Investors talk about SpaceX's near-monopoly: it's not conducive to industry development

News on September 13, an investment banker from the international investment bank Lazard issued a warning about SpaceX’s dominance in the rocket launch market, saying that the entire industry needs more competitors to try Shoot More Rockets

Vikram Nidamaluri is general manager of Lazard's Telecommunications, Media and Entertainment division. He told a panel discussion at World Satellite Business Week that the problem was huge

Nidamaruri added: “Overall, the existence of a completely dominant launch services provider may have a significant impact on The business outlook for the entire industry is unfavorable." "No one wants a monopoly to kill any part of the value chain. There are obviously other companies working hard to increase production capacity, but I don't think their plans are moving fast enough."

NIDA Maruri's comments also reflect concerns expressed by other aerospace industry insiders this year about SpaceX's monopoly on the rocket launch market. Rocket launches are a key link and potential bottleneck in putting valuable satellites, spacecraft and astronauts into orbit. While several other U.S. companies are working to develop products to compete with SpaceX's main Falcon rocket, program delays mean rivals face huge challenges in launching a new generation of operational rockets.

A few days ago, SpaceX just completed its 63rd rocket launch mission in 2023. The company has broken the record of 61 launch missions completed last year, and is still making great strides at an average of one launch every four days. . Looking at the global rocket launch market, SpaceX leads the way in the number of launches and the number of spacecraft carried every quarter.

SpaceX Vice President Tom Ochinero echoed Nidamaruri’s concerns during a separate panel discussion on Monday about whether the company would exist with Starlink satellite internet service The competition to send satellites into space was explained.

"We've proven that, yes, we're going to do it," Ochinero said. “We are a launch company first, and we provide launch services.”

Although Starlink is SpaceX’s “large internal customer,” Ochinero also said, “Sometimes we will use our own launch services based on demand. Satellite launches were moved aside to provide launch services to competitors and customers." Recently, SpaceX signed an agreement with Canadian operator Telesat to launch 14 satellites for its Lightspeed Internet satellite into orbit. Occhinello said that SpaceX has previously launched satellites for other Starlink competitors such as OneWeb, Viasat and EchoStar. "I am not particularly worried about this. We are here to launch rockets." Occhinero said Nairo said

Tory Bruno, CEO of United Launch Alliance (ULA), pushed back during a panel discussion on the notion that SpaceX has complete control of the launch market. As the second-largest rocket launch company in the U.S. market, ULA is a competitor of SpaceX. ULA has only completed two rocket launches this year and is working hard to prepare for the first launch of its new generation Vulcan rocket in the next few months

Bruno said: "I appreciate that SpaceX will be a "mercy company" "The perspective of a monopoly, but I don't think you are a monopoly, and I don't think our plan is to make you a monopoly."

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