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Digging Deeper Inside Physical AI’s Hardware Stack Powering Humanoids

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Digging Deeper Inside Physical AI’s Hardware Stack Powering Humanoids

Building on our “Physical AI Faces One Critical Chokepoint, and Here’s How to Profit“ report earlier this week, Barclays analysts are closing out the week with a comprehensive map of the humanoid value chain.

As readers look beyond flashy Chinese Unitree robot demonstrations, attention is shifting toward the critical hardware stack, including motors, actuators, sensors, and batteries, and the deep supply-chain players positioned to reap the rewards before global humanoid deliveries begin to ramp up.

Anatomy of a humanoid robot

“While the humanoid market remains small today, at roughly $2-3bn, forecasts range from $10-25bn by 2030, with more optimistic scenarios reaching ~$200bn by 2035, as detailed in (open in new tab)Global Macro – AI gets physical: Ten things to know about humanoids(open in new tab),” Barclays analyst William Thompson wrote in a note on Thursday.

Within the hardware stack, reducers – high-precision gearing systems embedded in actuators – have been high barriers to entry and are led by Japanese players such as Harmonic Drive Systems and Nabtesco, while rare earth materials – particularly magnets used in high-performance motors – create strategic dependencies, with supply chains heavily concentrated in China.

Actuators are the biggest hardware prize. A humanoid may require 40 to 70 actuators, representing roughly 30% to 50% of the material bill. This makes motors, reducers, bearings, and motion-control systems  critically important.

The current supply chain for humanoids is mostly dominated by China.

The supply chain will likely be shaped by geopolitics as much as technology. China currently leads in humanoid deployment volumes and holds strong positions across several parts of the value chain, including rare earth processing, motors, batteries, and robot manufacturing.

However, growing U.S. and European scrutiny of Chinese technology and industrial supply chains could influence market access, procurement decisions, localization requirements, and ultimately the geographic distribution of production and deployment. As a result, humanoid supply chains may become increasingly regionalized over time, with parallel hardware, software, and manufacturing ecosystems emerging across China and Western markets.

Thompson provided a deep understanding of how to profit from the humanoid robotic value chain by subcategory.

Earlier this week, Bernstein analyst Dien Wang warned about “critical chokepoints” in the humanoid robotic supply chain, outlining high-performance motors, robotic actuators, and rare-earth minerals that are mostly dominated by China.

“A humanoid robot can consume more than twice as much magnetic material as an EV motor (Exhibit 3), highlighting the growing strategic importance of rare-earth magnets,” Wang said.

He outlined that China’s dominance in rare earth magnets is troubling in an “increasingly multipolar world.”

Taken together, both Barclays and Bernstein notes suggest the humanoid robotics value chain remains dangerously exposed to China and concentrated Asian supply chains. The Trump admin must accelerate the development of domestic production for motors, rare earth magnets, precision reducers, semiconductors, and other critical actuator components.

If Beijing moves on Taiwan, U.S. robot manufacturers could lose access not only to advanced chips but also to the motion-control systems needed to build humanoids at scale. In that scenario, America’s physical-AI ambitions could grind to an instant halt

Professional subscribers can read a whole lot more on humanoids here at our new Marketdesk.ai portal. 

Tyler Durden
Fri, 08/07/2026 – 23:00

ADNOC Reports 15 Vessel Attacks As Hormuz Risks Mount

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ADNOC Reports 15 Vessel Attacks As Hormuz Risks Mount

Submitted by Julianne Geiger of OilPrice.com

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company said attacks on its vessels and employees are having a significant impact on operations as the company tries to keep crude, gas and refined products moving through the Strait of Hormuz.

Fifteen ADNOC vessels have been hit by missiles or drones since the war began, including three this week, the company said Friday. One crew member has been killed and 20 others injured.

The Strait of Hormuz carried roughly one-fifth of global oil consumption before the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran expanded into a broader regional conflict. Repeated attacks on commercial vessels have disrupted traffic through the waterway, driven freight costs sharply higher, and made some shipowners reluctant to enter the Persian Gulf.

ADNOC said it is working with authorities to protect personnel and assets while meeting customer requirements “as much as possible” in what it called an exceptionally challenging operating environment.

The attacks are hitting one of the few Gulf producers that has managed to restore exports close to pre-war levels. The UAE has relied on crude loading points outside Hormuz, including Fujairah, while continuing to move some barrels through the strait despite the security risk.

ADNOC is expanding its own shipping capacity even as those risks increase. Its logistics arm announced Friday that it had acquired six very large crude carriers and five very large gas carriers for about $1.3 billion.

Nine of those vessels are scheduled to enter service this quarter, with two newbuild gas carriers due in the fourth quarter. ADNOC Logistics & Services already owns more than 340 vessels and operates another 600 chartered ships.

The fleet additions are intended to support higher crude and LNG exports as ADNOC expands production and trading volumes. The company also ordered four new LNG carriers last month in a $900 million deal.

“Freedom of navigation and the safe, uninterrupted passage of commercial shipping through international waterways must be respected and protected,” ADNOC said Friday.

Tyler Durden
Fri, 08/07/2026 – 22:35

DHS Hiring “Bounty Hunters” For Overseas Tracking Of Deported Migrants

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DHS Hiring “Bounty Hunters” For Overseas Tracking Of Deported Migrants

The Trump administration is planning to hire private investigators to track down deported immigrants in their home countries, verify where they live, and deliver notices seeking payment of U.S. immigration fines, according to Wired.

The proposed program, budgeted at up to $9 million over two years, would cover countries including Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras.

Rather than collecting money directly, contractors would be paid to confirm a person’s location using evidence such as photographs of their residence, public records, utility bills, employment information, or other documentation accepted by the government. They would also hand-deliver notices listing any outstanding penalties.

Wired writes that the initiative comes as DHS says it has assessed more than $84 billion in civil immigration fines, including “failure-to-depart” penalties that can accumulate to hundreds of thousands—or even millions—of dollars. Although the administration has encouraged migrants to self-deport by promising to forgive many of these fines, legal advocates argue the new overseas tracking effort undercuts that message because some penalties can still remain.

Immigration attorneys and civil rights groups describe the program as a major expansion of enforcement, saying it targets people who have already left the United States and raises due process and privacy concerns. CBP, meanwhile, maintains that the effort is intended to enforce existing legal obligations and notify individuals of debts owed to the U.S. government.

Legal experts say the initiative represents a major escalation. NYU law professor Alina Das called it a “significant escalation in tactics,” while attorney Charles Moore described it as “part and parcel” of the administration’s broader immigration crackdown. Hasan Shafiqullah, who is challenging the fines in court, questioned the effort’s purpose: “What’s the point of this?“

The proposal builds on ICE’s growing use of private “skip-tracing” contractors inside the United States, extending similar investigative practices to people living abroad.

Tyler Durden
Fri, 08/07/2026 – 22:10

Trump To Announce $180 Million Grants For Mining Industry

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Trump To Announce $180 Million Grants For Mining Industry

Authored by Emel Akan via The Epoch Times,

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump is set to host a major mining industry roundtable on Friday at the State Department, bringing together nearly 200 business leaders, educators, and government officials to strengthen domestic mining companies.

President Donald Trump arrives to speak at General Motors proving ground, Monday, July 27, 2026, in Milford, Mich. AP Photo/Alex Brandon

At the event, the president is expected to announce over $180 million in grants to expand workforce training and trade programs for the mining industry, according to the White House. CBS first reported the plan.

The Department of Energy is launching a $100 million grant program to support scholarships and related initiatives. Universities, community colleges, trade schools, industry groups, and other partners will be eligible to apply.

Additionally, the military is providing over $80 million in funding to three universities for technology and workforce development programs. The recipients are the Colorado School of Mines, the South Dakota School of Mines, and Johns Hopkins University.

“The mining industry has never had a greater champion than President Trump,” White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers told The Epoch Times in an email.

“His unprecedented support has driven record investment, streamlined permitting, and delivered real results for American workers, companies, and communities. President Trump is the first president in decades to prioritize our country’s mining industry, unleash its abundant resources, and build the next generation of American miners.”

The meeting comes as the White House is working to reduce America’s reliance on China for critical minerals and processed metals, which are essential for the U.S. defense and technology sectors.

Key cabinet members attending include Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. Industry executives from Resolution Copper, MP Materials, American Ocean Minerals, Ivanhoe, and Century Aluminum will also participate, according to the White House.

The new funding is expected to develop skilled workers and strengthen supply chains for the American mining industry.

Tyler Durden
Fri, 08/07/2026 – 21:45

What Else Are They Hiding?

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What Else Are They Hiding?

Authored by Jeffrey Tucker via The Epoch Times,

This past couples of weeks was a wild ride. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) released many thousands of pages of documentation concerning the strange world of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) while Dr. Anthony Fauci was at the height of his power as head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Fauci’s wife headed the ethics department for the entire agency.

His tenure there came to an end in December 2022, following three years in which he was celebrated by mass media as the nation’s leading voice for science and the man with all the answers for dealing with a respiratory pandemic. He was on television daily, sitting for as many as 12 interviews a day.

All this while, he kept careful logs of each day, while working with a large staff to prepare the document as the first draft of an autobiography. He believed that he would go down in history with exactly the reputation the media had cultivated for him. He lobbied for and amassed dozens of awards, some of which paid in the high six figures. He was sought after and doted on by all the elites.

All at once, it has fallen apart.

The simple reason: The agency he once occupied is now run by a man and people he had ferociously denounced in public and private.

The release was an act not of revenge but of simple transparency.

The American people deserve to know the truth about a time in which accurate information was denied to them through censorship and media propaganda.

It’s a rare treat.

We find out, for example, that the billionaire Bill Gates has special security clearances at NIH, where at every visit he was treated like royalty. Gates cleared his book on pandemics with Fauci, who recommended an editor at NIH, none other than Dr. David Morens, who has been charged with document destruction.

The revelations go on and on seemingly without limit. I started reading as soon as the diary was released. I saw that it was 1,100 pages, but that’s full pages in small type. In book form, it would be 2,400 pages. I could not stop reading. Having lived and breathed every day of this, I was fascinated to see Fauci’s own thinking in light of the world outside.

Not only was my weekend gone completely, but also, without notice, the project took up the next day and evening and then again. And again. It was late Thursday afternoon before I finished. My notes on the salient parts, the truly astounding material, alone took up 30 pages along with screenshots. I had lost so much sleep over these days and canceled every appointment. It was all too delicious to resist.

And you know why, correct?

For years we had been stuffed to the gills with the greatness myth. Then it suddenly all unraveled, slowly but furiously and all at once. The author was put in front of a Senate subcommittee and questioned in great detail about the origin of the virus, the contracts, the cover-ups, the angling for fame and fortune, and so much more.

At every question, the witness would only invoke his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent to avoid self-incrimination. But this alone was strange because the witness had already gained a full pardon for any misdeeds dating back to 2014. He could have confessed all and then some and faced no prosecution. All he had to do was tell the truth.

He was vulnerable only to the charge of perjury, but even that he could not risk. So he remained silent throughout, invoking his Fifth Amendment right 111 times. I have watched many Senate hearings in my life. I had never seen one like this. The drama was intense. I was not there, but those who were said it was even more fiery in person.

There is really no way to sum up our current moment.

In 2019, the economy was doing well and Trump was popular. There were the usual political divisions but no real emergency on the horizon. All at once in the first months of 2020, everything fell apart and a foreign regime was visited upon us, complete with new protocols that required staying home and standing apart from people and covering our faces. We could not go to church, visit the sick, or travel to other countries.

A year later came the promised relief that turned out not to hold up but instead caused more suffering. All the while, trust in the system we had never really questioned began to collapse. We were routinely instructed to trust this Dr. Fauci. Most of the dissidents, including my friends who wrote the Great Barrington Declaration, were censored. Our accounts were threatened and removed. Many were debanked.

Our world collapsed completely, and all these years we’ve cried out for answers. We’ve received only bits and pieces, enough to cobble together workable theories.

Seemingly out of nowhere, we are sitting on tens of thousands of pages of revelations. We can only read with amazement at the inner workings of government, the chaos, the pettiness, the corruption, the confusion, the deception. It’s all here, and now we see that there was a strong basis for why trust had evaporated. It seems as if every conspiracy theory was coming true.

Consider too that we have all these documents only because Fauci left so much behind on government computers. We also have men and women of conscience in charge of releasing them. Millions of hours of painstaking work are behind these releases, all done in the service of truth.

It’s really not possible to feel any joy from what we read. There is only tragedy, not only in the life of one man but also in all those who followed him and the nation that suffered so much from living under his diktat. At the very least, we are entitled to hear answers from him, point by point, but instead we get silence.

The list of institutions that have been hit hard by this is long and includes large media, academia, the scientific establishment, the world of professional medicine, and government itself. We cannot help but wonder today what is real and what is fake, what can be trusted and what is too far gone ever to be trusted again. No one ever wanted to be where we are today at the 250th anniversary of the country, to see how the dreams and ideals of our Founders have been so trounced and disrespected by so many in power. And yet that is where we are.

There is some deeply profound poetry about this moment. As sad as all of this is, and as much as it pains us today to think of all who have suffered, we should feel gratitude mainly for the truth to which we suddenly have access. For me, reading all these releases has been something of a catharsis. I hope you too will read and not merely trust media summaries or artificial intelligence reductions. It needs to be read in full to get the whole picture.

Nor can we shelve that great, great question: What else is being hidden from us, and for how long? Trust cannot return until we know the full truth. I suspect that this will take many years, and that’s fine. We can be patient.

Let there be no despair in the land today. These files have been released by men and women of enormous courage and conviction. They have taken huge risks to stand up for what is right. They have given us all a gift, the evidence that our instincts that something was not right were on target. They are evidence that redemption is not only possible; it is happening.

In those dark days of 2020 when the world seemed to be collapsing, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya of Stanford University would call me with a grave sense of moral urgency. “What can we do to stop the madness?” he would ask. He did what he could then. Now he finds himself as the head of the National Institutes of Health, working to begin the process of rebuilding. We have a very long way to go, but the essential first steps are done.

We are going to get what we seek: the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

Tyler Durden
Fri, 08/07/2026 – 20:55

Iran Launches Battlefield Trophy Propaganda Campaign With Captured US Reaper Drone

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Iran Launches Battlefield Trophy Propaganda Campaign With Captured US Reaper Drone

The off-ramp narrative is growing louder. With the US midterm elections quickly approaching, the Trump administration may have reached its “declare victory and leave” moment, shifting from military operations toward a negotiated peace deal, one that must last more than one month. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent reinforced that possibility earlier, saying the Strait of Hormuz could reopen “today or tomorrow.”

As US negotiations with Tehran appear to be ongoing, the Iranian semi-official news agency Tasnim has released battlefield trophy propaganda that appears to show largely intact U.S. MQ-9 Reaper and Israeli Hermes 900 drones, and even parts of an F-15 fighter jet.

X user The Hormuz Letter said:

Iran has released an image of a fully intact Israeli Hermes 900 drone taken down by Iran’s electronic warfare, with the IRGC now reverse-engineering various parts of the drone, per Tasnim. Iran has also started the process of reverse-engineering the previously captured F-15 fighter jet, MQ-9 drone, and C-130 Hercules.

Tasnim images:

IRGC engineers will likely examine the captured drones and study their technology in an effort to reverse-engineer key components for future domestic advancements.

A battlefield trophy display usually serves as propaganda to show ‘proof of victory’ or as intelligence signaling, demonstrating to the US and other allies that their weapons of war can be studied and reverse-engineered.

Tyler Durden
Fri, 08/07/2026 – 20:30

Texas Energy Giant Oncor Supports Governor’s Data Center Freeze

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Texas Energy Giant Oncor Supports Governor’s Data Center Freeze

By Emma Penrod of UtilityDive.com

About 44 GW of large load projects slated for Oncor’s service territory qualified for ERCOT’s new “Batch Zero” interconnection process for large loads, company executives told analysts during a Thursday earnings call. But the timeline for that process is uncertain following an order by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott that paused new data center interconnection approvals pending a state-wide audit.

ERCOT’s criteria for Batch Zero, which include new financial and technical requirements for loads with a peak demand of 75 MW or greater, narrowed immediate load growth projects for Oncor, a subsidiary of Sempra.

The batch approach, Sempra Chairman and CEO Jeff Martin said, was intended to align the interconnection of large loads with the construction of new generation. The criteria for acceptance into the first Batch Zero was finalized in June.

Jeff Martin, chairman and CEO of Sempra, in Washington, D.C. on April 14, 2026. Kevin Dietsch via Getty Images

“Think about a situation where you’ve got close to 500 GW of generation on the sideline waiting to come on the system and, similarly, over 400 GW of large load customers,” Martin said. “That batch process is intended to sequence generation with large loads. Over time, it will be a sequencing effect that’s intended to balance what we think is going to be remarkable load growth.”

The utility had submitted a qualifying load forecast of about 127 GW to ERCOT earlier this year, before the Batch Zero eligibility criteria were released.

On Thursday, executives expressed confidence in the durability of the pipeline, despite uncertainty. Oncor CEO Allen Nye said service requests at that company had increased from 289 GW at the end of the first quarter, to 298 GW this past quarter.

“We continue to have really strong growth, really strong interest. And yes, there is more out there,” Nye told analysts on Thursday.

By the numbers: Sempra Q2’26

  • 44 GW: Oncor Batch Zero interconnection requests under ERCOT review prior to the state moratorium.
  • $65B: Capital plan through 2030, including $47.5B at Oncor.
  • $560M: Additional base rate revenue approved at Oncor by the Public Utility Commission of Texas.

It is not yet clear how the governor’s order, issued on Monday, will affect the new ERCOT review process. ERCOT spokespeople told local media on Monday that they had put the Batch Zero review on hold pending clarification from the governor.

Oncor’s current $47.5 billion capital plan does not include any spending tied to the Batch Zero load, Martin said. The utility plans to update its capital plan in the fourth quarter of this year, he said, but any capital needs associated with the batch study will not make their way into the company’s capital plan until at least 2027.

But the current plan does include about $5 billion tied to high-voltage transmission projects Oncor has underway in Texas’ Permian Basin, which Nye noted were the subject of a 15-hour public hearing in July. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and several state senators called on the Public Utility Commission of Texas to deny the transmission lines’ applications following the hearing, in which speakers decried the projects’ potential impacts on private landowners.

Martin and Nye said they understood the Texas lawmakers’ position and expressed support for their efforts, despite the potential for delays at Oncor.

“Like all across this country, there’s a variety of elections taking place in November,” Martin said. “There’s a big focus on affordability. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat or an independent, we’re looking for ways to release pressure on American families, and I think Texas is not immune to that.

“There’s a process going forward where we’re doing things at a scale…that have never been done before,” Martin continued. “What we want to do is make sure that we’re supportive of the process. We’re there to make sure that we can address some of the needs of stakeholders. If the outcome is it takes a little bit longer to make the process better for everybody, and we end up with a durable framework, I think it’s great for the state of Texas.”

Leaders at Sempra also expressed support for legislative processes in California, where lawmakers are still mulling wildfire liability reforms. SoCalGas, a Sempra-owned utility, was named in January in a lawsuit filed by Edison International alleging actions by the gas utility worsened the 2025 Eaton Fire, for which Edison International has been sued. SoCalGas filed a cross-complaint against Edison seeking compensation for damages to SoCalGas’ infrastructure in April. A trial has been scheduled for January 2027. SoCalGas has also been named in suits related to the 2025 Palisades Fire. Sempra-owned San Diego Gas & Electric is not currently the subject of any wildfire-related litigation.

Sempra continues to pursue the sale of its interests in SI Partners, which owns LNG and natural gas infrastructure in the U.S. and Mexico, to KKR Partners for $10 billion, and of Mexican natural gas utility Ecogas. Mexican regulators recently approved the Ecogas sale, which Martin said puts the transaction on track to close later this month.

The sales will allow Sempra to remove more than $9 billion in debt from its balance sheet and should improve the company’s prospects with ratings agencies, according to Karen Sedgwick, executive vice president and chief financial officer at Sempra. Moody’s issued a negative outlook for the parent company in January on account of its debts and funding capacity, Sedgwick said.

Texas regulators in April approved a $560 million base rate increase at Oncor that took effect on June 1, and SDG&E filed an initial 2028 GRC application with the California PUC in June.

Tyler Durden
Fri, 08/07/2026 – 20:05

Both Iranian & Israeli Officials Call Out ‘Paper Tiger’ Saudi Arabia

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Both Iranian & Israeli Officials Call Out ‘Paper Tiger’ Saudi Arabia

Regional rivals and enemies are calling out Saudi Arabia as a “paper tiger” which must rely on others for protection and defense needs.

Criticisms of Riyadh are being issued on the same day the kingdom signed a major security pact with the other major Muslim-dominant nations of Pakistan and Turkey. Formally called the Makkah Joint Defense Agreement, it is essentially a NATO-style agreement for the ‘Muslim world’ – given that it stipulates and formalizes that an armed attack on any of the countries will be treated as an attack against all of them.

Saudi national media

The pact extends across populations with a combined total of some 380 million people. Both Iranian and Israeli officials have taken to mocking the historic agreement.

For example, on Friday within hours of the deal’s signing, prominent Iranian MP Ebrahim Rezaei called on Riyadh to change course in terms of its pro-American policies, which has included allowing US troops to be stationed on Saudi soil. He said the new pact won’t bring Riyadh protection or peace.

He stated on X: “Saudis must know that a paper agreement with Turkiye and Pakistan will not bring them security, just as years of one-sided nursing to the Americans did not bring them security.“

“Reform your policies so that you do not need to beg for security from others,” continued Rezaei, who is also a member of parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission.

Somewhat ironically, voices out of Israel echoed similar criticisms, blasting the wealthy kingdom as seeking to appear strong but in truth being weak with not much of a military to speak of:

Saudi Arabia is less powerful than it may seem at first glance, former head of the National Security Council Prof. Jacob Nagel told 103FM in a Friday morning interview addressing the defense agreement between Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan.

“You have to understand that Saudi Arabia, despite all its wealth and weapons, is to a large extent a paper tiger. It has a great deal of weaponry and a great deal of money, but militarily, it cannot manage to ‘get through the day,'” Nagel said.

He added, “If we examine the war in which the Saudis tried to fight the Houthis, we see that they failed despite all the advanced capabilities at their disposal. They have a great many assets, but nothing is really liquid, and they have reached a situation in which, economically, they need help.”

Saudi has in prior months been subject of sporadic ‘retaliatory’ attacks from Iran in the context of the war, and has earlier even responded by launching numerous unpublicized strikes on Iran. Yemeni Houthis have lately also fired projectiles onto Saudi Aramco sites.

So it did seek to flex – apparently – but still must be largely reliant on US weaponry and especially on American Patriot batteries, which form the backbone of the kingdom’s defense system.

Tyler Durden
Fri, 08/07/2026 – 19:40

The WNBA Is At War With Its Biggest Stars

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The WNBA Is At War With Its Biggest Stars

Via The Daily Signal,

This is a lightly edited transcript of an Aug. 6 segment of the Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words podcast…

Jack Fowler: And the whole trans issue is coming up in the WNBA, and various coaches are like, “I don’t know. Should a she – I can’t say who should be playing.” They will not say that a biological woman should be playing in the WNBA. It’s this absurdity.

Victor Davis Hanson: But they know.

I think Clay Travis said he was going to buy a franchise …and have only trans players. Would they let him do that? No, because they would win every game.

Fowler: Yeah. It was funny what he put up there.

Hanson: And the Minnesota coach who wore a jacket… with advertisements or a message about trans issues.

She was also whining that there are still too many men in women’s coaching and that women don’t get a chance to dominate the field as they should, given that they’re women.

So, obviously, she was walking into a logical inconsistency because she had this jacket on that she would want biological men in women’s sports, where they would dominate, and then she was angry that, in her own coaching aspect, she was being dominated by men.

So, why wouldn’t she have the same concern about women who are players that she does about biological men? Aside from the fact that—I don’t think we’re ever going to—correct me if I’m wrong—but I don’t think in my lifetime, or anyone’s lifetime, we’re ever going to see a woman transition to a man and play in the NBA.

Does anybody believe that? I don’t. I just don’t think that’s going to happen.

I do think you will continue to see trans athletes in women’s sports because they were biological males at birth, and nobody wants it.

The other thing—and I talked a little bit with Sami [Winc] about it—is that I went and looked at about six AI estimates. If you ask them how much money and media attention Caitlin Clark has brought to the Women’s National Basketball Association—which is owned by the men’s league and ran at a deficit until about three years ago—most of them estimate that, through increased attendance, merchandising, advertising packages based on ratings, and the fact that the Indiana Fever and any team she plays sells out, they think she has generated about $1 billion in added revenue, value, and free publicity.

The teams that had been perennially losing money are now starting to break even, if not show a profit. They’re upgrading their travel arrangements, so women are flying privately now. They’re not like a college basketball team on United or American Airlines. They have their own chartered jets. They’ve got upgraded salaries, and they’re getting bonuses.

And what has the reaction been?

The one woman who’s doing all of this—it’s not any white woman; it’s one white woman who is a superb athlete: Caitlin Clark, probably the best natural shooter and passer we’ve seen in women’s basketball in two or three generations. She’s magnificent.

Now she has a sidekick who is also a very good blocker and shooter herself, Sophie Cunningham. She’s beautiful, and like Caitlin, she’s white and heterosexual.

In a league that we didn’t know much about because nobody watched it, the more we watched, the more we were told by various sportscasters—sometimes joking, sometimes bragging, sometimes hinting they didn’t approve—who knows? But they all agree on one thing. The WNBA, like the NBA, “doesn’t look like America,” to quote the Left. It’s not diverse.

It’s about 60–65 percent Black and roughly 30–40 percent gay.

Now you have these two women. When Sophie Cunningham made that [22-second viral point at an opponent], it became a social media phenomenon. Everybody was talking about it. Now her name is everywhere, and she’s making a lot of money.

I saw a clip the other day someone sent me. She’s doing bikini photo shoots. She must be about 6’2″ or something. She’s lean, muscular, beautiful—stunning, actually.

You can see what this is doing for the league.

A logical, rational person would say, “We’ve got to make sure we don’t gratuitously foul these two girls because they’re our meal ticket. They’re bringing us more money than we ever imagined. The crowds are bigger. We’re getting better exposure. We’re getting our own media contracts.”

Or would the reaction be, “I don’t like white people. I don’t like heterosexual people. I’m going to try to injure these people”?

That’s what they’re doing.

Sophie Cunningham got hit really hard in the face, and they called a foul on her.

Fowler: Yeah. She got elbowed in the jaw.

Hanson: Yes, just like what happened to Caitlin Clark.

Then you look at everything else and say, “Well, maybe it’s just the players.”

No, because you see the coach wearing a propaganda jacket. You see a co-owner going over and yelling at two little girls.

You get the impression what? 

The more you see of the WNBA, the more you don’t want anything to do with it. It’s just too toxic.

Everything about it is toxic. It brings together the worst in American society. It is tribal. It is racialist. It has a sexual-orientation chauvinism about it. It’s driven by projection. Everything about it.

The irony is that it would rather destroy itself than benefit if it meant having to allow two white, heterosexual women to continue being stars in the league and the biggest breadwinners for everybody.

They would rather destroy it.

Fowler: Or simply say this is a league for biological women.

There’s something about that, Victor. I could be totally wrong—I have no data on this—but my gut tells me it’s the lesbians in the league, and perhaps lesbians more generally, who seem to favor trans participation in women’s sports more than, say, your wife, my wife, or other heterosexual women.

Hanson: I think they see it as adding numbers. I think about 2 percent of the population is lesbian, and .001 is trans, but they’ll include them because they see them as another victimized tribal group that can join their coalition.

But it’s not going to work.

At some point, Sophie Cunningham, Caitlin Clark, and some smart investors are going to say, “You know what? I want to start a league—or go somewhere else—where race is incidental, we don’t obsess over it, we don’t constantly talk about sexual orientation, and we try to be good leftists and try to represent America.”

Quoting, ”Who are we? We’re America. We’re diverse. We’re proportionally representative.”

Use all of the left-wing boilerplate.

Of course, when you do that you’re ”racist.” When they do that, they’re ”inclusive.”

Tyler Durden
Fri, 08/07/2026 – 19:15

Visualizing 75 Years Of America’s Electricity Transition

survivalnomics
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Visualizing 75 Years Of America’s Electricity Transition

Over the past 75 years, the U.S. electricity system has shifted from one dominated by coal to one in which natural gas and renewables supply nearly two-thirds of generation.

This visualization, via Visual Capitalist’s Niccolo Conte, shows annual U.S. electricity generation by source from 1950 to 2025 using data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. It tracks output in billions of kilowatt-hours and each source’s share of the electricity mix over time.

Natural Gas and Renewables Lead U.S. Electricity Generation

Coal supplied 46.4% of U.S. electricity in 1950 and remained the country’s largest power source for decades. By 2025, however, its share had fallen to 16.6%. Natural gas moved in the opposite direction, rising from 13.5% to 40.8% and overtaking coal in 2016.

The table below shows each energy source’s share of total U.S. electricity generation at 15-year intervals from 1950 to 2025.

Energy Source Share of U.S. Electricity Generation
1950 1965 1980 1995 2010 2025
Natural Gas 13.5% 21.0% 15.1% 14.8% 24.0% 40.8%
Renewables 30.2% 18.6% 12.4% 11.4% 10.2% 24.0%
Nuclear 0.0% 0.4% 11.0% 20.1% 19.6% 17.7%
Coal 46.4% 54.0% 50.7% 51.0% 44.8% 16.6%
Petroleum and Other 10.2% 6.1% 10.7% 2.8% 1.5% 0.8%

Renewables reached a 24.0% share in 2025 and have remained ahead of coal since 2022. Together, natural gas and renewables supplied 64.8% of U.S. electricity that year.

Coal peaked at 56.9% of the electricity mix in 1988. By 2025, no single source accounted for a majority of U.S. generation.

Coal Declined as U.S. Electricity Generation Surged

Coal generation peaked at 2,016 billion kWh in 2007. By 2025, it had fallen to 737 billion kWh, a decline of 63.4%.

Meanwhile, natural gas generation expanded rapidly with the growth of efficient combined-cycle power plants and abundant shale gas, rising from 45 billion kWh in 1950 to 1,807 billion kWh in 2025.

The table below shows U.S. electricity generation by source at 15-year intervals, measured in billions of kWh:

Energy Source Electricity Generation (Billion kWh)
1950 1965 1980 1995 2010 2025
Natural Gas 45 222 346 496 988 1,807
Renewables 101 197 285 382 422 1,064
Nuclear 0 4 251 673 807 785
Coal 155 571 1,162 1,709 1,847 737
Petroleum and Other 34 65 246 93 61 37
Total Electricity Generation 334 1,058 2,290 3,353 4,125 4,430

Over the same period, total U.S. electricity generation rose from 334 billion kWh to 4,430 billion kWh. Natural gas accounted for about 43% of the overall increase, illustrating how it absorbed much of the system’s long-term growth.

The national shift is also visible at the regional level. A recent Visual Capitalist map of what powers each U.S. state and Canadian province shows natural gas as the leading electricity source across much of the United States.

Renewables Set a New Generation Record in 2025

Renewable generation rose to a record 1,064 billion kWh in 2025, equal to 24.0% of total electricity production. That was 93 billion kWh more than in 2024 and nearly twice the 539 billion kWh generated in 2015.

The complete dataset for U.S. electricity generation by source from 1950 to 2025 is available below:

Year Natural Gas (Billion kWh) Renewables (Billion kWh) Nuclear (Billion kWh) Coal (Billion kWh) Petroleum and Other (Billion kWh) Total Electricity Generation (Billion kWh)
1950 45 101 0 155 34 334
1951 57 105 0 185 29 375
1952 68 110 0 195 30 404
1953 80 110 0 219 38 447
1954 94 112 0 239 32 476
1955 95 117 0 301 37 550
1956 104 125 0 339 36 604
1957 114 134 0 346 40 635
1958 120 144 0 344 40 648
1959 147 141 0 378 47 713
1960 158 150 1 403 48 759
1961 169 156 2 422 49 797
1962 184 172 2 450 49 858
1963 202 169 3 494 52 920
1964 220 181 3 526 57 987
1965 222 197 4 571 65 1058
1966 251 198 6 613 79 1148
1967 265 226 8 630 89 1218
1968 304 227 13 685 104 1333
1969 333 254 14 706 138 1445
1970 373 252 22 704 184 1535
1971 374 270 38 713 220 1616
1972 376 278 54 771 274 1753
1973 341 278 83 848 314 1864
1974 320 307 114 828 301 1870
1975 300 307 173 853 289 1921
1976 295 291 191 944 320 2041
1977 306 228 251 985 358 2127
1978 305 287 276 976 365 2209
1979 329 287 255 1075 304 2251
1980 346 285 251 1162 246 2290
1981 346 270 273 1203 206 2298
1982 305 318 283 1192 147 2244
1983 274 342 294 1259 144 2313
1984 297 333 328 1342 120 2419
1985 292 295 384 1402 100 2473
1986 249 306 414 1386 137 2490
1987 273 265 455 1464 118 2575
1988 253 238 527 1541 149 2707
1989 353 325 529 1584 176 2967
1990 373 354 577 1594 140 3038
1991 382 353 613 1591 136 3074
1992 404 323 619 1621 117 3084
1993 415 353 610 1690 129 3197
1994 460 333 640 1691 123 3248
1995 496 382 673 1709 93 3353
1996 455 420 675 1795 99 3444
1997 479 430 629 1845 110 3492
1998 531 396 674 1874 146 3620
1999 556 393 728 1881 136 3695
2000 601 351 754 1966 130 3802
2001 639 279 769 1904 146 3737
2002 691 335 780 1933 120 3858
2003 650 347 764 1974 149 3883
2004 710 343 789 1978 151 3971
2005 761 351 782 2013 149 4055
2006 816 379 787 1991 91 4065
2007 897 346 806 2016 91 4157
2008 883 375 806 1986 70 4119
2009 921 413 799 1756 61 3950
2010 988 422 807 1847 61 4125
2011 1014 507 790 1733 56 4100
2012 1226 490 769 1514 49 4048
2013 1125 517 789 1581 54 4066
2014 1127 532 797 1582 56 4094
2015 1335 539 797 1352 55 4079
2016 1379 603 806 1239 51 4078
2017 1298 680 805 1206 47 4035
2018 1472 701 807 1149 52 4181
2019 1589 723 809 965 44 4131
2020 1627 778 790 773 42 4010
2021 1579 810 780 898 43 4110
2022 1687 895 772 832 46 4231
2023 1806 889 775 675 38 4183
2024 1870 971 782 652 34 4309
2025 1807 1064 785 737 37 4430

Renewables first edged above coal in 2020, fell back below it in 2021, and moved ahead again in 2022. They remained the larger source through 2025. Renewables also surpassed nuclear in 2021 and have stayed ahead since, while nuclear generation held relatively steady at about 785 billion kWh in 2025.

As U.S. electricity demand records its strongest three-year growth stretch since before the global financial crisis, natural gas and renewables are supplying much of the increase, including demand linked to AI data centers.

If you enjoyed today’s post, check out this map, What Powers Each U.S. State and Canadian Province?, on Voronoi.

Tyler Durden
Fri, 08/07/2026 – 18:50

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