Asutosh Padhi - The Titanium Economy: How Industrial Technology Can Create a Better, Faster, Stronger America

A funny thing happened on the way to the collapse of Americas manufacturing sector: it actually didnt.

While innumerable headlines of the past three to four decades have chronicled the decline of US manufacturing, the coverage has almost entirely overlooked a resurgence thats well underway. Much of the industrial sector is thriving, brimming with innovation, offering high-quality jobs with good pay and benefits, and producing strong financial returns. In fact, the returns boasted by some of the companies at the heart of the most dynamic part of the manufacturing sector, which we call the Titanium Economy, have exceeded those of the vaunted Silicon Valley FAANG tech starsFacebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Google.

We lovingly refer to this collection of high-tech manufacturing firms as the Titanium Economy because their namesake metal shares a great many characteristics with the companies we identified. Titanium is extremely durable and corrosion-resistant. It is incredibly strong relative to its weight. Perhaps most importantly, many of us likely wouldnt recognize titanium by appearancebut its around us everywhere we lookin our cars, our mobile phones, our jewelry, sports equipment, surgical tools, and more. These Titanium Economy companies are quite similar to their namesake metalmany have persisted for decades, weathering numerous economic storms yet emerging stronger.

The Titanium Economy is composed of a robust collection of firms youve probably never heard of, innovating in ways youve likely not read about, making groundbreaking products critical to trends as leading-edge as e-commerce, electric vehicles, and autonomous driving. What all these companies have in common is a relentless drive for innovation and a zeal to embrace and deploy new technology that rivals the appetites of the Apples and Googles of the world. Some are phoenixes that have risen from the ashes of the old industrial model, having adopted leading-edge technology, while others have been steadily achieving stellar growth for decades. Why havent they received more coverage? Its because most people, even in investing circles, simply dont know about them.

You Dont Appreciate What You Cannot See

Titanium Economy companies arent business-to-consumer brands that take out Super Bowl ads, nor do many of them make products that consumers can purchase. The products they do make, however, enable the creation of products and services that are critical to our daily lives, as well as to finding solutions to the many pressing problems the United States is facing, from battling climate change, to creating a more sustainable and reliable food system, to restoring and upgrading infrastructure. Their CEOs arent often featured on CNBC or the front page of the Wall Street Journal , but theyre an incredibly driven bunch who have helmed their companies across decades of consistent innovations and profits. And while these companies arent unicorns, planning headline-grabbing IPOs or hoping for multi-billion-dollar valuations, they are as crucial to the current US economyand we would argue even more so to our collective futureas the vaunted tech darlings.

For one quick example, consider Qorvo, a little-known company located not far from Disney World in Florida. Qorvo manufactures a critical part for mobile phones and is the only facility in the world making it at scale. Without that part, you wouldnt be able to talk and text at the same time. Nobody outside of the mobile phone manufacturing industry appreciates what Qorvo does, but if that factory stopped production for some reason, many billions of dollars would go along with it.

Wherever we go, and whatever we do, an invisible network of Titanium Economy companies is always at work, supporting our lives in vital but often imperceptible ways. But that invisibility means the brilliance and importance of their contributions have gone mostly unsung. To give you a taste of how seamlessly the innovations of the Titanium Economy are woven into our lives, consider how they might make one day in your busy life a whole lot smoother and more productive.

Your smartphone trills at 6:30 a.m. Before showering, you slip out the patio door for a moment of solitude on your back deck before diving into what is sure to be another hectic day. Youre heading out of town in a few hours for a series of critical business meetings, and youre due back tomorrow to see your daughter in her school production of High School Musical . If all goes as planned, youll be in your seat before the curtain rises.

You reach for the new shirt you ordered just two days ago, with expedited shipping, to replace the one you accidentally dumped half an oversized Reuben sandwich on last week. The thought of that Reuben makes your stomach grumble, and you pull up an app on your phone to order scrambled eggs and a breakfast sandwich for pickup on the way to the airport. On second thought, for the sake of the new shirt, you change that to a plain bagel, along with your usual coffee. The last thing you hear as you bolt out the door is your daughter calling out, See you at the show.