James Chew joins Daniel Marrujo on Micro Journeys to trace a career that spans Cal Poly’s hands-on engineering culture, the golden age of aerospace in Lancaster, California, senior leadership roles inside the Pentagon, and now a pivotal role at Intel during one of the most consequential semiconductor inflection points in U.S. history. From revitalizing rocket propulsion programs to navigating billion-dollar defense budgets and pioneering emulation capabilities inside the Department of Defense, James reflects on the throughline that shaped his career: curiosity, integrity, and relentless follow-through. The conversation bridges government, commercial technology, and national security, offering a rare insider’s view into how decisions are actually made — and how they ripple across industries.
At the center of the discussion is a hard truth: the defense industrial base has grown complacent. James pulls back the curtain on cost-plus contracting, budget politics, and the widening gap between commercial innovation and government acquisition. He contrasts the speed and accountability of Silicon Valley with the slow-moving bureaucracy of legacy defense systems, making the case that electronics — and specifically Intel’s renewed focus on leading-edge manufacturing, emulation, and customer-first engineering — represent a generational opportunity to reset the foundation.
The solution, as James sees it, is simple but difficult: restore integrity, empower engineers, return to fundamentals, and lead with technical excellence. If the United States wants to secure its future, it must rebuild its electronics leadership with urgency and ownership.
(00:55) — How Cal Poly’s “curious, not judgmental” engineering culture shaped James’ work ethic and leadership philosophy.
(06:25) — Inside a Cold War missile decoy program and what it taught him about innovation under pressure.
(08:20) — Turning annual 20% budget cuts into 30% increases by understanding how government money really moves.
(13:24) — The birth of Department of Defense emulation capabilities and why “emulate before you fabricate” changes everything.
(23:58) — Why a Ford F-150 runs on 150 million lines of code — and what that says about modern defense systems.
(26:04) — “Leadership leads to complacency.” How Intel is rebuilding its edge and positioning itself to lead again.