How Silicon Valley and Silicon Beach are embracing military technologies.

From American Public Media, this is Marketplace Tech.

I'm Novosavo.

Silicon Valley is in the San Francisco Bay Area, Silicon Beach, in Southern California.

Both are powerhouse tech hubs.

In addition, the Los Angeles area is historically a hub for aerospace and defense contractors.

These worlds are converging more than ever.

So far this year, L.A. defense tech companies have raised $4 billion

in funding more than double last year's hall. That's according to Los Angeles Times tech

reporter Queenie Wong. She told me venture capital firms are increasingly embracing military-focused

tech. Some of what experts have said is, you know, there has been sort of like this shift in sentiment,

especially with the new administration, where people are more open to supporting the use of

AI in the military. And also there's just a lot of money to be made because when you're a VC firm,

you're looking for the potential for growth and you're also looking for a return on your investment. And with

these contracts, you know, some of them total like billions of dollars through several years.

Sometimes it's hundreds of millions of dollars. And it's also sort of like an opportunity for these

tech companies to develop technology and advance AI. And they can use those learnings and

apply it to what they're building for consumers. And so what are some of these startups in the

Los Angeles area, particularly? And you focused on the Los Angeles area because it is showing

such a dramatic shift there, right, in development of this kind of cross-pollinating of aerospace,

defense, and high technology.

Yeah, I mean, it's sort of like the hotbed for defense tech.

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