I have to disagree with your blanket statement. In some cases what you say is true, the cheap clone is piggybacking on the R&D of someone else. Yet the situat

I have to disagree with your blanket statement. In some cases what you say is true, the cheap clone is piggybacking on the R&D of someone else. Yet the situation is definitely not so clearcut in the case of many development boards. The heart of a development board is the MCU. Assuming a genuine component is being used, the software stack is typically provided by the vendor of the MCU. The supporting circuitry is either well known or provided in the vendor's datasheets. In the case of basic boards, there is not much R&D happening. It is also worth noting that the software stack for many boards is open source. Let's ignore the compilers. They're typically based upon GCC, thus open source, but they are typically supported by the MCU vendor which is supported by MCU sales. Consider something like Arduino and MicroPython. Some board vendors undoubtedly invest in them, but it is open source. Others can use the products of their labours. Equally important, others can contribute to them. The board vendors who invest in the software also benefit from contributions. On top of all of that, Chinese firms aren't the only ones making clones and Chinese firms do more than create clones. For example: I haven't heard anything about Espressif parts being clones of original brands.