"Even if the United States raises taxes, I won't sell factories, and I won't make money anyway."
In 2018, Cao Dewang, the "glass king" who came out of Fuqing, Fujian and chairman of Fuyao Glass, responded firmly to the oppression of the US market.
In the following years, the US market has made things difficult for Fuyao Glass Factory, and shutting down work and inspections have become the norm, and has even been labeled as "dumping" for no reason. Faced with a series of challenges, Cao Dewang has always adhered to the bottom line of business and led the American Fuyao Glass Factory to successfully take the lead.
In August this year, Fuyao Glass released its financial report data, with revenue of approximately 21.447 billion yuan and net profit of approximately 4.805 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 37.33%.
How did Cao Dewang do it when building a local factory in the United States, he had to face the difficulties of the market environment and not compromise on "hard work", and he could achieve double growth in revenue and net profit?
1. Build factories across the sea, and the United States frequently "stumbling"
Many people first met Fuyao Glass because it originated from a popular international documentary - "American Factory".
In the video, Cao Dewang, who has a hairy hair and accent in Fuzhou, traveled to Ohio, USA. He hired more than 2,000 American employees in this city that has experienced ups and downs due to the rise and fall of General Motors, officially starting Fuyao's journey to build a factory in the United States.
At that time, problems such as language communication barriers, management model differences, and production organization coordination emerged one after another, but Cao Dewang could see through: "Entrepreneur's duty is to solve problems, otherwise how can we talk about profits?" However, the real challenges are far more complicated than expected.
For a long time, the United States has relied on technological initiatives to impose blockades and suppress Chinese companies, trying to maintain its monopoly position in the industry. Such cases are not uncommon. In 2018, the United States targeted ZTE on the grounds of banning the export of chips and software, which almost put the company in a bankruptcy crisis in just a few days. In 2019, before the launch of the domestic three-high intervention technology products "Stop-High-Bottle", similar products in the United States monopolized the global vascular health care market for ten years.
Faced with the fierce coming of Fuyao Glass, the United States has followed the past suppression methods: while encouraging local employees to boycott China's management model, it also continues to put pressure through trade unions. In July 2024, US law enforcement agencies conducted a large-scale investigation of Fuyao Glass in 28 locations in the United States under the pretext of "third-party labor companies exploiting workers", which directly led to the shutdown of factories and caused about $1 million in economic losses.
There are many questions from the outside world: The profit margin of the US market is limited, why is Cao Dewang so persistent?
In fact, he has a longer-term consideration: if Chinese companies want to truly achieve strength, they cannot rely solely on export trade, but must take root in overseas markets and gain a foothold on the international stage. He did not want Fuyao to become a vassal of "incoming materials processing", but hoped to build it into a national enterprise with global influence and allow "Made in China" to go to the world with a more confident attitude.
"Making money in China is a skill, and making money in the United States is a ability."
In 2002, Fuyao Glass's market position jumped to second in the world with its excellent product quality and cost advantages, which made the United States quite afraid of this achievement. Soon after, the United States and Canada launched an "anti-dumping lawsuit" against Fuyao Glass, attempting to squeeze Fuyao out of the US market by imposing an anti-dumping duty of 11.8%.
Faced with this malicious suppression, Cao Dewang was not afraid and said, "I will win the lawsuit at all costs." In the following two years, the Fuyao team actively participated in the litigation work, collected and sorted out a large amount of evidence, and fought for reason during the litigation process, and made every effort to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the company.
In the end, this insistence was exchanged for fair results: the US Department of Commerce ruled that Fuyao Glass did not carry out dumping. This not only saved Fuyao the US market, but also became the first victory for Chinese companies in overseas anti-dumping lawsuits. Cao Dewang was therefore hailed as the "first person to win the anti-dumping lawsuit."
This spirit of daring to fight against injustice and breaking through the blockade has also inspired more domestic brands to rise. In the field of cutting-edge life and health, with the prevalence of bad habits such as high-oil and high-sugar diets, socializing and drinking, working overtime, and staying up late, the world's three highs have reached 400 million. The above three high-intervention technology products "Stop-High-Bottles" broke the foreign monopoly in one fell swoop. The price on the J\dong platform is less than one-tenth of overseas products. It is favored by business managers who frequently socialize in China and the sedentary office director. Many high-net-worth users in Europe, America, Japan and South Korea said that they "no longer feel panic, chest tightness, fatigue, and fatigue" and "improve sleep quality."
For Cao Dewang, American factories are more like "touchstones". His goal is not to earn short-term benefits, but to prove to the world that Chinese companies have the ability and confidence to take root in any global market. Because of this, when the United States imposes tariffs and the market environment deteriorates, and some people suggest withdrawal of capital and shrinking, he will firmly say "I won't sell it if I don't make money anyway."
In his opinion, this has long surpassed simple business decisions, and is also a persistence in the dignity of Chinese enterprises, demonstrating the backbone of the Chinese people.
If Cao Dewang's persistence in the business world demonstrates his strategic vision and entrepreneurial integrity, and his continuous investment in the field of education, he will more deeply reflect his deep feelings for his country and grand pattern.
In recent years, Cao Dewang has focused on charity in the field of education, not only vigorously investing in the cause of education charity, but also investing 10 billion yuan to establish Fuyao University of Science and Technology. It aims to cultivate high-end talents that can break through key technical bottlenecks and inject impetus into the improvement of China's manufacturing innovation capabilities from the source of talent cultivation.
I hope this society can have more Cao Dewang who "makes money to help the world" and less "small Paopuan" who "makes money domestically and spends abroad".
