← Bloomberg Talks
Bloomberg Talks
Brian Schimpf Talks the Political Tensions Between the United States and China
00:07:49
Loading summary
Transcript24 lines
- [00:00]
A
Indiana University is shaping the future of healthcare. Advancing discoveries that become treatments for Alzheimer's, obesity and cancer and training the providers trusted to deliver them. See how IU solves what's next iu Edu Impact.
- [00:18]
B
Bloomberg Audio Studios Podcasts, radio.
- [00:22]
C
News and we kick things off with Brian Schimp, CEO of Anduril, as the first of many conversations. Brian, we're grateful to be here and there has been a lot of hype around the company, a deep focus on what it is doing, how it is growing. And so as a place to start, would you just bring us up to speed on where Andrew is today operationally? Revenue, the business it is doing with the US Government and Western allies?
- [00:52]
B
Absolutely. Well, thank you for having me on. Really excited to have you here. The annual has been around about eight years, but we've grown incredibly in that time. I think this year we're going to be over 6,500 employees. We've got something like about half of them here in Costa Mesa. We're looking to basically double revenue this year. So we're about a billion last year. We'll go over 2 billion this year. And we're ramping production about 400%. So a lot of the mix is switching from one of the earlier stage things we were doing which were, you know, kind of experimental, really learning what the technology could do, how to integrate it with war fighters. This year we're really moving into this mode of really producing.
- [01:29]
C
Brian, forgive me. We've actually got some breaking news that's just crossed the Bloomberg terminal. President Trump is saying that he was due to meet China's President Xi in two weeks time. He's saying now that he sees no reason to do so. The team are going to put some of the headlines up on the screen. But Caro, a significant piece of news because part of what we wanted to discuss today was China. The President saying that he's calculating increased tariffs on Chinese products.
- [01:58]
D
This is a dialing off of geopolitical tensions.
- [02:00]
C
Brian, bear with us. We are now seeing this quite sharp market reaction. Clearly The S&P 500 has changed direction here because I think, you know, jumping Cara, I think part of the point is that we were headed in a different direction.
- [02:14]
D
This brings so many questions around what the TikTok relationship had been. And much of that had been sort of almost this linchpin in relationships between President Xi and indeed President Trump. But then been this ongoing narrative about how we could rectify and rehabilitate the relationship. There have been calls from China perhaps wanting yet further relief from Some of the higher tariffs that they've been.
- [02:34]
C
Sorry, I've just pulled up the true social post and that's where the President's communicated and he's basically saying that China is becoming very hostile. Let's get back to the conversation.
- [02:44]
D
Well, your take, Brian, because in many ways, and drill and defense tech as a whole is about the story of national security and it is about US versus China. Is that where you see the key risks?
- [02:55]
B
That is one of the key conflicts. But if you look worldwide, I mean, you've got land wars in Europe, you've got, you know, the Red Sea still basically denied Iran, doesn't look like it's going to slow down anytime soon. China, beyond just the tensions with the US has been constantly aggravating with the Philippines, you know, constantly fighting over different islands and things like that. So you're in this period of just massive geopolitical instability and China is obviously the focus. But I mean, they've had a very strategic view to this.
- [03:23]
C
Right.
- [03:23]
B
Like they've blocked the pumping. Significant export controls on magnets for high.
- [03:29]
D
End semiconductors, rare earths, for example. We understand the breaking news today as well as China's making it harder and harder for rare earths to be exported, not just the US but to Europe.
- [03:38]
B
Yeah. And I think this is part of a long term strategic plan they have had. Right. They have used industrial policy beyond just military power to construct a world where they have a lot of leverage over the US and their allies. They drive dependence on these things and it's a very sophisticated strategy that they're playing. Yes. I think this is something that Trump recognizes. I think he is a very good negotiator. If he's saying these things, he understands what that means and how he is using that to position for maximum advantage. And so I think it's going to be a long run conflict with China and that's something we've just got to be prepared for.
- [04:13]
C
Brian, thank you for rolling with this. The news is breaking as we go to air. The market's reacting. One of the things that we've just shown on the screen is the semiconductor index. Yeah. One reason why it's critically important to talk to you, Andrew, is your efforts to reinsure the manufacturing base in this country in Ohio. But in research for being here today, Caroline and I looked a lot at the supply chain for your industry. Why? Everything from wire harness through to GPUs that go on board, a lot of the weapons behind us. Could you just expand on that a little bit? You know why Arsenal 1 is so critical in that sense, in that context.
- [04:53]
B
Absolutely. So, you know, when you look at defense is one of those areas where national security is paramount. Pulling these technologies onto US and allied manufacturing is absolutely key. And the strategy we've taken with this is there is a lot of industrial capacity in the US There is the ability to take advantage of largely commercial industry that can manufacture these things. But when you start stepping back, there's things that defense alone can't solve. Right. These are things like, you know, the rare earth magnets, germanium supply. These are things that China has strategically tried to stranglehold. And this will require beyond just stating as a policy that you have sources for America. The sources are very, very limited. This is areas where I've been really encouraged by what the Trump administration has done around trying to reignite this idea of how do you do smart industrial policy? What is it going to look like in the US it's going to look different. It's going to be a combination of tariffs, it's going to be a combination of things they did with like MP materials, guaranteed offtake. There's just this very different strategy that needs be taken to really solve this on a country level scale. And for us, we can be early adopters, right? Like we can take advantage of all those things. And we're building out a massive manufacturing complex in Ohio to be able to take advantage of all of those suppliers in the US and build a lot of things here onshore.
- [06:06]
C
Okay. So the breaking news is that the President has taken this truth social and he is saying that it looks like he now won't meet with China Xi and things are changing. We will discuss that for the next hour while we have you. Andarill has been in the headlines partly because of the insatiable appet of all kinds of investors to be involved. You did a secondary or a tender for your employees. Would you talk about the focus you have right now in talent and that mechanism to keep people basically?
- [06:34]
B
No. Absolutely. So the defense world has shifted a lot, right? Like a lot of the people in traditional defense industry are amazing at things like, you know, aircraft design and hypersonics and things along those lines. But the next generation of this really looks different. It really looks about software, looks how you adopt commercial manufacturing approaches. It's how you mass make manufacture these capabilities. It's a very different focus. We're moving out of an era where we need to make relatively few of very, very expensive, high end things. We're moving into an era where it's much more about how do we have things at scale that are smarter, that are more autonomous? And so this ability to attract the best talent into this really is coming from tech companies, it's coming from universities, it's people who otherwise would have jobs at, you know, kind of all the tech company brand names, you would know part of that compensation and liquidity and all the startup economic. But honestly a lot more of it is just do they get to work on exciting problems with people they like on things that really matter? Right. And I think we present this opportunity to be very clear in our purpose and our mission, something that's going to be impactful and they get to work on just amazing, cutting edge things, right? Like making autonomous fighter jets and you know, these reusable missiles is just an absolutely crazy thing to work on if you're a young engineer. And that's what we've really found is the formula to get the best and brightest. Here is an exciting opportunity to actually contribute, give back and build something incredible.
- [07:54]
D
Brian, what a joy to have you sat with us rolling with in breaking news and to be surrounded by all of this gear that you are driving innovation on brine shrimp. We appreciate you.
- [08:04]
A
CEO of Andreal Indiana University is shaping the future of health care. Advancing discoveries that become treatments for Alzheimer's, obesity, cancer and other rare and complex diseases. And training the next generation of providers, doctors and nurses trusted to address health challenges with skill, compassion and purpose. From the lab to the clinic, from research teams to patient care, IU talent is driving medical innovation, improving health outcomes and strengthening communities. See how IU solves what's next? IU Edu Impact There are two kinds.
- [08:39]
E
Of people in the world. People who think about climate change and people who are doing something about it. On the Zero podcast, we talk to both kinds of people. People you've heard of, like Bill Gates.
- [08:50]
B
I'm looking at what the world has to do to get to zero. Not using climate as a moral crusade.
- [08:56]
E
And the creative minds you haven't heard of yet. It is serious stuff, but never doom and gloom. I am Akshat Ratty. Listen to Zero every Thursday from Bloomberg Podcasts, on Apple, Spotify or anywhere else you get your podcasts.