A hospital that buys a GE scanner is locked into years of service, training, and supplies. That's the moat.
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✦ The bottom line
A moat stops rivals stealing customers. GE HealthCare's is switching costs: once a scanner is installed and staff trained, hospitals rarely rip it out.
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✦ Teach me
Switching costs
What a customer must give up to change suppliers — money, retraining, downtime, risk. A hospital with GE imaging machines, trained technicians, and service contracts faces big costs to switch brands, so it usually doesn't.
Wall Street calls this
Switching costs
High switching costs mean revenue repeats year after year without re-winning the customer.
From the 10-K · the supply-chain scale
We believe our global scale, complemented by local focus, allows us to provide our customers with improved supply chain security, reduced costs, and compliance with regional or national trade requirements.
↳ Translated: global reach plus local service is hard for a smaller rival to match.
Source · 10-K · Business — Competitive Strengths · FY2025 · Filed Feb 4, 2026
It's not alone — Philips and Siemens Healthineers fight for the same hospitals. But all three enjoy the same lock-in; switching between them is rare.
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Sticky
Installed machines plus service contracts make revenue recur — a durable, real moat.