ASPEN — Brian Schimpf, chief executive officer of defense technology company Anduril, spoke at a technology conference in Aspen in June 2026. He discussed modern armed conflicts, economic warfare, defense funding, and his company's position on an initial public offering.
Schimpf said that modern armed conflicts target economic infrastructure, including data centers, oil refineries, and shipping lanes. "The U.S. and Israel did something like ten times as many strikes in the first month of the war as they did in the entire Gulf War," Schimpf said. He stated prior to the conference in March that the Strait of Hormuz could be blocked by June. He described the economic warfare exemplified by the Strait of Hormuz as the new normal for these conflicts.
The U.S. military fired an estimated 850 Tomahawk missiles over four weeks during a conflict with Iran. Before this conflict, the Pentagon had been replenishing its Tomahawk missile stockpile at a rate of 90 per year. Schimpf also asserted that China is systematically acquiring critical minerals, such as rare earth magnets and copper film suppliers. He said Anduril is evaluating methods to secure long-term supplies of germanium. Schimpf stated it is essentially impossible to inflict economic pain on China without catastrophic economic pain on the U.S.
Anduril, which secured $5 billion in a Series H funding round in March at a $61 billion valuation led by Thrive Capital and Andreessen Horowitz, is not currently planning to go public. Schimpf declined to provide a timeline for an initial public offering, stating, "Right now, we are in a hype-y time. We are growing like crazy. Why would we go out right now?" He noted that some defense technology companies are raising capital at valuations of 50 to 100 times forward revenue, adding that he thinks there is a bit of a bubble.
Schimpf also argued that an initial public offering launched during a market hype cycle, when growth is slowing, or more than two years before profitability would likely result in a poor three-year stock return. He typically expects roughly 90% of financial returns in a rapidly expanding industry sector to go to the top two companies.
No independent assessment of Brian Schimpf’s claims was available.