# Atoms, bits, and the trillion-dollar manufacturing race

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/critical-capital-7819054/atoms-bits-and-the-trillion-dollar-manufacturing-race
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/critical-capital-7819054/atoms-bits-and-the-trillion-dollar-manufacturing-race.md
Podcast: [Critical Capital](https://stenobird.com/podcast/critical-capital-7819054)
Published: 2026-04-28T10:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/PSMI2460132377.mp3
Audio file: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/PSMI2460132377.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/critical-capital-7819054/episodes/atoms-bits-and-the-trillion-dollar-manufacturing-race
Duration seconds: 2509

## Resource

For 40 years, the U.S. economy has been optimizing itself for the digital world while exporting its physical manufacturing capabilities. Now, the rise of AI is leaving a massive physical footprint in the form of data centers, power plants, and supply chains. In this first episode of Critical Capital, Crux CEO and host Alfred Johnson sits down with Aidan Madigan-Curtis, partner at Eclipse Ventures, to discuss why the next generation of trillion-dollar companies will be built where "atoms and bits" connect. They trace the industrial arc from the Gilded Age to the modern age of physical AI, exploring the geopolitical "dance" with China and the radical energy shifts required to power the future along the way. And they ask: Who wins when the digital world runs headfirst into the physical one? Critical Capital is a co-production of Crux and Latitude Studios. Learn more about how Crux is financing the future of energy.

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## Transcript

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