Flash Heard: GE Takes Blade Manufacturing In-House -- WSJ

By Jinjoo Lee

GE Aerospace on Tuesday said it will buy Consolidated Precision Products, a maker of blade and vanes for jet engines, for $11.75 billion.

CPP is one of the four major manufacturers of the blades and vanes that go into jet engines and power-generating natural gas turbines. GE has been a customer of CPP for over 15 years, according to its announcement.

By buying CPP, GE is bringing in house a key supply chain that holds considerable market and pricing power. Blades and vanes are technically challenging components to make, and there are long backlogs in both the aerospace and power industries.

Shares of CPP's bigger competitor, Howmet Aerospace, fell 7%. The acquisition could be bad news for Howmet if it means GE starts relying less on other manufacturers.

GE made up 11% of Howmet's 2025 sales, according to a report from Jefferies. The report estimated that GE makes up more than 15% of Howmet's earnings, given the higher margins associated with engine products. But the impact won't be clear for a while: GE's contracts with Howmet and Berkshire Hathaway-owned Precision Castparts, the other major manufacturer, come up for renewal in the 2030s, according to the report.

Howmet's shares have been through a volatile stretch: Last week, they dropped after Elon Musk confirmed that SpaceX will start making blades and vanes, before recovering. The blade-and-vane making oligopoly has an attractive moat, and its clients seem keen to disrupt its market power.

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September 08, 2026 12:39 ET (16:39 GMT)