In what's being described as "one of the more illuminating conversations I've had in a while," Altana CEO Evan Smith recently joined Nilay Patel on The Verge's Decoder podcast to discuss how global trade is being reshaped by geopolitical tensions and policy shifts. Smith offered unique insights on supply chain dynamics during this period of economic transformation, tapping into data only found on Altana's network.
The conversation explored how Altana helps both public and private organizations navigate today's complex trade environment. Smith, who founded Altana in 2019 predicting the eventual breakdown of globalization as we knew it, shared how the company's platform illuminates complex value chains.
“Let’s take the iPhone: The silicon comes out of the ground, it turns into chips, and it turns into all the logic in your phone. The graphite comes out of the ground, the aluminum comes out of the ground. The whole system of raw materials through the intermediate goods, through the final assembly, and the sale and end use of the product is called the product value chain," Smith said. "We make it possible to know and manage that whole network for all the products in the world, and it sits on top of that map of the world that we’ve built. So why is that novel? Because of globalization and outsourcing.”
"We make it possible to know and manage that whole network for all the products in the world, and it sits on top of that map of the world that we’ve built. So why is that novel? Because of globalization and outsourcing.”
Evan Smith, CEO, Altana
The conversation covers everything from the challenges of potentially decoupling the United States from China in critical industries to how companies are adapting to tariff uncertainty by reshoring or nearshoring production.
Smith's insights reflect Altana's mission to address the fragmentation and opacity in global supply chains. As he explains in the podcast, "The whole world's a supply chain. At the base level, what we do is model the whole physical world of companies making things and buying and selling them from other companies."
Listen to the full conversation to hear more about how tariffs are changing global trade, the role of Mexico and Canada in creating resilient North American supply chains, and how software like Altana helps organizations build more resilient, compliant, and secure value chains.
