As the article goes into, Cherry had their lunch eaten because they barely made any attempt to innovate for decades. They coasted on their patents until they expired and then they were eaten alive, not just by cheaper alternatives, but by superior quality alternatives too. They were doomed regardless of where they were based.

>They were doomed regardless of where they were based.

This was not inevitable. You even mentioned the reason it happened.

Cherry isn't a one of here. This exact same story, successful product -> limited innovation -> bad clones from China -> superior "clones" from Chinese with actual innovations, keeps repeating itself in Germany.

Germany is objectively not a good environment for manufacturing. Especially when it comes to manufacturing anything cost sensitive, but these companies obviously have themselves to blame. The PC Hardware market has drastically evolved and if Cheery had actually wanted to, they could have been at the forefront of that. But they haven't.