This thread reeks of barely-disguised xenophobia. Lots of usage of the word “they” like Chinese companies act as a collective, rather than being distinct businesses with varying goals, products, and quality levels.
The reasons you don't yet see ultra-premium knife alloys coming from China are likely numerous, but all entirely economic:
- Until recently, the knife manufacturing market in China has been exclusively inexpensive budget knives, some bespoke to a company (Spyderco, Kershaw, etc) and some made and sold to be rebranded under whatever company's name that decided to buy them. High-end alloys made in China were just not in demand locally or abroad.
- Companies in China that want to make high-quality knives now save a significant amount of money by not having to reinvent the wheel and develop / research new alloys - importing steel is just plainly more cost-effective.
- Similarly, Chinese metallurgy startups would find themselves in immediate competition with businesses that have been doing it for decades. They would be hard-pressed to turn a profit on premium steels given the startup and material costs involved - the established businesses can produce premium steels in bulk and sell them for less than any new manufacturer (regardless of location and labor costs) just due to the established supply networks and equipment.
TL,DR: It takes less to keep a wheel rolling than it does to research, manufacture, and push the wheel into a roll from an inert state.
So, it will likely be a while before we see exotic or premium alloys coming from China that are cost-competitive with the current supply lines available to them. This will also be delayed by a lack of demand, since people tend to want trusted materials in their high-end pocket knives and not some mystery alloy that has yet to see field testing - you see the effects of this demand already in both domestic and foreign companies using premium steels essentially as a marketing ploy and not because it is a fitting steel for the knife.