Atoms, bits, and the trillion-dollar manufacturing race

The clean energy transition has a hardware problem

The electric grid is under pressure from every direction: surging demand from AI data centers, electrification, utility-scale renewables, and new industrial loads. But according to Drew Baglino, one of the biggest constraints isn’t generation, it’s the aging hardware that moves electricity across the system. In this episode, Alfred Johnson sits down with Drew Baglino, founder and CEO of Heron Power and former Tesla executive, to discuss why power electronics have become critical bottlenecks in the clean energy transition. After nearly two decades at Tesla leading powertrain, charging, and energy systems, Drew is now focused on rethinking the electrical infrastructure underlying the modern grid. Together, they dig into the explosive growth in electricity demand, the supply chain constraints facing medium-voltage transformers, and Heron Power’s effort to replace traditional transformer systems with software-enabled solid-state power electronics. Baglino explains how modular, semiconductor-based systems could make grids more reliable, easier to service, safer, and dramatically faster to deploy. Critical Capital is a co-production of Crux and Latitude Studios. Learn more [https://www.cruxclimate.com/] about how Crux is financing the future of energy.

Can U.S. industrial trade policy stay on course?

For decades, the United States bet on globalization: open markets, cheaper goods, and far-flung supply chains. But that model is breaking down. After pandemic disruptions and rising tensions with China, a new bipartisan consensus is emerging that America needs to rebuild its industrial base. The real question now isn’t whether to reshore critical industries, it’s whether the U.S. can do it consistently. In this episode, we sit down with Sarah Bianchi, former Deputy U.S. Trade Representative and current senior managing director at Evercore, to unpack the forces reshaping global trade, industrial policy, and investment. Drawing on decades inside Washington and firsthand experience negotiating trade deals, Sarah explains how we got here and why political volatility may be the biggest risk to America’s economic strategy. Critical Capital is a co-production of Crux and Latitude Studios. Learn more [https://www.cruxclimate.com/] about how Crux is financing the future of energy.

Atoms, bits, and the trillion-dollar manufacturing race

For 40 years, the U.S. economy has been optimizing itself for the digital world while exporting its physical manufacturing capabilities. Now, the rise of AI is leaving a massive physical footprint in the form of data centers, power plants, and supply chains. In this first episode of Critical Capital, Crux CEO and host Alfred Johnson sits down with Aidan Madigan-Curtis, partner at Eclipse Ventures, to discuss why the next generation of trillion-dollar companies will be built where "atoms and bits" connect. They trace the industrial arc from the Gilded Age to the modern age of physical AI, exploring the geopolitical "dance" with China and the radical energy shifts required to power the future along the way. And they ask: Who wins when the digital world runs headfirst into the physical one?  Critical Capital is a co-production of Crux and Latitude Studios. Learn more [https://www.cruxclimate.com/] about how Crux is financing the future of energy.

Introducing: Critical Capital

The future of energy isn’t shaped by technology alone. It’s shaped by markets, policy, capital flows, and the institutions that connect them. Trillions of dollars are moving into clean and critical infrastructure, across energy, advanced manufacturing, supply chains, AI, and digital infrastructure. But the forces driving those investments are complex, global, and often misunderstood. Alfred Johnson is the CEO of Crux, the capital platform for the clean economy. He has spent his career working at the intersection of finance, software, and public policy. On Critical Capital, Alfred talks with the people deploying capital, shaping policy, and laying the foundation for the modern economy. This is a show about how power moves across markets, institutions, and systems — and what that means for the future of energy. Episodes drop every other Tuesday, starting April 28. Subscribe to Critical Capital wherever you get your podcasts, or listen at cruxclimate.com [http://cruxclimate.com].