🚨PSA

Hi Corey, you mentioned getting DMs from every direction on this. So this reply is partly to you, partly to that broader conversation and comments on both of your posts, because some of what's flying around needs context. It unfortunately isn't that easy. Price is primarily set by the bill of materials. I can't make parts cheaper just by wanting it harder. And there's nothing extra on CORE One, every part has a job. Strip any part and you get a different printer. What most people would not expect and many actually think it is a solution: manufacturing in China doesn't fix this either. Take an entry-level Chinese printer apart, quote the same parts in China at 100k+ volume, the parts alone cost more than the printer sells for in the West. Where is the sense in retail below parts cost? Do this long enough and price perception is permanently skewed. Some of what props it up: 0% interest loans, multi-year tax holidays, free land, free factories, 200% R&D tax deductions. And at the wild end, the state pays consumers back ~15% of the printer's price as a rebate. They are literally running out of ways to push more money into the propped industries. None of that is available to any Western company manufacturing in the West, or even trying to manufacture in China. And this isn't just a 3D printing problem. Same playbook took solar, drones, batteries, EVs. Now it's working on robotics. 3D printing would be done if we wouldn't be soo stubborn💪 About the “competitiveness“ I keep seeing in the replies. God I hate that word. Part of every conversation about every industry, especially in the EU. It’s shifting the problem to western industry side. Real problem is China breaking the WTO rules the next day after joining. So an $899 CORE One isn't a price decision. And unfortunately the "what if" framing, however hopeful, reinforces exactly the view that's hurting us in too many people's eyes. Complex and heavy topic, but tried to add some context.

BambuStudio has been violating PrusaSlicer AGPL license since their fork, with the same networking binary black box in question today. Why are they willing to burn the goodwill over it? There's something most have sensed but never seen it all in one place, the five-law framework China built between 2017 and 2023 ⤵️ So maybe their hand is forced as their "network" is too valuable already? Each law on its own, interesting, okay... Read them together, and add any Chinese company with big reach to the mix you get the complete picture. 1) National Intelligence Law (2017) All organizations and citizens must "support, assist, and cooperate" with intelligence work. The same law makes it illegal to disclose that cooperation happened. Cooperation is mandatory, and silence about it is mandatory too. 2) Cryptography Law (2020) Commercial encryption must be state-approved and state-reviewed. When authorities request it, companies must provide decryption keys or plaintext. The state on both sides of that equation is the same one. 3) Data Security Law (2021) Article 2 gives the state extraterritorial reach over data that touches Chinese national security or public interests. So EU/US data hosting does nothing to make it safe, because jurisdiction follows the company, not the server location. 4) Counter-Espionage Law revision (2023) The general definition of espionage was expanded to cover "documents, data, materials, or items related to national security and interests." Industrial data is one of the intended targets since the revision. 5) Network Product Security Vulnerability regulation (2021) Any company or researcher that discovers a software vulnerability must report it to MIIT within 48 hours. From there it flows to CNNVD (China National Vulnerability Database of Information Security), operated by the 13th Bureau of the Ministry of State Security. Microsoft's threat intelligence team documented Chinese state-hacker zero-day usage rising after this took effect. Shows the willingness to use the “tools” China built. Together they describe a system with no neutral exits. Cooperation is required, encryption is real but the spare keys live at the ministry, jurisdiction follows the company across borders, industrial data is in scope, and discovered vulnerabilities flow to an intelligence agency 😬 3D printing became strategic for China in 2020 and joined the “Made in China 2025” plan soon after. Why does 3D printing matter so much? 1/x