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The Elon-Trump Feud: Why CEOs Should Care
Satya on AI-PCs, China's energy dominance, and Factory's coding agents
Nathan Lands
June 06, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 6 minutes
Welcome to Lore Brief, your weekly edge in the age of AI. Read by over 37,000 executives and leaders.
This issue is brought to you by Factory.
Inside: Factory.ai, the Devin Killer
RIP Devin?
@FactoryAI launched Droids this week. I used it to clone Docusign in 20 minutes. That's a $18B company.
It’s LITERALLY insane 😳
Here's how it works:
— Nathan Lands - Lore.com (@NathanLands)
11:57 AM • Jun 5, 2025
Factory is the Sequoia-backed startup going beyond flaky vibe-coded demos to production-grade agents your team can actually trust.
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I recently got a demo of Factory, and it genuinely exceeded my expectations. I think this is the next $100B AI startup.
Check out our recent podcast episode to learn more about Factory’s vision.
The Elon-Trump Feud: Why CEOs Should Care
Elon VS Trump is wild
But I get it
Trump just increased 🇺🇸 debt
And hurt 🇺🇸 solar
The only way to solve our debt, if we're not going to massively cut, is AI. Which needs massive solar
No wonder Elon is pissed
If these two don't makeup, China wins
6 wild stats:
— Nathan Lands - Lore.com (@NathanLands)
8:56 AM • Jun 6, 2025
This week's public meltdown between Elon Musk and Donald Trump isn't just celebrity drama. It's a warning sign for American competitiveness that every executive should understand.
If America doesn't start producing more energy, especially solar, we will lose AI leadership to China. Which means a very different looking future.
The Real Stakes Behind the Twitter War
While the headlines focus on personal attacks and stock crashes, the underlying conflict reveals something deeper: a fundamental tension in American energy and tech policy.
Musk's frustration with Trump's spending bill isn't about ego. It's about strategic priorities in an increasingly competitive global landscape.
Elon wanted the US to reduce debt and increase solar production - which would make us competitive with China. Instead, the "Big Beautiful Bill" does the opposite: increasing debt by $2.4T while removing the solar and battery subsidies that have kept American solar competitive.
The numbers are stark. China installed 45.2 GW of solar capacity in April 2025 alone. That potentially matches what the US will install in an entire year. While America's two most prominent figures wage war on social media, Chinese companies are quietly building the infrastructure that will power the AI economy.
Yes, right now we have better chips and AI models. But they have better drones and robots. And most importantly, they’re producing more energy. AGI, and ASI, is going to require massive amounts of energy. And in that area, China is leaping ahead.
Why This Matters
This isn't just about energy policy. It's about understanding the macro forces that will reshape entire industries over the next decade.
Energy infrastructure = economic power. The countries that control energy production will dominate AI development. Period.
Supply chains are shifting. China's control of 80% of solar manufacturing isn't an accident. It's strategy.
Political drama has real consequences. You can think whatever you want of Elon personally, but Tesla lost $230+ billion in market value because two leaders couldn't get along. Personal conflicts at the top cascade through entire ecosystems. And ultimately, they hurt America.
The next $100B empires won’t just be AI LLM's they’ll own the rails:
- Land
- Energy
- Servers
- Cooling
- ManufacturingThis is AI Infrastructure as a Service. Think cloud kitchens but for AGI. Build the stack, lease the system.
— Jesse Tinsley (@JesseTinsley)
12:28 AM • May 24, 2025
This is exactly the kind of full-stack thinking America needs. While we debate tax credits, China is building the physical infrastructure to control AI at scale: land, energy, servers, cooling, manufacturing.
Looking Ahead
Whether Musk and Trump reconcile or continue their public battle, the underlying challenge remains: America needs to accelerate its energy infrastructure development to remain competitive with China in the AI age.
The companies that recognize this shift early and position themselves accordingly will have significant advantages in the coming decade.
The question for executives isn't whether this political drama matters to your business. It's whether you're prepared for the energy and technology landscape that emerges from it.
Satya Nadella Talks the Future of AI-PCs
This week, Matt sat down with Satya Nadella to discuss the future of AI-powered PCs. It was a fascinating conversation. Enjoy! → Watch | Listen
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Things I’m Learning From
Supermemory AI – Your second brain, actually works
ElevenLabs V3 – Voice cloning reaches new heights
Idea Browser – AI-generated content, human-curated quality
That’s it for today.
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(Disclosure: I may own equity in companies mentioned in Lore Brief.)