Anduril founder Palmer Luckey discusses the capture of former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, sanctioned by China for arms sales to Taiwan and more on “The Claman Countdown.”
An executive at a US defense technology company who was personally sanctioned by China on his company’s arms sales to Taiwan says he wears the ban like a badge of honor.
“It’s an award that I’m very, very proud to win,” Anduril founder Palmer Luckey told FOX Business anchor Liz Claman on Wednesday at CES 2026 in Las Vegas.
Just a week after Washington announced an arms sales program valued at more than $10 billion to Taiwan, Beijing imposed sanctions on 20 U.S. defense companies and 10 top executives, including Luckey.
China’s Defense Ministry warned the United States against “dangerous steps toward arming Taiwan” in a Dec. 26 statement.
“We emphasize once again that the Taiwan issue is at the very heart of the problem. China’s fundamental interests and the first red line that must not be crossed in relations between China and the United States,” the ministry said. “Any company or individual that engages in arms sales to Taiwan will pay the price for its wrongdoing.”
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Luckey is one of ten executives barred from entering or doing business in China, and his company’s assets in the country have been frozen.
The tech company’s chief appeared to hint that China’s personal sanctions against him would be long overdue.
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“In fact, Anduril, my company, has been sanctioned for years,” Luckey said. “But ultimately being sanctioned personally, being told that all of my Chinese assets will be seized and that I will no longer be able to enter China or any of their states that they have taken control of, I’m actually very, I’m very proud of that.”
The Altius-600 autonomous UAS at Anduril headquarters in Costa Mesa, California, United States, Thursday, December 14, 2023. (Kyle Grillot/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The United States realized it could not afford to “business as usual” when it came to China’s aggression toward Taiwan and other countries, Luckey argued.
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“We must accelerate the transformation process [Taiwan] into a thorny porcupine that no one wants to step on, no one wants to eat,” he said.
Palmer Luckey, founder of Anduril Industries, during an interview at Anduril headquarters in 2023. (Kyle Grillot/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
When Claman asked the contractor what the weapons he sells in Taiwan he described a variety of land, air and sea defense systems.
FILE – Chinese President Xi Jinping walks past during a welcome ceremony upon his arrival at an airport in Moscow, Russia, May 7, 2025. (Alexander Vilf/Host Agency Ria Novosti/Handout via REUTERS)
Most of Anduril’s creations are designed to ““attack” China more than Venezuela, he added.
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“And I think that’s why you haven’t seen – you haven’t seen a lot of Anduril stuff in Venezuela. But if anything ever happens – if anyone ever takes on China – you’ll see a lot of Anduril stuff in the mix.”
