Fordel StudiosHardware’s brutal week: iRobot, Luminar, and Rad Power go bankrupt
What Happened
The hardware world had a brutal week, with iRobot, Luminar, and Rad Power Bikes all filing for bankruptcy. Each company faces its own mix of tariff pressures, supply chain issues, and shifting markets, but together they tell a larger story about the challenges of building physical products in
Our Take
Three hardware companies in one week isn't coincidence—it's margin physics. iRobot was already on life support before tariffs. Luminar bet everything on self-driving, that window closed. Rad Power made decent bikes but couldn't compete when margins got crushed.
The pattern's clear: hardware businesses can't pivot fast enough once tariff pressure or category saturation hits. They're not AI casualties—they're margin casualties.
The hype around AI didn't save any of them because hype doesn't pay supply chain bills. This is what happens when you build on paper-thin margins and bet on favorable trade policy.
What To Do
Tariff policy changes matter more than AI sentiment here—watch what Congress does on trade, not what VCs say about hardware.
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