In fact, when you consider the potential stakes involved, such conflict seems inevitable, nor would it be anything new. Technological espionage was just one of many things pursued by governments during the Cold War, and there is no reason to believe that it ever stopped or ever will. Knowledge has power, and theft is one way you get it. When nations compete, they generally play to win. Even if they try to hold themselves to standards of what it means to play fair, they must acknowledge that other nations will not be inclined to do the same.
Technology affects everything.
Technological improvements are largely credited with the improvements in production efficiency which have helped to improve the standards of living around the globe. Technology costs money to develop, but it pays for those costs through the advantages it creates. If that technology is stolen, the advantage is lost, which means the money spent to develop that advantage simply goes to waste. One of the most recent cases of industrial espionage to make the news involve three people charged in connection with the theft of proprietary software from Lucent Technologies. If a foreign nation steals source code from Lucent, it may not be on par with sinking an aircraft carrier, but it is still an attack.