are spending and need to spend but don't have hundreds of billions of dollars annually or biannually in terms of free cash flow?

[David Bauer (JPMorgan Chase ECM Head)]

Yeah, look, I think you have to look at the, the fundamentals of the contracts, what is contracted from the demand build that they have today and get comfortable that what they're investing in right now has the right economics to yield a return in three or five years. And I think you're right, they might not have the free cash flow spigot today, but you look at what is contracted and what could be come to fruition in a high quality way in the next two to three years, you can bridge to that free cash flow.

[Bloomberg Host]

We got 30 seconds left here. You've been covering this market. What do you want to ask Dave?

[Tim Stenovec (Bloomberg Reporter)]

Do we see more private equity IPOs in the second half or is that still an area broadly speaking, that session go?

[David Bauer (JPMorgan Chase ECM Head)]

I think definitively yes. I think the market would be accommodative for that. And our backlog suggests that we will have a number of those in the

[Tim Stenovec (Bloomberg Reporter)]

second half in about 10 seconds. How much does debt leverage or how much does leverage ratios matter for those companies?

[David Bauer (JPMorgan Chase ECM Head)]

It matters, I think. I think you want to get it to a comfortable starting point, but I think for good free cash flow stories with solid, predictable revenue and growth, the market can get comfortable.

[Bloomberg Host (Carol Massar or Tim Stenovec)]

Our thanks to David Bauer, head of Equity Capital Markets Americas at JPMorgan Chase, and to Bailey Lipschultz, Bloomberg News IPO reporter.

[Bloomberg Host]

The IPO market is evolving. We know that, thanks to those mega cap tech and AI connected companies. It's a major narrative and theme this year. So too is what all those AI and high tech companies and their supply chains overall need. And that takes us to critical Minerals

[Bloomberg Host (Carol Massar or Tim Stenovec)]

and to two CEOs and one strategic alliance to strengthen America's critical minerals supply chain. The CEOs of United States Antimony and America's Gold and Silver Corporation join us next. You're listening to Bloomberg Businessweek. This is Bloomberg.

[Narrator/Voiceover]

What if data didn't sit still? What if intelligence moved with us, not buried in reports but activated in real time, where lives are being shaped, where decisions are being made? It all starts with the question where is the potential catality turns data into clarity, intelligence into insight, insight into action. Because when intelligence moves, we all move forward. Intelligence beyond bounds the thing about AI

[IBM Representative]

for business, it may not automatically fit the way your business works. At IBM, we've seen this firsthand. But by embedding AI across hr, IT and procurement processes, we've reduced costs by millions, slashed repetitive tasks and freed thousands of hours for strategic work. Now we're helping companies get smarter by putting AI where it actually pays off, deep in the work that moves the business. Let's create smarter business.

[Public Investing Representative]

IBM Support for the show comes from Public Lately it feels like there are two types of investing platforms. Some are traditional brokerages that haven't changed much in decades, and others feel less like investing and more like a game. Public is positioned differently. It's an investing platform for people who are serious about building their wealth on public. You can build a portfolio of stocks, options, bonds, crypto without all the bugs or the confetti. Retirement accounts? Yep. High yield cash. Yes again. They even have direct indexing. Public has modern design, powerful tools and customer support that actually helps go to public.com market and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com market and paid for by

[David Bauer (JPMorgan Chase ECM Head)]

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[Public Investing Representative]

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[Bloomberg Host (Carol Massar or Tim Stenovec)]

You're listening to the Bloomberg Businessweek Daily podcast. Catch us live weekday afternoons from 2 to 5pm Eastern. Listen on Apple CarPlay and Android Auto with the Bloomberg Business app or watch us live on YouTube.

[Bloomberg Host]

One major theme over the past year or so, the high stakes race to secure the world's critical mineral supply chains. A macro theme that just got a massive jolt with the Pentagon's latest multi million dollar defense grants and the rollout of the government's $12 billion project vault stockpile initiative.

[Bloomberg Host (Carol Massar or Tim Stenovec)]

It highlights a crucial vulnerability as Western nations scramble to decouple from dominant suppliers like China. For more, we caught up with two executives at the center of this resource rush. Paul Andre Hewitt, CEO of America's Gold and Silver, and Gary Evans, CEO of US Antimony.

[Bloomberg Host]

We spoke to Gary and Paul back in February, the day they announced a plan to construct and operate a hydromat processing facility in Idaho. And, and we began with an update on their project.

[IBM Representative]

Since then we've done a lot of work. We're doing a lot of the engineering work. Gary and I actually traveled to Bolivia together to go look at one completely operational plant which was extremely useful for our team, his team as well. We're able to look at the best practices they're doing and we're going to be deploying a lot of those best practices in the engineering work we're submitting for our own plan. So our intent is still, still follow through with this. JV have a fully domesticated line of antimony production here in the very near future that will last decades to come. Not and this isn't a flash in a pan where you go, yeah, you know, this is going to be around for a couple quarters. Our intent is to have this new facility, state of the art facility that will be there for four or five decades at least, minimum. So this is a big change here for the US and we absolutely need this antimony. It's so desperately needed in recording.

[Bloomberg Host]

Gary, you know about this, right? You guys have the only North America antimony processing facilities, right? It's out in Montana. Tell us about what's going on here. And I am curious that since we've had President Trump really focus on critical minerals, rare earths and so on and so forth, I mean, is the momentum continuing? Is the demand like, tell us what's happening? Because it feels like we talked about this nonstop for a long time and now it feels like we moved on to AI and some different things. Where are we?

[Gary Evans (CEO, United States Antimony Corporation)]

Well, obviously with watching the Iranian situation, we're using up our military goods quite quickly.

[Bloomberg Host]

Is that tapping supply that's happening.

[Gary Evans (CEO, United States Antimony Corporation)]

So as the only antimony supplier to the US government, we're a sole source contract, a $240 million contract. We see the purchase orders and we're delivering now to the government. Just started in May. And you know, our year end, our year revenues will be a hockey stick because we are, we just announced two days ago our new smelter in Thompson Falls, which the government helped fund.

[Narrator/Voiceover]

Right.

[Gary Evans (CEO, United States Antimony Corporation)]

$27 million worth is about a 40 million dollar facility that we started firing up furnaces in May. We have five running now. We'll go have full capacity by the

[Bloomberg Host (Carol Massar or Tim Stenovec)]

end of the month, which will be nine furnaces.

[Gary Evans (CEO, United States Antimony Corporation)]

Nine furnaces, correct. And so we have an existing plant already and now we have the new plant. We decided to not refurbish the old plant because we want to get as much production as possible. So we know, we see the demand from the government and we're trying to ramp up as quickly.

[Bloomberg Host (Carol Massar or Tim Stenovec)]

Have you gotten that $27 million fully

[Gary Evans (CEO, United States Antimony Corporation)]

of that 27, we received 12. There's milestones every time these furnaces, that's a milestone. So we'll get the rest of it by the end of the year.

[Bloomberg Host (Carol Massar or Tim Stenovec)]

Why is it so hard to get a furnace fired up?

[Gary Evans (CEO, United States Antimony Corporation)]

These are not off the shelf furnaces. We had to custom make them. And so there's parts, you know, everything. There's a little. This didn't work. This valve didn't work. So you're testing them over about a three day period.

[Bloomberg Host (Carol Massar or Tim Stenovec)]

Okay.

[Bloomberg Host]

I guess what I'm wondering though, in general, Paul, I want you to come back in here. I mean, like I said, there has been so much focus we had. We were often taking, going to the White House, the Oval Office for the President to talk about how important it was he went to China, talked to President Xi. Like, is there anything that has come out and changed since we last talked that has showed, yep, still a priority. There's a lot going on behind the scenes that maybe we're not daily reporting on like we used to, but it's happening.

[IBM Representative]

Yeah, there's certainly even I can see the difference in reporting. No doubt about it. However, behind the scenes it's kind of. It feels like a duck on water. Right? The duck is real calm, but the feet are going 100 miles underneath the water. Think about our own JV. We have been working non stop since the day we announced it. We announced that. That was that week we announced it the day we were here on Live.

[Bloomberg Host]

Right.

[IBM Representative]

So since that day, we've had a crew of around 8 people working non stop, making sure we get this engineering. So there's certainly no lack of aggressiveness on our part. Without doubt. There's, there's like, you hear Gary, the purchase orders are coming in. Like I hear them and I speak to him every week. He's like, oh, Paul, we're, we've got to get this thing up and going. You know, we need, we need the supply. We gotta be able to feed into this thing. There's a lot. And the antimony is obviously critical. But you think about the silver. You talk about these. We were talking earlier about these IPOs that are coming.

[Bloomberg Host (Carol Massar or Tim Stenovec)]

Yeah.

[IBM Representative]

My God, some of the biggest trillion dollar IPOs we've ever seen in our lifetime. Since the railroads began at the turn of the century here. These are massive IPOs. What do you think is going to power these things? The steel was the industrial revolution. Silver is going to be this new power revolution. There's no doubt silver is going to be required for the transformation we're going to need for all these AIs.

[Bloomberg Host (Carol Massar or Tim Stenovec)]

Well, Paul, then why is silver down 45% from January?

[IBM Representative]

That's a good question. If I knew that one man, I'd be a lot richer than I am today, no doubt. I can't answer that. But I can say this. Silver has, in my opinion, there's no doubt. Everybody I've spoken to, every expert, every technical analyst, silver's found its bottom for sure. Right. We've seen some silver price above 100. Silver's in its first innings here. Silver's still at a massive price, Tim. You know, you think about it, we're still very, very short on demand year after year after year. Five years in a row, short on demand.

[Bloomberg Host (Carol Massar or Tim Stenovec)]

Would you say the same for gold? Down 25% from this size at the end of January.

[IBM Representative]

Very different.

[Bloomberg Host (Carol Massar or Tim Stenovec)]

When you were on with us in February, gold was a different.

[Public Investing Representative]

Right.

[Bloomberg Host (Carol Massar or Tim Stenovec)]

It was, it was 20% higher than it is.

[IBM Representative]

It was, it was, yeah. Look, I've been a gold miner my whole life. I'm currently a silver. I know we're called America's gold and silver, but we're predominant.

[Bloomberg Host (Carol Massar or Tim Stenovec)]

And you were talking about all the gold that you were sitting on.

[David Bauer (JPMorgan Chase ECM Head)]

Yeah.

[IBM Representative]

When we, we don't. For America's gold and silver doesn't have a lot of gold just to just press you, it's more silver.

[Narrator/Voiceover]

Right.

[IBM Representative]

We have silver, copper, antimony and lead, all critical elements and critical metals that we need in the industry gold, it's look, gold's far from done. Shining. People are trying to reposition to. Everybody is trying to get into these new IPOs. You hear of funds, I've got funds that have been long term shareholders for more than 10 years into us that are saying we're repositioning, we're trying to get into these new AI, into this stuff. So it's not uncommon to see people having redemptions going in and then buying something into this AI world.

[Gary Evans (CEO, United States Antimony Corporation)]

Carol, you brought a great point about the government and where the government kind of stands on funding. Our company has today $245 million of government grant requests in from antimony to hydromet to tungsten. And our joint venture has a $75 million government grant request in request. These are requests and these are grant requests where they basically, just like we got the 27 million, they're grant requests. We're still dealing with a bureaucracy. It moves slow. Deadlines were given to us in January by the Department of Energy, were missed in April, in May, in June.

[Bloomberg Host]

Why is that happening?

[Gary Evans (CEO, United States Antimony Corporation)]

Good question.

[Bloomberg Host]

If it's such a priority, can you pick up the phone and talk to the President or his team?

[Gary Evans (CEO, United States Antimony Corporation)]

Well, we have on our board General Jack Keane, who you know, and he has definitely helped us in the past. I tried to not use that a lot. To me it's kind of the last resort. But we're getting ready to have to shake the trees. And what he does, he goes and sees the Secretary of War, he goes and see the head of the Pentagon and they go, well, why hasn't this been approved? And the trees get shaken. So it's, it's. The government has a lot of third party contractors that are slow.

[Bloomberg Host]

Well, I guess what I would just to follow is it's still a national priority. We've, we've heard from the administration that it was about national security. Right. You know, we've been talking a lot about energy security and the US is in a much better, better place than it was decades ago. But we see other countries struggling with that. But again, going back to national security, whatever you need, whether it's oil, whether it's critical minerals, supply chains, drugs, whatever it is, is it still though when it comes to rare earths or critical

[Gary Evans (CEO, United States Antimony Corporation)]

minerals, I have no doubt it's still a high priority. It's just we're dealing with government bureaucracy. That's the only thing that I thought

[Bloomberg Host]

we got rid of bureaucracy. I thought Elon took care of that.

[Gary Evans (CEO, United States Antimony Corporation)]

Yeah, well, not exactly. Not exactly.

[IBM Representative]

It's not moving as Quickly, as people would want, there's no doubt.

[Bloomberg Host]

But it prevents you guys from doing things right.

[Gary Evans (CEO, United States Antimony Corporation)]

Absolutely slows us down. The whole purpose of these grants are to speed things up.

[Bloomberg Host]

Right.

[Gary Evans (CEO, United States Antimony Corporation)]

And so we're waiting six months to a year for grant grant that we've applied for. That makes perfect sense. And still it's going through the wheels of motion.

[IBM Representative]

The biggest one is that you think about Project Vault we were both so excited about. When you hear this reserved for critical metals, your project vaults of $12 billion, that's got to get deployed similar to. We have oil and gas reserves. We're going to have this new Project Vault that seems to be moving at a pace it's a little different than when it first came out.

[Bloomberg Host]

Right.

[IBM Representative]

We were all excited.

[Bloomberg Host]

We're like, okay, well, your mood is different. You can feel it a little bit.

[Bloomberg Host (Carol Massar or Tim Stenovec)]

Well, I mean, the government, federal government side of things is one part of this. But when you're actually in these communities and different, different areas, there's also local challenges when it comes to the way people think environmentally about mining, the way, of course, about extraction.

[IBM Representative]

Yeah, no doubt.

[Gary Evans (CEO, United States Antimony Corporation)]

We ran into that in Alaska. We've had environmental groups with opposition. We've had. We've done a media campaign, we do meetings. We do. We've hired lobbyists, we've hired PR firms, we do television commercials to try to educate. Because the problem is the people that are negative on mining are looking at the old school, the old miners from 20, 30 years ago.

[Bloomberg Host (Carol Massar or Tim Stenovec)]

So what are they getting wrong?

[Gary Evans (CEO, United States Antimony Corporation)]

What are they getting wrong is we're completely a new animal today. We take environment very, very seriously. We do things that other miners never would do. And we reclaim land. Sometimes the same month that we dig it up. I mean, it's not like five years from now. We do it in the same month.

[Bloomberg Host]

Which means what?

[Gary Evans (CEO, United States Antimony Corporation)]

That you recommend land? It means that we leave that footprint where you can't tell we were there.

[IBM Representative]

We reclaim things many times today. They're even better than what we started with.

[Gary Evans (CEO, United States Antimony Corporation)]

That's right.

[IBM Representative]

But. But I do want to talk about state level, because you're not wrong, but it's not the same in every state. You go to Nevada, you go to Idaho, I'm in Idaho. We're welcomed in Idaho. It's very, very different. There's NGOs and that, but we have such a community. We've got. I've got 300 miners who work in day in, day out. I've got another hundred since we burn on this show. I hired another hundred miners at Crest that's that's another hundred from the time I was here. And there is such an overwhelming amount of support from that industry. I've got hotel owners, I've got people who run car rentals business. Go. Thank God the mine is back on. This mine has been dead for 20 years. Thank God you guys are spending money. My hotel's filled, my restaurant's filled. I had somebody walk up to me because I'm CEO was so happy to buy me dinner. I said look, I don't want you to buy me dinner. I want to buy it actually. And we're glad we're here and thank you for supporting the mine. So there it's Alaska is different. Idaho. I can say look, you're not going to find a better state. It's a good place to be mining. And we're fully permitted at usas America's Gold and Silver. That was one of the big advantages me and Gary had when him and I met. We had one tremendous advantage. We can move fast, we're both aggressive. We can get this thing done in this term limit of time frame. And I'm fully permitted. We're fully, fully permitted.

[Gary Evans (CEO, United States Antimony Corporation)]

Let me say something. When we're done with this facility and with what we produce today, our combined companies will represent 50% of the US demand for antimony.

[IBM Representative]

That's big.

[Gary Evans (CEO, United States Antimony Corporation)]

And this country was only getting it from China two years ago only.

[IBM Representative]

And that's for a long time. Remember, not a flash in the pan. This isn't 100 meter dial.

[Bloomberg Host]

Every time you guys say something there's a million questions that come to mind. Well, and what's China doing right now? They're still moving.

[Gary Evans (CEO, United States Antimony Corporation)]

China is now an importer. China used to be an exporter. They had the largest mine in the world called the Twinkle star. Been around 120 years. Depleted in June of 24 when they put their embargo in in September 24. We compete with them every day when we buy antimony from countries like Chad and Bolivia and Australia and Peru and they're out there paying more money than we're willing to pay and they import it to China and nothing comes back. They're using it themselves.

[IBM Representative]

Look, we're in a unique position to actually really take advantage of that American made brand. We really are. Where from anything your cell phones, solar stuff, electric vehicles. We could be domestically producing silver, copper, antimony right in Idaho together as a group and providing it to Americans. That's a big change that hasn't happened in that area for a very long, very long time.

[Bloomberg Host]

So I Don't know if you guys have noticed, but we have some midterms coming up in November. So is the clock ticking to some extent to, if you say that you're not getting, you've got these requests out there, but it's not happening. Is there a little bit of a clock ticking for you guys?

[Gary Evans (CEO, United States Antimony Corporation)]

Well, I mean, there's no question we saw a change within the administration from the Biden to the Trump. But I'll tell you, during the presidential Biden era, he implemented some things that help our industry. So I truly think it's more of a bipartisan situation. No question though, that Trump has lit a fire. Trump has gone overboard in trying to get as much capital as possible to rejuvenate this industry. I think that will continue. I don't think it'll just all of a sudden when you have a, if you have a Democratic president, it's going to change.

[Bloomberg Host (Carol Massar or Tim Stenovec)]

Gary, I would imagine that the reporting around the US Magazine Depth has also gotten people on board with the idea of making sure that weapons here in the US Are back to levels that they were before the war, at least sometime soon.

[Gary Evans (CEO, United States Antimony Corporation)]

Well, the Department of War has represented to me that they have the lowest amount of inventory of antimony since World War II. And you can see what we've been doing with Venezuela and now Iran and we got Ukraine, we got Israel. I mean it's a big deal. And it's not just the United States, it's the NATO countries, Australia. I mean it's, it's a worldwide problem. Look, it's fixable. We can fix it.

[Narrator/Voiceover]

Right?

[Gary Evans (CEO, United States Antimony Corporation)]

And that's what we're trying to do.

[IBM Representative]

Right. There's no doubt we can't rely on everyone else to meet our needs. We have to be self sufficient in the US and we're in the right process of getting that done. Even when the moment I went in the White House and Gary's got a lot more experience in the White House than I do, I am a true blue miner. But the one thing I heard very resonating was not only do we need 53 million pounds of antimony per, per year as a country, the US alone, but we have to think about our allies. We can't ignore our allies. So when you think about munitions, ammunition, fire retardant, you know, one of the biggest things for antimony is fire retardant. Do you think the fires in some of the states, like let's use California are going to reduce next year? How often do we report those fires? Do we report them getting smaller or do we report them getting bigger. Well, by God, we need antimony for that. You don't have antimony for it. It's the biggest use. It's fire retardant. I'm producing it with him right now today.

[Bloomberg Host]

Listen, we talked, we talked climate just before you guys and what's, you know, possibly coming our way in terms of extreme flooding and, and also dry patches, like in a big way, and fires.

[IBM Representative]

Well, the antimony is so critical to this stuff. We talk about the war stuff and everything. And it's real, it's real depleting that. But when I think about fires, I am in Nevada and they come so close every year, year after year. I'm like, my God, we need to make sure we have this supply of antimony on hand.

[Bloomberg Host (Carol Massar or Tim Stenovec)]

Our thanks to Gary Evans, chairman and CEO of United States Antimony Corporation, and Paul Andre Hewitt, chairman and CEO of America's Gold and Silver.

[Bloomberg Host]

Still ahead on Bloomberg Businessweek, from building out critical mineral supply chains to the golden age of US Construction.

[Bloomberg Host (Carol Massar or Tim Stenovec)]

That's our next macro theme. More when we come back. This is Bloomberg.

[Public Investing Representative]

Support for the show comes from public. Lately it feels like there are two types of investing platforms. Some are traditional brokerages that haven't changed much in decades and others feel less like investing and more like a game. Public is positioned differently. It's an investing platform for people who are serious about building their wealth on public. You can build a portfolio of stocks, options, bonds, crypto without all the bugs or the confetti. Retirement accounts. Yep. High yield cash, yes again. They even have direct indexing. Public has modern design, powerful tools and customer support that actually helps go to public.com market and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com market ad paid for by

[David Bauer (JPMorgan Chase ECM Head)]

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[Public Investing Representative]

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[IBM Representative]

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[Bloomberg Host]

So far we've tracked the boom in the AI IPO market and the geopolitical to secure the silver, antimony and critical minerals needed to sustain Western industry.

[Bloomberg Host (Carol Massar or Tim Stenovec)]

All of that capital and all of those raw materials ultimately converging on one final massive macro destination, the physical reindustrialization of America. While the digital landscape pulls the major headlines, an unprecedented capital expenditure cycle is playing out in the physical world.

[Bloomberg Host]

Data centers, airports, stadiums, petrochemicals, pipelines and LNG utility work. All of this is something our next guest has called the golden age of commercial construction.

[Bloomberg Host (Carol Massar or Tim Stenovec)]

She's Katherine Thompson, founding partner and CEO at Thompson Research Group. It's an equity research and advisory firm that focuses on companies in the industrial and construction spaces.

[Bloomberg Host]

Great to have you here. We actually had a fun conversation before we even got going. First of all, when it comes to construction and you look at the industrial spaces in a big way, what is going on that's interesting, especially to an investing audience.

[Narrator/Voiceover]

Yeah, you know, here's I think the simplest way to look at this. The US hasn't built in 40 years. We haven't built things within the US and so that whole globalization trade is the pendulum is swinging. So essentially what this is, we are in the golden era of US Construction. Now. I think there's a lot of focus on data centers, rightly so, but it's, it's not just data centers.

[Bloomberg Host (Carol Massar or Tim Stenovec)]

But what else are we building? I mean, we Talked to the CFO of, of Levi's or former cfo at this point, maybe he's left, but he says we're not building, we're not going to make jeans here in the U.S. we're not ever making Levi's in the U.S. that's what, it just doesn't make sense.

[Narrator/Voiceover]

But we are building. We were just talking about airports, so many airports across the US when you actually are building the data centers, you have to address power. So with that power, you're addressing the power grid, you're addressing the roads that lead to power grids. Just putting this in perspective for the metadata center site in north Louisiana, the prep site alone is 1 mile by 5 mile and it is. The largest town is Monroe, Louisiana. You should just check out how big it is. It's not very big at all. And so it's bringing jobs. You have to have electrical, plumbing, power. And that just didn't exist before. This is one of dozens upon dozens of communities where you're essentially creating cities that didn't even happen before.

[Bloomberg Host (Carol Massar or Tim Stenovec)]

How temporary are those jobs once that data center is constructed? How many human beings are needed to actually.

[Narrator/Voiceover]

It's a great question. So today we just wrapped up a global industrial forum over at Nasdaq and we were asking these very questions. And the great thing is like we were talking to Turner Construction and they're the ones building it. And let's use that Monroe, that north Louisiana site, that's going to take almost 10 years to really build out. Soup to nuts. On average, a consistent feedback that I'm getting from those that are building out, it's five years, seven years. Then you have the tail upon that where, yeah, not all of those workers will be there, but they're going to be shifting to another site that's going to take just as long. This could be decades long.

[Bloomberg Host]

But what does it mean in terms of the economy? Like I think about the energy rush like in North Dakota and the Bakkens and they all just kind of laughed with all the fracking because they're like, we've seen these boom and bust cycles. And so workers come in from around the nation and their families stay where they kind of originally lived and people are afraid to build housing and everything is so slow to support those people because they're like, okay, they're not going to be here forever. It's not like you're building industries that will be here for decades, not just one decade. So I'm just wondering, like, how do folks kind of manage that infrastructure, industrial build around Maybe the data center that ultimately isn't going to need all those people.

[Narrator/Voiceover]

That's a great point. But here's another way to think about it. You had that really big site that we were talking about in Louisiana, but you also have smaller data centers that are going to be and that's the other big trend that's happening. So I just toured a data center construction site just outside of Minneapolis, big city. It was maybe 40 minutes away. What that does is it really supports you're going to be able to have jobs not just in the small communities but in bigger tertiary cities. It will support those jobs. So it doesn't feel the same way as it did through like the frac boom and the mid-2014, 2015.

[Bloomberg Host]

Are we just going to become a nation of data centers? Are we going to become a world of data centers?

[Bloomberg Host (Carol Massar or Tim Stenovec)]

Not if local politics puts an end to some of them or stops them

[Narrator/Voiceover]

from even what's going to end up happening ends up getting regionalized. So there will be certain states that are fine and open to it. It also, you know, essentially if you think about for every one text that you use, there's going to be three data centers backing out that in some way, shape or form. So it's either going to be in the US or it's going to be abroad. And so from a national security standpoint there is a lot of talk with the companies that we talked to about like we really need to have as much of it in the US as possible.

[Bloomberg Host (Carol Massar or Tim Stenovec)]

It's easier said than done though. I mean our producer Talia sending us a like five articles research notes about local pushback to data centers. Here's one for example from Bloomberg. Government lawmakers are trying to get data centers to pay for their own power as they gear up to face voters squeezed by high energy bills in the November midterm elections. It's not a simple or a fast fix. Power hungry data centers are springing up nationwide to support expanded AI capabilities. Wholesale electricity costs have increased up to 260, 67% in some areas located near significant data center activity from 2020 to 2025. We're paying the bill for some of these.

[Narrator/Voiceover]

So the. You're spot on. There will be a policy push to create power and in many stations at data centers, I mean that is coming. It's not a matter of if, it's more like when.

[Bloomberg Host (Carol Massar or Tim Stenovec)]

So what it does is it makes it so the data center has, is generating the power or paying for the power generation itself. And it's separate from the grid that customers are using. That's the idea.

[Narrator/Voiceover]

Yeah. And taking a step further, if the grid even outside of the data center is stretched, it will provide energy to the community. So there will. It's no matter if the data center to do that. But I mean this is on the kambakas and it's coming in a lot of different angles and way and I know you were just talking about SMRs. Yeah, I mean that is going to be part of the solution for us. We're trying to understand the what and the why. And you have really great questions with that. But with power there will be generated at data plants. I mean that is the focus.

[Bloomberg Host (Carol Massar or Tim Stenovec)]

Is there a way to do it without SMRs? Because those don't here in the US don't exist now from a regulatory perspective, they're still stuck in development. China has a couple, the US doesn't. How else could they power these locally?

[Narrator/Voiceover]

A variety of different sources. Areas that have prevalent natural gas. So that is why you are seeing more data centers in Louisiana and Texas. But it's just really access to energy. It's, I mean really kind of bottom line that.

[Bloomberg Host (Carol Massar or Tim Stenovec)]

So you could put one by a Niagara Falls, basically.

[Narrator/Voiceover]

I don't know if New York is going to allow that to happen though.

[Bloomberg Host (Carol Massar or Tim Stenovec)]

But that's the idea is that it would be close to a place that generates a lot of electricity.

[Narrator/Voiceover]

Correct, Correct.

[Bloomberg Host]

So from an investor's perspective, it's interesting how I feel like yes, we talk a lot of high tech and AI and everything that's involved in that. But there's also kind of old investing strategies that are back in fashion and it's whether it's steel or building materials like walk us through that in terms of maybe what investors need to be thinking a little bit more about.

[Narrator/Voiceover]

Yeah, I go back to the original theme that I said. There are just going to be more things built in the US and the most basic material that is used in any construction could be a nuclear power plant, a data center or that highway we talked about.

[Bloomberg Host]

Is it steel or concrete?

[Narrator/Voiceover]

No, it's crushed rock.

[Bloomberg Host]

Oh, crushed rock. Just rock that was not making big.

[Narrator/Voiceover]

Seriously, think Flintstones. So some great players from that would be Martin Marietta Materials. Vulcan Materials is another one. Crh. They'll do both rock and cement and concrete. But then you have some smaller cap names too. Construction Partners. The ticker symbol is aptly named Road and there's a new IPO out called Suncrete Rmix and they do concrete. So you've got a lot of different options for basic materials that are all part of the backbone of the infrastructure.

[Bloomberg Host (Carol Massar or Tim Stenovec)]

How much of this is potentially being handled by huge private companies and not

[Narrator/Voiceover]

necessarily ones that are publicly traded for the basic materials.

[Bloomberg Host (Carol Massar or Tim Stenovec)]

Not just basic materials. I'm talking like all this type of construction. Like you know Bechtel has a history in nuclear for example.

[Narrator/Voiceover]

Correct.

[IBM Representative]

I know that.

[Bloomberg Host (Carol Massar or Tim Stenovec)]

I think they worked on Vogel. I'm not quite positive.

[Narrator/Voiceover]

Well as far in the US if you want to look at private companies, if they've been around for a long time, it's a pretty good business. There are you would be shocked by the number of hundred plus year old crushed rock companies that are in the US So there will be a lot of private companies.

[Bloomberg Host (Carol Massar or Tim Stenovec)]

Inevitably there are oftentimes we're talking to like engineering and construction companies that are private family owned companies that have been around for multi generation, sometimes employee owned companies.

[Narrator/Voiceover]

Yeah, absolutely. And in the construction side too and on the specialty side a great example with that would be Mortensen family owned based out of Minnesota and they are one of the top three builders of data centers in the U.S. catherine, why

[Bloomberg Host]

aren't these names up? I'm looking at CRH. It's down almost 19% year to date. Martin Marietta Materials down about 11% year to date.

[Narrator/Voiceover]

I'm just curious like what what's happening? Yeah.

[Bloomberg Host]

If this is all going on in demand, let me just pull up RD

[Narrator/Voiceover]

because I think so I can give

[Bloomberg Host]

you Road is down about 2% year to date.

[Narrator/Voiceover]

So the federal highway bill called IIJA is up for reauthorization in September. There is always a messy stocks trade very poorly going into this multi year highway bill reauthorization. So there's just a lot of negative head or not negative headlines, uncertainty around the funding. Ironically infrastructure funding right now has more visibility than I've had in my entire career. And it's really two pronged approach. One, there is this is one of the few things that is not divisive from a political standpoint. Democrats want it, Republicans want it. So it's just a matter of getting the dollars out so you can get the dollars going. And then states are very have very strong dot budgets and it's the strongest it's been in 25, 30 years. Yeah, it's interesting but it's optics.

[Bloomberg Host (Carol Massar or Tim Stenovec)]

That was Katherine Thompson, founding partner and CEO at Thompson Research Group.

[Bloomberg Host]

And that wraps up this long holiday weekend edition of Bloomberg businessweek from Bloomberg Radio. Thank you so much for joining us.

[Bloomberg Host (Carol Massar or Tim Stenovec)]

Be sure to tune in to Bloomberg Businessweek Daily Monday through Friday starting at 2pm Wall Street Time on Bloomberg Radio, Bloomberg TV and Sirius XM Channel 121.

[Bloomberg Host]

You can also watch our daily broadcast on YouTube. Just search Bloomberg Podcasts. We're simulcast of Bloomberg originals available on bloomberg.com originals and search streaming platforms including Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Samsung TV and more.

[Bloomberg Host (Carol Massar or Tim Stenovec)]

I'm Tim Stenovec.

[Bloomberg Host]

And I'm Carol Massar. Have a good and safe weekend everyone.

[Bloomberg Host (Carol Massar or Tim Stenovec)]

This is the Bloomberg Business Week Daily Podcast, available on Apple, Spotify and anywhere else you get. Your podcasts listen live weekday afternoons from 2 to 5pm Eastern on Bloomberg.com, the iHeartRadio app, TuneIn, and the Bloomberg Business App. You can also watch us live Every weekday on YouTube and always on the Bloomberg Terminal.

[Public Investing Representative]

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[IBM Representative]

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[Bloomberg Host]

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