Catch up to who? Intel, Yahoo, Google, Microsoft, Sun, IBM? None of these were the prime inventor of their products either. There were semiconductors before

Catch up to who? Intel, Yahoo, Google, Microsoft, Sun, IBM? None of these were the prime inventor of their products either. There were semiconductors before Intel, search engines before Yahoo and Google, OSes before Microsoft, and computer hardware before Sun or IBM. So no product companies don't need to catchup to anyone in the invent new stuff space. They need to design, develop, and sell products that people are willing to buy.