As long as the company takes safety measures, the core technology can be used by its own company 10, 20 or even 50 years, so that its own company will always be ahead of other companies in this technology.
Once the core technology is patented, it will be made public. After the information is made public, it will provide a basis for other companies to study similar or even better methods. In this way, it is possible for better technologies to emerge in a short time, which makes the core technologies face the risk of being eliminated.
Patents have a term of protection. The term of protection of new patents is 10 years, and that of invention patents is 20 years.