Hadrian Raises $1.37 Billion to Build AI-Powered Defense Factories Across the US

Key points

• Hadrian Automation raised $1.37 billion in new equity financing, the company announced last week.
• The funding values Hadrian at $7.87 billion, up from $1.6 billion in January 2025.
• Hadrian operates four factory sites totalling just under 3 million square feet across California, Arizona, and Alabama.
• JPMorganChase, WCM Investment Management, Andreessen Horowitz, and Founders Fund are among the investors in the round.
• Hadrian plans to open additional factories and expand into munitions and autonomous-systems production over the next year.

A startup that builds highly automated factories for the US military and aerospace industries just pulled in one of the largest manufacturing investment rounds in recent memory.

Hadrian Automation, based in Torrance, California, announced $1.37 billion in new funding last week, as first reported by The Robot Report. The round brings the company's total valuation to $7.87 billion, a figure that has grown nearly five times over since January, when a separate investment put it at $1.6 billion.

What does Hadrian actually do?

Hadrian builds factories that combine AI, machine learning, robotics, and specialist software to make precision parts for defence, aerospace, and industrial customers. Think of it as a contract manufacturer, but one where much of the work that a human machinist used to do is handled by software and robots.

Founded in 2020, the company runs its factories on a proprietary software system called Opus, which manages and automates the production process end to end. Its stated ambition is to rebuild US industrial capacity and compete directly with China's manufacturing base.

At the moment, Hadrian runs four sites. Its original 100,000-square-foot factory in Torrance is now joined by newer facilities in Mesa, Arizona, and Muscle Shoals, Alabama, bringing total capacity to just under 3 million square feet.

Where does the money go?

New factories, new production lines, and new workers. Hadrian says the capital will let it move beyond making individual precision parts and start delivering complete military systems. That expansion includes munitions production and hardware for autonomous systems, two areas where US defence planners say domestic supply has struggled to keep pace with demand.

The company also frames itself as building a new kind of manufacturing workforce, hiring and training technicians and engineers to work alongside its robots rather than replacing them outright.

"Production is now the frontline of deterrence," said Chris Power, Hadrian's founder and chief executive. "America's ability to lead will depend on whether we can build, train, and scale faster."

Who put up the money?

The round was co-led by WCM Investment Management, Washington Harbour Partners, Valor Equity Partners, 137 Ventures, and Baillie Gifford. JPMorganChase's Strategic Investment Group joined as anchor co-lead, investing through the firm's Security and Resiliency Initiative. Additional backing came from Apollo, T. Rowe Price Associates, Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, 1789 Capital, CapitalG, Andreessen Horowitz, Founders Fund, Lux Capital, and Altimeter, among others.

The breadth of that list, spanning defence-focused funds, major banks, and Silicon Valley venture firms, signals broad institutional confidence that US government demand for domestic manufacturing capacity will remain high.

For ordinary Americans, the story is fairly straightforward: a well-funded private company is betting that the US government will keep spending heavily on domestic weapons and aerospace production, and that automated factories can deliver those goods faster and cheaper than the current industrial base can.