If anything, the fact that a lot of chips you can buy from China do not match their specification is exactly one thing that keeps China's semiconductor industry

If anything, the fact that a lot of chips you can buy from China do not match their specification is exactly one thing that keeps China's semiconductor industry back. If some Chinese company built a cheaper and in every regard better NE555, they would have a very hard time marketing it because noone would trust that sellers offering them wouldn't be selling them recycled bad-quality TI parts instead.