The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

Chapter 803 GT Company's Concerns

GT, France.

“Damn, they can’t really master the core technology of LNG ships, right?” The head of GT Company frowned, feeling a little worried and a little unbelieving.

GT is not a big company, with only more than 300 regular employees, but they can almost sleep soundly thanks to their patents in LNG ships.

This is also the reason why the West can have high wages and high welfare. Their industry developed earlier and various patents were registered by them. When the French were studying how to transport liquefied natural gas, the East had not yet considered this issue.

This is what the first-mover advantage is. Once it is solved, you will have a huge advantage in this field.

Although the latecomer advantage can point out the way for the first-mover advantage and help avoid detours, it is inevitable to encounter the intellectual property rights constructed by the first-mover.

China currently has a weak awareness of patents. This is not the case in China, but once you go abroad, you will have to face the patent lines constructed by European, American and Japanese countries.

If you don’t pay patent fees, you will not be able to go global.

Take LNG ships for example. If you don’t pay patent fees to the French, you can’t use them at all. If you use them, you will be sued. Which shipping company dares to order LNG ships from a shipyard?

"They won't really make Invar steel? Or even make a new material that is the same as Invar steel?" Frank looked at the news with a frown.

For decades, the manufacturing process of Invar steel has been mastered by only their GT company. After all, they have been delving into this industry, including their liquid cargo maintenance system. From the initial NO82, it has been continuously developed through N085 and NO88 types, and its technology has become more and more mature, becoming the top company in this industry.

They are the only ones in the whole world who can produce Invar steel.

GT's Invar steel production capacity is limited, which also results in high prices for Invar steel.

Therefore, GT is very arrogant to customers who want to obtain their patent licenses. They charge a 5% patent licensing fee for each ship, and customers have no choice but to accept it.

For an LNG ship, the patent fee paid to GT alone is 500 to 1500 million US dollars!
Precisely because they can make money even when lying down, GT’s employees are paid very high salaries. They only work five hours a day, so their workday is very relaxing and they can even drink coffee leisurely.

If it were any other country, Frank would just sneer.

Because even the Americans and Japanese have not been able to develop Invar steel, nor have they been able to circumvent GT's core patents and create a new set of core patents for LNG ships.

But China is different. This country is very good at creating miracles.

The impression China left on Europe and the United States is very complicated. On the one hand, China is poor and backward, and even many Europeans and Americans still have the impression that China has a pig's tail on its head. On the other hand, China can beat the Chinese people to a pulp with millet and rifles, while a group of farmers with simple weapons can do so.

In addition, China is particularly good at creating miracles in industry.

Two bombs and one satellite, this is the patent of industrial powers. The United States, the Soviet Union, Britain, and France are undoubtedly industrial powers, but China, which is poor and blank, has come up with "two bombs and one satellite".

There is also the high-speed rail. In recent years, China's high-speed rail has become more and more famous. For visiting foreign guests, they are often arranged to take a high-speed rail. Now China's high-speed rail is showing a trend of becoming the world's first high-speed rail.

Foreign guests who go to China to take the high-speed rail will pick up a coin and stand it against the window, curiously observing whether the coin will fall.

As for China's machine tools, they have long stopped importing CNC machine tools. Instead, they are exporting machine tools and competing with other industrial powers for the machine tool market.

Chinese cars and motorcycles have even appeared in Europe!
Not to mention, China's Golden Dragon computers are rampant in Europe. They are the best-selling computer brands in Europe, occupying more than 50% of the market share. Frank had to wonder if the Chinese had really mastered the Invar steel technology, produced qualified Invar steel, or even developed materials that were the same as Invar steel, or even surpassed Invar steel!

The production of Invar steel is not an easy task. It requires complex process flows such as electric arc furnace smelting, vacuum induction melting, LF refining, vacuum oxygen decarburization, vacuum arc remelting, electroslag remelting, continuous casting, hot rolling, and cold rolling. Just these production equipment require a large amount of money to purchase.

Invar steel is also a major profit source for GT, because Invar steel accounts for about 10% of the production cost of an LNG ship. Although its usage is not too much, Invar steel is expensive.

Here, GT company has at least 50%~100% profit, and sometimes even 150%~200% profit!
Once China gets control of it, it will be difficult for GT to make these profits again.

The biggest feature of Chinese manufacturing is cheapness. Once they get involved in an industry, they will make the price of that industry very cheap.

Once the Chinese are able to manufacture Invar steel, GT will not only see a reduction in profits, but will even suffer losses from producing Invar steel.

In recent years, many factories in Europe and the United States have gone bankrupt. In addition to rising energy prices, rising prices, and rising labor costs, these factories have discovered that even if they do not make money, the products they produce are still more expensive than those made in China, and they are simply not competitive.

At present, European and American products in the field of daily necessities have absolutely no competitiveness compared to those produced in China.

China is now the world's textile industry center, producing large quantities of clothes, pants, etc. for export every year.

Many foreign brands turn to Huaxia for OEM and OEM production, thereby reducing their own costs and increasing profits.

What Frank is most worried about now is that the Chinese have mastered new materials and new key technologies for LNG and bypassed GT, which would be a devastating blow to GT.

GT's good fortune depends on two things: one is the key technology of LNG ships, and the other is Invar steel.

Without these two things, GT would be doomed and not far from bankruptcy.

"Damn it, it looks like I have to go to China and visit this shipyard!" Frank gritted his teeth. He couldn't understand the actual content just by reading the news.

But he knew that this news would have a great impact on GT.

For example, GT has just received a case where a client does not want to pay the 5% patent fee and wants to reduce the fee.

Others are trying to see if the price of Invar steel can be lowered.

If this news was confirmed, Frank couldn't imagine what a terrible blow it would be to GT.

Only by going and seeing it can Frank have a clear idea in his mind.

He had decided that if things did not go as he expected, he would punish the shipyards.

Not to mention a 5% patent fee, even if it is a 7% or even a 10% patent fee, these shipyards will have to grit their teeth and accept it.

As for how the shipyard reduces costs, whether by squeezing the surplus value of workers or using advanced equipment to increase efficiency, this is not GT's concern.

GT is a business, not a charity. Why should we consider so many things?

(End of this chapter)