Chapter 228 Commercial aerospace is not just a business
As a European, Nicholas undoubtedly hopes that Europe will become an important level in the future world, but various behaviors of Europe have disappointed him.
Europe is like a giant with only flesh and blood and no brain. It doesn’t matter that it has not reaped any dividends in the Internet era. The scale of its original traditional advantageous industries is still shrinking.
Europe’s own sovereign funds do not invest in Europe. They first invested in Americen and then increased their investment in China.
This has to be said to be sad.
The public can only see that Europeans enjoy high social welfare, but they cannot see that the foundation supporting these is rotten.
After listening, Chen Yuanguang said: "I like Europe very much. We have a lot of cooperation with France in the aerospace field.
I think Europe still has advantages in technology and educational talents.
Just from my point of view, it is difficult for Europe to turn these advantages into industrial advantages.
For example, Americen’s Silicon Valley and China’s Zhongguancun all rely on rich resources. Universities and human resources to cultivate an overall industrial cluster
Just like Cambridge cultivated ARM, England failed to catch up with the smartphone train.
On the contrary, Hua Guo, Korea and Amerika used ARM's technical architecture to manufacture a large number of mobile chips.
It seems difficult for us to see similar scenes in Europe. "
After Chen Yuanguang finished speaking, Nicholas was silent for a moment and said:
"Originally, the proportion of shares held by English companies in our fund was about 15%, but now this number has been reduced to less than 15%. 5%.
Europe as a whole pays too much attention to risk control, and policy differences between countries make the European market appear to be a unified market, but in fact it is not so unified.
This has resulted in a lack of soil for innovation in Europe. "
Twenty years ago, it would be hard to imagine Europeans complaining that China's innovation soil is more sound than Europe's.
"Wright, in fact, every country will have its own shortcomings.
Like American, we feel that American has a very good soil for innovation, and innovative companies are popping up one after another.
But the biggest problem with Amerikan Enterprises is that once their scale increases, it is very easy for big business diseases to arise.
Boeing is the most typical example. Not only Boeing, but Lockheed Martin also has similar problems.
Such a military industrial enterprise actually wants to implement Jack Welch’s last-place elimination system.
Core departments such as the engineering manufacturing department and the R&D department must be eliminated at the end based on performance.
The elimination rate is as high as 10%.
GE is already half dead doing this, but in the 21st century, monopoly companies like Lockheed Martin are still doing it.
Companies including Microsoft, Amazon, and Google all have big company diseases.
I have visited many Chinese companies, and Chinese companies have better control in this regard.
If I had never visited China, it would be hard for me to imagine that a company as huge as Huawei, which has become one of the top three companies in the world in the field of communications equipment, could still succeed in entrepreneurship many times.
This is very difficult, even their teacher IBM cannot do it.
Therefore, the market environment, regulatory policies, and cultural systems of each country have jointly created different business backgrounds and industrial advantages in each country. ”
Chen Yuanguang was also surprised. He also could not understand why Lockheed Martin wanted to implement the last-place elimination system.
Lockheed Martin should belong to the top manufacturing industry and is under competitive pressure Very small, shouldn't we provide a stable working environment as much as possible to ensure product quality?
Because elimination at the end sounds good, but it will actually cause instability among internal employees and create a toxic environment. Environment.
“Well, it’s incredible, I have a hard time imagining that last place elimination would happen to Lockheed Martin. "Chen Yuanguang said.
Nikolai said: “I couldn’t believe it when I first learned about it, because in the late 1980s, I had just graduated from the Norwegian Army Academy and went to Wharton Business School for exchange.
At that time, I knew several people who went back to school after working, and they were working at Lockheed Martin.
They spoke very highly of Lockheed Martin.
As a result, thirty years later, Lockheed Martin also began to show signs of decline
Wright, how many employees does Light Armor Aerospace have?”
Chen Yuanguang did a rough calculation in his mind: "There should be more than 8,000 people now.
We have expanded very quickly recently because we merged with a group of robotics companies and then hired a large number of employees in the field of artificial intelligence. "
Nicholas said: "I know, I have seen reports in many American media about Guangjia Aerospace entering the field of artificial intelligence.
Even if Guangjia Aerospace. The external announcement is that you will focus mainly on the combination of robots and artificial intelligence.
But American Media still believes that Guangjia Aerospace’s entry into the field of artificial intelligence will have a negative impact on American’s artificial intelligence industry. pose a significant threat.”
This is the benefit of fame. It brings heaven and earth together. Just like when Teacher Ma was in his prime, no matter what field he entered, everyone believed that he could succeed.
Not to mention that Chen Yuanguang's reputation and influence in China and around the world at this time have steadily exceeded that of Teacher Ma at his peak.
“Haha, I’m not interested in generative artificial intelligence.” Chen Yuanguang said, thinking that generative artificial intelligence is what Alpha Technology should do.
“I think Nadella (current CEO of Microsoft) will be relieved after hearing this. They no longer have to face new competitors.” Nikola said: “So the Light Armor Aerospace With such a huge scale, are you worried that it will suffer from big business diseases?”
Chen Yuanguang thought for a while: “There will be such worries.
But we are still in an upward stage and there are a lot of things that can be done, so this is currently very low on my priority list.
Compared with big business problems, I am more worried about what technical difficulties will cause us to stagnate in the process of moving towards the goal of space mining. "
Nicholas laughed: "But from the outside world, light armor companies are synonymous with technological innovation.
At present, apart from companies in the light armor series, few other companies can bring us such big surprises.
Since the second half of last year, I can clearly feel the changes that the technological innovation of light armor companies has brought to the world.
We don’t talk about geopolitics on this podcast, we just talk about the impact on the business world and there’s a lot to talk about.
The first is electric vehicles. I can clearly feel that the proportion of electric vehicles has begun to increase significantly throughout Europe.
Originally, Europe wanted to slow down the process of electric vehicles. The original goal of fully electrifying cars was postponed or even canceled by major countries including Germany. Only some Nordic countries are still insisting.
But European governments have slowed down, and the market has accelerated.
With the large-scale rollout of perovskite batteries, the sales proportion of electric vehicles in Europe has increased significantly.
It is like an accelerator, vigorously promoting the transformation of the automobile industry to electrification.
In the chip field, we saw that in the first half of this year, the Huawei P series equipped with topological semi-metal chips held a press conference in Europe to announce its return.
These are the transformative forces brought about by the technological innovation of the light armor series.
Wright, as the main driving force behind them, how do you view these industrial changes?
I know you said in an interview in China in the past that you want to bring the next golden age to the Chinese people. This interview is also very famous in Europe.
From my perspective, these technological changes have given China a much better external environment than I expected. It can be said that it has reached the golden age as I understand it.
I understand that if space mining can really be achieved and the benefits of space mining are higher than the costs, then human society will usher in a great abundance of material resources. If the energy problem is solved, the entire human society can at least Another two hundred years of golden age will come.
What do you think about this? "
Chen Yuanguang said: "This topic is too big.
There is a saying that misunderstanding is the fate of the person being expressed. After you express what you want to express, the content will receive various interpretations in the process of being disseminated. Even if you are not familiar with the content, The output party has no way to control these interpretations.
The technology I export is like an expression. The expression is interpreted by different companies. The interpretation is like putting the technology into practice. I don’t know what it will become in the end.
Like human hibernation technology, I can imagine that people will use it to treat diseases and relieve stress, but I can't imagine that Amerikan will use it to deal with illegal immigrants or even draw blood regularly. Illegal immigrants are treated as assets.
There is also room-temperature superconductivity. After I made it, I could think that it could be used in many fields and could bring about technological breakthroughs in quantum computers. But I certainly could not have imagined that the breakthrough in quantum computers would lead to a global encryption system. All are in an unprecedented crisis.
I have no way of controlling how companies and governments ‘interpret’ technology dissemination.
As for the golden age, I don’t think it counts now. The industrial changes brought about by these technologies only benefit people in the upstream and downstream of the industry, and they are not inclusive enough.
The changes it brings are not enough to qualitatively improve the life of every Chinese person.
After space mining is realized in the future, it will definitely be small in scale at the beginning. It will take time to expand from basic space mining to one of the important sources of earth resources.
Speaking of this, we sell some commercial aerospace technology to the outside world at relatively low prices in order to have some new forces to jointly promote the development of commercial aerospace.
Like the space station we will launch in the next two years, in the long run, we will build it into a space city.
Initially, three or four cabin sections will be connected in parallel. On this basis, we will continue to expand. Within five years, we will build it into a small base that can accommodate hundreds of people and begin to undertake space mining tasks.
In five years it will become a small city, hosting thousands of people.
We can better achieve our goals by introducing more companies and institutions, and its role can also be enriched.
It seems that Blue Origin is talking to us, hoping to buy space station sections from Guangjia Aerospace. Blue Origin can turn this part of their cabin into a space tourism project.
The future space city will have a tourism function.
Space mining can solve human resource problems and bring more possibilities to human beings, but it may take a long time.
As for the golden age of the entire earth, I don’t know, it’s not just about resources.
It is also related to productivity and the distribution model led by various governments. "
Nicholas said: "Wright, after listening to your introduction, I want to buy a space station module from Guangjia Aerospace.
I think it will definitely be a very profitable business. ”
"I welcome it. If the future Guangjia Space Station will be a space city, then these current modules will be the properties that make up the city.
The properties carry different urban functions.
Blue Origin wants to open a travel agency, France wants to build a research institute, you can also build a hotel," Chen Yuanguang said by analogy.
After hearing this, Nikolai took it seriously: "It's not impossible. I think the Nordic countries can unite and buy a space station section from you.
Someone will come to talk to you later. ”
"We choose to cooperate with Chinese companies purely for commercial purposes, and there is no zz purpose.
I am a white man and one of the beneficiaries of the current Americen global system. It is impossible for me to Take the initiative to overthrow the current system," Bezos said in an interview with Congress.
Although American once banned Light Armor Aerospace from entering the American market.
The problem is that Blue Origin chooses a very stupid angle. Whether it is purchasing technology or a space station, it can circumvent Amerikan's restrictions.
Shell established a subsidiary abroad, and then used Shell to find Guangjia Aerospace to buy space station modules, which were launched into space by Guangjia Aerospace and used by Blue Origin.
Technology transactions are done by shells, and there are no publicly registered patents anyway.
On the surface, there is no apparent connection between Blue Origin and these transactions.
The only problem is the lunar landing module. NASA really can't accept that I gave the project to you and you transferred it to Guangjia Aerospace. So why don't I just go to Guangjia Aerospace?
However, this project has also been packaged as a technical consulting project by Blue Origin.
On the surface, there is nothing wrong with Blue Origin.
Sometimes not having a problem is the biggest problem.
The gentlemen in Washington obviously cannot stand this kind of behavior of Bezos. In addition, Silicon Valley, Washington and Wall Street are the three poles of American power in the new century. Washington does not mind giving Silicon Valley power in this regard. One of Amazon is looking for trouble.
Bezos is helpless because Washington wants to link business practices with zz and accuse him of unwarranted charges.
“No, Mr. Bezos, your behavior is a commercial behavior, but its consequences are collapse.
This will set a very bad example for the entire world. We We can cooperate with China in cutting-edge manufacturing industry
This will speed up China's industrial upgrading. "The lawmakers will obviously not let Bezos off so easily.
(End of Chapter)