Anduril and Qualcomm unveil BlueChip, a rugged US-assembled military laptop

The first BlueChip laptops will be designed and assembled in the United States, according to Anduril, with assembly planned at its Arsenal-1 facility in Ohio. The companies said the initial customer is the US military, followed by first responders and public safety agencies, with consumer laptops lowest on the priority list. The prototype has a rifle strap-style carrying handle and will run Windows or two undisclosed Linux versions, The Verge reported.

Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon said the company intends to manufacture processors for the laptop at TSMC’s Arizona facility, according to The Verge. Qualcomm declined to provide more details on its investment. Anduril CEO Palmer Luckey said BlueChip is funded entirely by the two companies, not government subsidies.

Accounts of how much of the laptop will be made in the United States differed. The Verge reported that the first BlueChip laptops will only be designed and assembled in the US and that Luckey said component questions were TBD, with the first model likely below the 65% domestic-content threshold for federal procurement. TechCrunch reported that Anduril says about 90% of first-generation components will be made in the US or allied countries, with a technical roadmap to 100% domestic production over time.

Luckey said display glass, the frame around the display and parts of a ribbon component are planned to be US-made from the start, The Verge reported. TechCrunch reported that the display itself is among components currently made only in China. The companies have not finished contracting with all component suppliers, according to Luckey.

Luckey described BlueChip as an anti-surveillance computer whose supply chain and software customers can track and audit, TechCrunch reported. Anduril is working to ensure the Arm-based machine runs Windows apps, Linux distributions used by government agencies and older software some agencies still use. No price has been announced; Luckey estimated it would cost about 20% more than typical high-end PCs.

The launch is aimed at US government agencies that must buy US-made computers, though the first model is not designed for ordinary consumers. Luckey said a typical consumer without a patriotic motive would be better off buying a Dell laptop because it would be cheaper. The rugged computer market is already about $5 billion, he said.

At an invite-only press conference, Luckey said he will not leave California over a proposed billionaire wealth tax, despite opposing it, TechCrunch reported. Luckey, who sold Oculus VR to Facebook for $2 billion in 2014 and whose Anduril is valued at $61 billion, said the measure would cause problems and prompt some people and companies to leave, but that he is staying because he considers California special.

He said other billionaires had pressed him to leave, arguing that staying would show there are no consequences, but he did not agree. He said he objects less to paying taxes than to the measure’s design. The proposal would tax unrealized and illiquid wealth and impose penalties as high as 40%, according to TechCrunch. Luckey said the biggest problem is that it would tax control of a company; he estimated he could owe about $3 billion, or 5% of Anduril’s value, on that asset alone. The Tax Foundation says the measure would treat someone with voting control as owning at least that share, while the measure’s drafters say that reading is mistaken and that super-voting shares are publicly traded assets valued differently.

Luckey said his voting rights depend on being an American citizen living in America and running Anduril, and that he plans to keep fighting the measure and hopes legal challenges follow if it passes.