The problem with chip IP theft is the theif only has the IP they stole, not the skill to further develop or extend it (usually). The Qualcomm => Intel IP Theft

The problem with chip IP theft is the theif only has the IP they stole, not the skill to further develop or extend it (usually). The Qualcomm => Intel IP Theft that Apple facilitated is a great example, or AMD's licensing of the first gen Zen architecture to a Chinese owned company. Intel wasn't able to get their chipset working well despite a treasure trove of Qualcomm code and documents, even with the ability to question Qualcomm engineers via Apple. Meanwhile, Hygon (the AMD/China joint venture) has produced the Dhyana, virtually identical to AMD's EPYC chips of a year prior. The limiting factor for Hygon fulfiling its goals (home grown, performant cores) faces many challenges, as AMD is moving to 7nm at TSMC, while the bleeding edge at Chinese fabs (and nearly all other fabs) is 14nm. Even Intel hasn't been able to jump above 14nm and make a sizeable number of chips. Even if Hygon were to steal AMD's newer design, they have no native fabs to manufacture it, and they likely won't for another few years. Permanent industry laggard puts you in the same position as VIA, never making good profit or breaking ahead of competitors.