1 day ago
4
U.S.|Two Days Inside the Movement to ‘Reindustrialize,’ and Rearm, America
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/20/us/manufacturing-tech-trump-reindustrialize.html
You have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.
Investors from Silicon Valley and senior officials in the Trump administration descended on a convention hall in downtown Detroit last week for a conference committed to spurring a “techno-industrial renaissance” in the United States.
In some ways, it looked like a normal convention. The makers of everything from carbon brushes to boat propellers milled around a large hall, looking at a flying boat, a customizable electric truck, an air taxi and a humanoid robot. But at times, it turned into an urgent and literal call to arms as discussions moved from manufacturing to national security.
“You will help us forge a future where we can build and sustain an industrial base that can deliver the critical weapons we need, fast and at scale,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told the participants in a video message. “Time is short.”
The two-day summit, Reindustrialize 2025, was put on by an ad hoc group that met through Atomic Industries, a manufacturing firm in Warren, Mich. The convention’s founders include Atomic’s chief executive, Aaron Slodov, who last year penned “A Techno-Industrialist Manifesto,” which called on investors and the tech community to focus on manufacturing physical goods.
Image
About 1,200 people attended the conference, about twice the number who attended the first gathering last year, said Falon Donohue, an Atomic board member who is also a founder of the conference. Thousands were on the waiting list, she said. More than 16,000 watched the speeches, round tables and fireside chats online.
