Ulevitch: The US will have lights-out factories like China
David Ulevitch · $635M Exit → $600M Fund: David Ulevitch on Building a16z’s Hottest New Fund · Sourcery with Molly O'Shea · Nov 21, 2025 · at 3:57
David Ulevitch, General Partner at a16z, outlines where advanced automation and general-purpose assembly robotics are heading in domestic manufacturing.
0:00 / 0:02exact quote · 2.8s
▶ Watch the full episode on YouTube → 720p mp4 · rendered on demand · StarZero watermark
“I think we're gonna have lights out factories the way they do in China.”
quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →
More from David Ulevitch
Ulevitch: China is far more advanced than US in defense shipbuilding and manufacturing
“If you've ever been to Shenzhen, which I went to even before I joined in recent Horowitz and saw the manufacturing capabilities of advanced, advanced manufacturing, robotics manufacturing you know, and then now we see the defense like shipbuilding manufacturin…”
Ulevitch: US should build better anti-ship missiles rather than match China's shipbuilding volume
“I'm not sure that the right strategy for America is to say, oh, they can build a hundred ships a year, so we need to be able to build a hundred ships a year. Like, what I would say a better strategy is if China's able to build a hundred ships a year, what if w…”
Ulevitch predicts China will sever U.S. battery supply chain in conflict
“If they all come from China, and we ever get into a real conflict with China, whether it's an economic conflict or an actual kinetic conflict, like, They're going to cut us off.”
Ulevitch: Radiant Nuclear will activate first new-design fueled reactor next year
“I think Radiant is going to turn on the first fueled nuclear reactor of a new design in like 50 plus years. I think they're going to do it next year.”
Ulevitch: Defense tech companies need public marketing to win political support
“Andrel never loses sight of who their customer is, and they have a ton, like, you know, there's tons of, like, collateral and white papers and documentation for their customers, but at the same time, they're hugely dependent on support from Washington for the …”
Ulevitch: U.S. defense manufacturing relies critically on Chinese raw materials
“China, their ability to build ships is much, much faster than ours. A lot of the raw materials we need for our own shipbuilding comes from China, the steel and many of the metals. A lot of the things we need for batteries, for motors, for a lot of the ingredie…”