No, lets be honest, this did not "change" for the reasons you listed. Mainboards are all manufactured in China. Right to repair advocates are not looking for manufacturing processes, silicon designs or calibration procedures. All of which suppliers in China already have and YOU, the owner of the product, do not. China is probably already way ahead than anybody else in that area.
It is a misleading conflation, a complete dishonest lie, by opponents of right to repair. They always say "I support right to repair" then add "concerns" that absolutely do not apply. Right to repair folks aren't trying to replicate the microchip here. They are trying to replace a blown capacitor or a damaged resistor. They want to understand which parts are needed so they can execute the job properly. How power cycles through a board is not a magical trade secret.
Electrical failure is relatively rare, but resistors are just as susceptible to mechanical and liquid damage, which is probably a more common failure than electrical degradation. Or a failure could cascade from another component and pop the resistor too.
It is a misleading conflation, a complete dishonest lie, by opponents of right to repair. They always say "I support right to repair" then add "concerns" that absolutely do not apply. Right to repair folks aren't trying to replicate the microchip here. They are trying to replace a blown capacitor or a damaged resistor. They want to understand which parts are needed so they can execute the job properly. How power cycles through a board is not a magical trade secret.