The Titanium Economy

Three McKinsey partners make the case that American industry is not a sunset sector. Their subject is the several thousand mid-size industrial-technology companies — makers of components, sensors, instruments and specialised machinery — that are largely absent from business coverage and have nonetheless been strong performers, and their argument is that both investors and policymakers have mispriced the category because it is unglamorous rather than because it is declining.

Why it’s on the list: In the required section of Fil Arons’s list. The counter-argument to treating software as the only place returns live.

Where I saw it: @FilArons’s November 16, 2025 recommended-reading list, in the section he marks as required.

Connections

• Manufacturing — the sector the book is arguing about.
• American Dynamism — the live version of the same thesis in venture terms.
• Hard Tech — where these companies get categorised when they do get attention.
• McKinsey — the authors’ firm, and the source of the underlying data set.