Defense industry manufacturing startup Hadrian Automation Inc. said today it has closed on a fresh capital infusion of $260 million led by Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund and Lux Capital, bringing its total amount raised to date to more than $500 million.

Today’s Series C round also saw participation from previous investors Andreessen Horowitz and new backers including Brad Gerstner’s Altimeter Capital, the company said.

Hadrian wants to revolutionize manufacturing on American shores by implementing advanced, artificial intelligence-based automation to help mass-produce components for defense and aerospace industry customers at a small fraction of the time and cost for which they’re currently produced. It’s aiming to disrupt an industry that’s largely in the hands of dozens of smaller machining operators that rely on aging workforces.

The startup’s initial factories were focused on precision Computer Numerical Control machining. That’s a process that’s used to make metallic components with extremely precise measurements, generally measured in microns – thinner than a human hair – rather than millimeters.

Having built its first CNC machining factory, Hadrian founder and Chief Executive Chris Power revealed on X the company is now looking to expand into precision welding, casting and additive manufacturing.

Hadrian is announcing a $260m Series C lead by @foundersfund + @Lux_Capital + @MorganStanley for (Factory Expansion financing). We’re also welcoming new investors @altimeter, @1789Capital + investments from existing investors @a16z, @constructcap, @137ventures and many others.… pic.twitter.com/iunmL2v15j

— Chris Power (@2112Power) July 17, 2025

As for the company’s longer-term goals, what it wants to do is surpass the model that helped propel China to become the world’s manufacturing hub. It intends to do so by employing automation alongside skilled human operators, Power told CNBC in an interview. “It’s about supercharging the worker versus replacing them,” he explained.

Hadrian will use part of the funds from today’s round to finance the construction of its third factory, a new 270,000-square-foot facility that’s dubbed “Factory 3,” located in Mesa, Arizona, and set to come online by the end of the year. In addition, it will also expand its existing 500,000-square-foot factory in Torrance, California, as well as its research and development facility at the same location.

According to Power, the new facility will be able to deliver four times the production output of its existing California-based factory, despite being smaller. It’ll create about 350 new local jobs, and is the first of a planned four to five new facilities it intends to build.

Holger Mueller of Constellation Research Inc. said “Much of the western world’s defense spending has stagnated, leading to an atrophying of manufacturing and supply chain capabilities, while the products themselves have also changed.

“The old manufacturing capabilities will not provide the defense industry with what it needs for the future,” the analyst explained. “Instead, it’s going to come from innovators like Hadrian, which are creating a better, more modern supply chain for the defense industry.”

The startup, which was founded in 2020, is competing with defense manufacturing mainstays such as Northrup Grumman Corp. and Lockheed Martin Corp., and says it has already won a number of contracts from the U.S. Department of Defense.

Its factories make extensive use of AI and robotics to automate as much of the production process as possible, Power explained. He added that it’s filling a huge gap, because demand from the defense industry is growing, but there is a lack of skilled personnel in areas such as ship and submarine-building. “As a country, we have to treat this like a national security crisis, not just the economics of manufacturing,” Power said.

Hadrian reckons its automation-first approach means it can train the workers it needs to operate its factories within just 30 days, and make them 10 times more productive on average. Its existing workforce includes ex-services personnel and former nurses who had previously never set foot in a factory.

The new factory will make parts to order for various defense industry customers, but in future it’s also pitching an alternative, “factory-as-a-service” business model, where it will build dedicated manufacturing plants for customers that require guaranteed factory capacity.

Photo: Hadrian Automation