00:05:42 · S1, Palmer Luckey, S2
[00:05:42] S1: And that is not. [00:05:42] S0: That hard to figure out, especially for a guy like me who started Oculus and comes from the consumer electronics space. And so we're not going to let people lie about what America can and can't do anymore. [00:05:53] S2: We're just going to do it. And that was my question. What is Anduril's advantage here in doing this? And I think you've outlined it. You also said you tried. [00:06:01] S0: One of the few companies that actually has had to get good at this. Look, I'm personally sanctioned by the Chinese Communist Party. I'm a separatist terrorist, according to them. Anduril is sanctioned, too. So we've had to develop a. We've had to develop a life independent of China in a way that most American companies say they cannot, but in reality just don't want to do. [00:06:23] S1: And so we're the right company to be able to do this. [00:06:25] S0: And I think that our experience over the last 10 years, learning how to build these advanced systems without a reliance on our foreign adversaries, that's why I'm so confident that this is going to be, maybe not a piece of cake, but there's a reason I know this is doable. [00:06:43] S2: A question I got for you from the analysts, for what it's worth, is who are you going to convince to manufacture displays in the US? [00:06:51] S1: That is a great question.
00:06:51 · S1, Palmer Luckey, S2
[00:06:51] S1: That is a great question. [00:06:53] S0: The official answer is that we're going to have more to announce in 2027. I'm hoping that we have something to say at CES, but to tell you a little bit more, we're talking with multiple vendors right now, and we've got a plan with multiple vendors to solve that specific problem. [00:07:07] S1: So I'm not ignoring it. [00:07:08] S0: Right now, the display is made in another country in these prototypes we've been showing. The glass on it is made in an American company. Much of the assembly of the display is made in the United States. but the actual panel itself currently is made in another country. We're about 90% US and allies right now, but we have a clear technical roadmap to 100% US. I can't tell you just who it is just yet, honestly, because we're still negotiating it. [00:07:36] S2: I want to shift gears slightly. I haven't actually caught up with you this year, which is unbelievable, but our colleagues at Bloomberg Intelligence, which is our in-house research, launched coverage of Anduril back in August. [00:07:48] S1: And they're very. [00:07:50] S2: closely following the balance between your software business, Lattice, and a manufacturing ramp that's happening in Ohio. And I think that it would be really useful to hear how you're balancing that, those two programs, how they're integrated.
00:07:50 · S2, Palmer Luckey, S1
[00:07:50] S2: closely following the balance between your software business, Lattice, and a manufacturing ramp that's happening in Ohio. And I think that it would be really useful to hear how you're balancing that, those two programs, how they're integrated. [00:08:04] S0: Well, look, at its core, Anduril is an AI company. Our name, Anduril Industries, the acronym is AI for a reason. But we started 10 years ago when AI wasn't cool, when no one was paying attention to it. We've got more people working on software in Anduril than in all our hardware products combined. Lattice is the AI brain that makes all of our fighter jets and submarines and missiles and everything go. And we're applying that software expertise to this as well. So we have to build a laptop that's not just running Microsoft Office or a web browser to check your Gmail. We have to work with a lot of legacy government applications that were designed in the 2000s, the 90s, even the 80s. We need to be compatible with a lot of things that most consumer laptops never even need to think about. We need drivers to be able to interface with legacy systems that similarly, hardware systems that have been around for a decade. That takes a lot of software work. And so, again, Anduril is in a bit of a different place than most other companies where we're not just a hardware manufacturer. We are a very, very competent software developer as well. [00:09:03] S1: And we're doing things that nobody else is doing.
00:09:03 · S1, S2
[00:09:03] S1: And we're doing things that nobody else is doing. [00:09:06] S2: This is also the first opportunity I've had to ask you about Project Meridian. You, Elon Musk, Newt Grinch leading that project. I know this might sound like an odd starting question, but what are those meetings actually like? Like when you guys get together, what are the problems that you debate with each other? [00:09:24] S1: Well, a few things. One, there's actually about 20 people that are on Project Meridian. You're right.
00:09:24 · S1, Palmer Luckey
[00:09:24] S1: Well, a few things. One, there's actually about 20 people that are on Project Meridian. You're right. [00:09:27] S0: We're the three chairs of the steering committee. Look, we're just getting started, right? It's a 120-day project. I think that it's still starting to come together. The whole project's being run by the MITRE Corporation, and they've done a lot of analysis of this type of thing before. Uh, what I've seen is that everyone is bringing a very different, unique perspective. Uh, like I, I think it's a matter of public record, so hopefully I'm not getting into trouble here, but like Rick Smith, CEO, founder of Axon is one of the other people there. And he's bringing a really unique perspective on things that can reduce collateral damage, reduce impact on civilian lives in warfare. You have other people who are coming from the computing industry, other people who are coming from the automotive industry. It's a lot of different perspectives. And again, we need to wait until this thing gets further along. But at least my personal opinion is I'm hoping that the report reflects the diversity of different perspectives that people are bringing to the table. I don't want this to just be a think tank report that says the same five things that everyone's known for 10 years. Look, we all know what the threat is in the Pacific. We all know what the threat is in the bio and the chem side. I would really like this to focus on the things that otherwise might not get attention, including things that might not get my attention.
00:10:40 · S2, S1, Palmer Luckey
[00:10:40] S2: We're live on Bloomberg Television and Radio. We're speaking to Palmer Luckey. I just asked about Project Meridian. I mean, the report's due in January, right? And I get that that's going to publish. You have to wait for that. But that was really interesting. Rather than just a think tank, I think people are asking, have you found evidence that there are things the Pentagon can do differently, should do differently, and how it conducts itself? Yeah. [00:11:03] S1: I think they can, but I don't think that's really what this is about. [00:11:06] S0: I think there's been a lot of talk about how this is– about how the Pentagon operates. [00:11:10] S1: The reality is, I mean, you can go watch the announcement.