
War, AI, and Grid Stress: Why This Is Solar Power’s Moment
The war in Iran is solar power’s Covid moment.
Technology is vital to a large and growing part of daily life, communications, the economy, and national defense. The US is and must remain the world’s preeminent technology leader. We must act to bring back to the US much of the technology manufacturing that has been offshored.
Semiconductors, software, wireless and wireline communications, video communications, renewable energy, and other modern technologies are essential to US security and the health of our economy. The US must support growth and innovation in our world-leading technology businesses. We must ensure continued US leadership. Our technology industry is under attack from foreign nations who engage in IP theft and cyberespionage on a daily basis. The US government must defend those companies. Foreign technology companies, especially from China, use massive government subsidies, protectionist policies, and other illegal means of furthering their own national champions, at great cost to American companies. We must counter those threats with industrial policies that ensure US research and development leads the world. We must rebuild our technology manufacturing capability. Many modern technology products are not manufactured in the US and we must address this situation with support for re-shoring technology production.

The war in Iran is solar power’s Covid moment.

The race to commercialize nuclear fusion will define the next era of geopolitical power. By one estimate, a single glass of fusion fuel carries the energy equivalent of one million gallons of oil, enough to power a home for more than 800 years.

The report finds that China has consolidated global dominance in the midstream stages of battery supply chains—refining and chemical conversion—giving the Chinese Communist Party significant influence over pricing, supply availability, and industrial investment.

Should Chinese organizations and individuals be allowed to donate to American colleges, and should their PhD students have access to scientific research grants? It’s not an easy question to answer.

On Capitol Hill, the defense narrative clearly gets legislators’ attention. It remains the surest way to get Members of Congress thinking about reindustrialization and rebuilding domestic supply chains.

For the first time, the new portal provides the American public with detailed access to reported foreign funding, including gifts and contracts from entities designated as “entities of concern” on nine federal government watchlists.