Michael Barbaro

A state would, in theory, kill for this kind of economic activity.

And I know, because you said so at the beginning of our conversation, Peter, that this story is about to take a complicated twist.

But so far, it really does feel worth saying that this is a fable of what's possible in an American system that's not known for getting big domestic manufacturing projects of any kind done.

We'll be right back.

So, Peter, after all of this promise and achievement in the story, what starts to go wrong with the construction of this set of factories after the groundbreaking?

There's no code on page 25 of the local zoning manual that says when building a chip factory here in the desert, this is the lighting system.

And just to be clear, when we say that this company is writing these rules.

They're helping write rules that will then be drafted, adopted by local government.

Okay, so that is the first of what I imagine are many headaches.

So how does the company deal with that?

be American jobs.

So on top of all the tensions about rules, there are these cultural tensions, right?

being revealed between an international company trying to do this hard thing and a group of local American workers who are chafing at all that represents.

Mm-hmm.

And of course, we haven't even gotten to the idea that there are neighbors to this vast complex who no doubt, because this is the United States, have some questions and concerns.

So an ancillary building nearby.

In the course of reporting on all of these disputes and tensions, I'm curious where you found your sympathies lying.

Is it with a company that says, look, we're just trying to fulfill America's

pledge to have insurance against the worst-case scenarios.

We're just trying to build a factory in the U.S.