[TrainedMonkey]

TLDR: in real world things are messy and highly correlated.

It is chicken and egg problem. Higher volume makes things cheaper^1 because of manufacturing scale and diluting R&D expenses. Higher volume also means more working capital and higher ROI on R&D. That R&D can make things cheaper (or same price but better features) which drives volume. Industries can start from either end of this. For example there a lot of battery chemistry and solar cell advancements are because high volume drove R&D investment. Current boom in battery manufacturing largely comes from one U.S. company and China making EVs a priority and driving volume. That volume is driving R&D which is increasing capability and driving down unit cost and factory scale up which is driving down unit cost. On the other end of the spectrum are VC backed companies burning cash to make up volume in hopes that R&D will catch up and make them profitable.

Note 1: there is a huge assumption here about input availability and pricing model. For example plastics currently enjoy being dirt cheap party because they are a byproduct of oil production. On the other hand Helium supply is limited and it's price reflects that.