[mushufasa]

> is it smart to be the first company to start mass-producing an open-source medical device?

Certainly none of the existing ventilator companies would have that incentive. The best case would be public funding -- a country with a large enough single-payer system could potentially justify as cost-saving and building supply chain resiliency.

A new company, that doesn't have to worry about cannibalizing its existing line of business, may be able to make it work also. Just because a business model is less lucrative than another doesn't mean it's infeasible.