They did it just to show they can. The next country to have similar mindset are the japs, who come up with lots of inventions which are never really commercially viable, but just to show the world they can and have the ability to innovate. For that, they will always be the leading countries in innovation. If you are talking about mass producing cheaply, blatant copycat, then the chinese and to a certain extent the south koreans will make lots of dough this way.