Continuing from the last post, I asked him what their actual returns, timelines, and numbers look like. He said, “Let me give you an example. Let’s talk about our two most advanced projects. We’re transmitting 5 gigawatts of electricity from West Texas to San Antonio and Austin. Once the permit is obtained, and all the contracts are in place — meaning once the construction permit and contracts are secured, and the client is locked in — and that client must be investment grade, like a data center or a big tech firm — then we can get non-dilutive project financing...

Continuing from the last post, I asked, “So are you still pre-revenue, or do you already have some revenue?” He said, “We do have revenue right now, but very little. Our R&D took about seven to eight years, and our first excavation system was only officially commercialized three months ago, which is why we just started to generate revenue. So far, we’ve generated around $500K in revenue, all from smaller projects. We’re currently bidding on seven projects, and one of them is in San Francisco, and another in Europe for one of the largest tech companies in the world (everyone...

Continuing from the last post, I asked him: “So what are the key risk factors here?” He said: “If you had asked me a few years ago, I would’ve said the biggest risk was technical risk. But now, based on the final evaluations from all the third-party partners we work with, there’s not much technical risk left. The hardest technical challenges have already been overcome — what’s left now is just field-testing. From the operational side, one of the biggest variables is the electricity cost, since our robots are powered by electricity. But that risk can be hedged using financial...

The Closest I’ve Ever Been to Changing the World (8) — A Supergrid Underground Globally? Continuing from the last post, I told him I found it strange that in the infrastructure industry, the returns I’ve seen are only around 6%–9%, which feels too flat. If the opportunity is so big, why are traditional returns so low, yet so much capital is still pouring in? He said, “The 6%–9% you’re talking about refers to traditional infrastructure projects like wind or solar — unlevered returns are usually around 7%–9%, very stable but indeed not high. If you add leverage, it can reach...

Continuing from the last post, I asked, “So are you really the only company in the world that can do this?” He said, “Actually, there used to be two companies in the world that could. One is in Slovakia, mainly doing underground vertical drilling, and I’ve known their founder for years — we often share information and might even acquire them one day, they’re an ideal target. The other one was founded by someone who stole our trade secrets and tried to copy us — that was the first time I sued someone. We won, of course. They went bankrupt,...