All Roads Lead to Fabs: Becoming Substrate’s Second Believer
In 2022, a founder told me he was going to take on ASML and build a semiconductor foundry in the United States.
This is some of the hardest technology in the world to build. ASML has a near-monopoly on extreme ultraviolet lithography—the machines that make advanced semiconductors possible. These machines use tin-based EUV technology, cost $200 million each, require Nobel Prize-level physics to operate, and represent a 30-40 year technological moat that seemed impossible to cross.
James Proud believed he could do it differently (and better).
The Magician in the Room
When Cyan and I joined the Zoom call, we knew literally nothing about what James was building—all we knew was that it was hugely important for the interests of America.
Then James started talking, and immediately I noticed the accent. Here was this British guy painting an urgent picture about American technological sovereignty.
This was 2022. Well before “American Dynamism” became a thing. Well before the China tariff battles. James saw into that future.
He didn't pitch semiconductors. He pitched geopolitics. Taiwan was a single point of failure for the entire American economy. "TSMC produces over 90% of the world's most advanced chips," he said. "Every iPhone, every data center, every piece of critical infrastructure depends on this one island 100 miles off the coast of China."
But geopolitical vision alone doesn't build foundries. Was this magic or a hoax?
The breakthrough had to be real. And James believed it was, believed it with the kind of certainty that makes you either a lunatic or a leader.
He'd read the papers. All of them. When we asked questions, he had answers. Real answers. The depth of technical knowledge was jarring for someone with no formal experience building chips.
"Everyone assumes you need EUV to make advanced chips," he said. "But what if there's another way entirely?"
Here was a guy who'd been among the first Thiel Fellows. Who could obviously do anything. Build anything. And he was choosing to work on this. To take on a decade+ monopoly on some of the hardest technology in the world.
He loved America. You could feel how deeply he cared.
I kept asking myself: why would someone this talented bet everything on this unless he genuinely believed there was a chance?
That question answered itself.
When James told us he was going to challenge ASML's monopoly, build a foundry with breakthrough technology, and recruit world-class talent to do it, every rational part of my brain said no. The valuation was too high. The technical risk was too great. The capital requirements were staggering.
Rational thinking is sometimes the enemy of transformational investing. Sometimes you have to trust the fire you see burning in someone's eyes, even when (especially when) that fire makes you uncomfortable.
Chip design is the pinnacle of human achievement, the apex of our ingenuity. This is what venture is supposed to be about. Not some B.S SaaS company or AI wrapper. Venture is about people taking massive swings based on deep belief. This is what we build when we aren't afraid, when our imagination knows no limits. This is the privilege of being a second believer, standing beside people audacious enough to attempt the impossible. This is why we exist.
We were in.
The World Catches Up
Over time James made more and more progress. We significantly increased our position at each phase. Others began to follow as well.
Then the CHIPS Act passed in August 2022—$52 billion to reshore semiconductor manufacturing. Suddenly, the world was waking up to what James had been saying all along: America's chip supply chain was a national security crisis that needed solving.
His "crazy" vision wasn't crazy anymore. It was inevitable.
What made James's vision seem absurd initially has become exactly what makes it inevitable now. The scientific breakthrough he identified wasn't theoretical, he's proven it. Substrate's tool has successfully printed complex patterns with extreme precision and remarkably low defect density, printing thousands of times without major issues.
The Chain of Belief
My close friend Chris Ovitz was the one who brought James to us.
Chris doesn't vouch for people lightly. He has one of the best filters I know. When he called, there was something different in his voice—certainty. "Look," he said, "you're one of my favorite people in the world. We're going all in on this one, and I can see his belief. I really see it."
He paused. "I'm only sending this to people I truly love, people who will actually get what he's up to. This one is really special. I can't show this to just anyone."
The magnitude of Chris's conviction was what struck me about him. That was the vulnerable part. Not just that he believed, but the degree to which he believed. He could have kept this to himself. Instead, he put his reputation on the line and said, essentially, "I know this sounds crazy, but I believe in this guy."
Chris's conviction became our conviction, then others followed. What started as absurd is now a thing. James is well on his way to building the future of American semiconductor manufacturing.
This is how transformational companies actually get built—not through probability calculations or market research, but through chains of belief that start with one person's impossible vision and spread to others willing to witness that flame.
All Roads Lead to Fabs
Today, as Substrate launches publicly with proven technology and a world-class team, I'm reminded of something Derek Sivers said about movements: they start with one person brave enough to dance alone, but they're born when someone else decides to join them.
James was dancing alone with his vision of American semiconductor independence. Chris Ovitz was his second believer. We became the next wave of believers.
Now, as geopolitical tensions rise and semiconductor supply chains prove their fragility, James's early vision looks less like prophecy and more like preparation. What seemed like an impossible thesis—that someone could leapfrog ASML with a research paper and conviction—has become the foundation of a company positioned to reshape American technological capability.
The best founders don't just see the future—they make it inevitable. They turn their impossible visions into the world's new reality, one believer at a time.
Every transformation starts with someone brave enough to light the first candle. James lit his. Chris witnessed it. We fanned the flame. And now, all roads lead to fabs.