Newsom Spotlights Major Anduril Investment in SoCal which Includes AI Weapons Development

LONG BEACH — Gov. Gavin Newsom Jan. 27 highlighted Anduril Industries’ announcement of a $1 billion investment to build a new 1.18 million-square-foot campus spanning Long Beach and Lakewood, expanding the company’s California footprint to support long-term growth. Maintaining its current headquarters in Costa Mesa, Anduril’s new campus will support about 5,500 jobs on site, with thousands more supported indirectly through construction, security and supporting services. The facility, which will include lab space, prototype manufacturing and areas for engineers and software developers, is expected to open in mid-2027.

Anduril Industries develops advanced defense technologies, including drones, missiles, robotic submarines and autonomous fighter jets. The company employs 7,000 people across 35 locations, with roughly half based in Southern California. 

In December 2024, TRT World reported on OpenAi’s collaboration with Anduril. The maker of ChatGPT will be contributing its LLM-driven knowledge to Anduril’s counter-drone systems, which are designed to detect and neutralise unmanned aerial threats.

At that time, OpenAI maintained that the partnership is focused on defensive measures to protect US and allied forces, not offensive weapons development.

TRT asserted this tech collaboration raises reasonable questions because of the pro-Israeli stance of Anduril’s leader Palmer Luckey and what that means given Israel’s gross human rights abuses of Palestinians.

Details: https://www.trtworld.com/article/18240727