Luckey: China's Aggression Led to Founding of Anduril; Hopes Taiwan's Tech Advantage Continues

(CNA reporter Wu Shu-wei, Taipei, 4th) Palmer Luckey, founder of US defense technology company Anduril, which is sanctioned by China for arms sales to Taiwan, said today that one of the reasons he founded Anduril is China's increasing aggression and its manipulation of the global economy and culture. He stated that Taiwan is a global leader in technology and he does not want this advantage to disappear.

Luckey recently visited Taiwan to attend the COMPUTEX Taipei trade show and gave an exclusive interview to CNA on the afternoon of the 4th. This coincided with the first test firing of the Anduril-produced Altius-600M drone, purchased by Taiwan from the US, against a maritime target in Yilan the previous day, which achieved a 100% hit rate.

Luckey said his visit aimed to meet with current and potential partner companies. Currently, Anduril's supply chain includes about 30 Taiwanese firms, and the number of partners is continuously increasing.

The Chinese government announced in December last year that it would take countermeasures against 20 US military-related companies and 10 senior managers involved in "arming Taiwan," with Luckey being named. Anduril had already been placed on China's "Unreliable Entity List" for sanctions earlier last year.

Regarding the impact of the Chinese sanctions, Luckey said there were no real negative effects other than being unable to travel to China or Hong Kong, transit through these areas, or fly on airlines owned or invested in by China. "I always wanted to be sanctioned (by China)," he said.

Luckey recalled that when then-US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in August 2022 and was sanctioned by China, he complained to friends that it was "unfair" because he had done more for Taiwan than Pelosi. He then made being sanctioned by China a goal. He is called a "radical separatist terrorist" by China, and he has framed the sanction notice from China and hung it on his wall as a badge of honor.

Luckey pointed out that one reason for founding Anduril was China's increasing aggression and its manipulation of economies and cultures worldwide. While working in Silicon Valley, he witnessed tech companies being deceived by China into believing it would be their next major market.

Luckey founded the virtual reality company Oculus VR at age 19, selling it to Facebook for $2 billion in 2014. In past interviews, he has mentioned visiting Shenzhen and other places in China multiple times.

Sharing his experiences dealing with China, Luckey said China has built a very powerful production machine. Without ideology or national loyalty, it is an excellent place to manufacture products. However, he had already experienced firsthand that the Chinese government's operating methods and values are vastly different from those of Western countries. During past business trips to China, samples left in hotel rooms were often stolen. On one occasion, a sample he received was bugged with a listening device capable of radio transmission.

Luckey said that in the US, such an incident would be immediately reported to the FBI, but in China, reporting it to the police is useless. The authorities do not stop intellectual property theft, and the government may even be involved. He said he quickly learned this and became fed up.

Luckey noted that many displays and semiconductors for Oculus products came from Taiwan. This made him realize Taiwan's unique position in the global tech industry, leading the rest of the world. "Some things in the world exist because Taiwan is a leader in technology. I don't want this advantage to disappear," he said.

Luckey, who visited Taiwan multiple times for Oculus business, said this was his fourth visit for Anduril. His personal connection to Taiwan goes further. He revealed that one of Anduril's co-founders, Joe Chen, is Taiwanese and recently accompanied his mother on a return trip to Taiwan.

"So, you know, if you have a Ukrainian friend, you might not like Russia very much," Luckey said. "The principle is the same." (Editor: Lin Xingmeng) 1150604