eric coleridge wrote:But for the sake of argument---in the past several years, I've noticed a ton of ICs that had previously been been difficult to source, all of a sudden becoming newly available and relatively inexpensive again from Chinese distributors. I'm sure you've noticed this too.
Sure I have noticed. These Chinese distributors have proven to be illegitimate because the ICs turn out to be counterfeits. The counterfeitors scavenge discarded PC boards, pull the ICs, and re-label them. For currently manufactured parts, the OEMs simply obsolete the part number, assign a new number, and pass on the info to their customers. For parts out of production, the rest of us have to separate the crooks and we don't have the time or $$$ to do that.
These counterfeit parts are also finding their way into the domestic low quantity supply chains and ebay auctions. The authorities in China are rather indifferent about penalizing the counterfeitors, in fact they seem to encourage the practice.
Perhaps a company like Moog that may have an interest in sourcing obsolete ICs wouldn't necessarily have to take on the full expenses you're talking about (as they would have years ago), when there are Chinese firms already doing this sort of work, and already making it possible to get old chips newly manufactured at a cost that's non-prohibitive. This is simply the conjecture that I made when I heard Moog was having obsolete ICs newly fabricated. Is this foolish conjecture?
I work in the electronics field and I can tell you that China isn't re-issuing any obsolete ICs.
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