Anduril founder Palmer Luckey is committed to bringing computer manufacturing back to the United States. And by that he doesn’t just mean assembly, but the production of each individual component, some of which are now exclusively manufactured in China.
Anduril is partnering with Qualcomm to accomplish this mission with a new computer called BlueChip, the companies announced Tuesday. BlueChip will be available for pre-order in 2027.
Although technical details are scarce – Anduril hasn’t even finished contracting with all of its component suppliers yet, according to Luckey – this first product will be a rugged laptop. It will be designed to withstand the most punishing physical environments and meet the security needs of the military, government, first responders and law enforcement.
For the first generation, around 90% of its components will be manufactured in the United States or in allied countries, specifies Anduril, notably its processor. BlueChip will run on a Snapdragon X Series built at TSCM’s massive new facility in Arizona. The processor uses the same architecture that powers other laptops, including the Microsoft Surface, Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon said during the press conference.
“Right now, the laptop bill of materials is about 90 percent U.S. and allied (allied country) products, and we have a technical roadmap to reach 100 percent domestic products over time,” Luckey said. “The long-term intention is to have a 100% made in the USA, 100% domestic option. And I mean everything. I mean displays. I mean metals. I mean magnetics. All of that.”
Right now, for example, Luckey says he’s found a U.S. supplier for the glass that covers the screen, but the screen itself is one of several components that he says are only made in China.
Although Luckey says consumers are welcome to order a BlueChip (the company might even create a waiting list for interested consumers), this first PC won’t be designed for them. On the one hand, as a rugged computer, it will be heavy and have battery life constraints due to the engineering required to withstand rain, dust, and other harsh conditions.
The most important thing is to offer U.S. government agencies a product that complies with regulations requiring them to purchase American-made computers. In this case, the selling point is a transparent supply chain that customers can track and audit.
“These computers are the anti-surveillance computer. You control it completely,” Luckey described in a recent interview. “You know everything in it, every component, and you know every piece of software that runs on it.”
Anduril also works to ensure that the Arm-based machine works well with Windows applications, applications designed for some Linux distributions used by the government, and even archaic software that various agencies still use.
Although Anduril hasn’t announced pricing yet, Luckey estimates it will cost about 20 percent more than typical high-end PCs.
“As much as I like BlueChip, if I was just a normal consumer making a rational decision without some sort of patriotic basis, I’d be better off buying a Dell laptop than an Anduril laptop because it’s going to be cheaper. I’m just talking about the average consumer, right, who doesn’t really need it,” Luckey said.
But Luckey clearly hopes that Anduril will eventually make U.S.-made laptops more in line with consumers’ desires. He said the product is the first in what he envisions will be a full line of BlueChip computers, noting that he began his career making virtual reality headsets for consumers.
“I buy American cars, and then I buy a computer made halfway around the world, not just China, but you know, Japan, Korea,” he said. “It’s a little humiliating that as an American and my birthright is computers, in my opinion, because America invented them, I can’t buy an American computer.”
As for the potentially costly folly of trying to take on China’s electronics manufacturing industry single-handedly, Luckey joked about his internal reputation for “being a weirdo” with such big ideas. (He admits that he pushed his board to spend $900 million to build a factory for a jet before the company had even won a contract.)
“It’s not one of those things. My investors don’t think I’m crazy in this particular area,” he said. In fact, rugged computers are already a roughly $5 billion market.
When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This does not affect our editorial independence.
Gn bussni
