Rochester Electronics make cheap Maxim chips?

[rfleming]

Hi All,

I have started working with the MAX8521 for a peltier controller and found on DigiKey that Rochester Electronics has the same chips sold through DigiKey (as a sale platform only) for Maxim original chips that are still in production. This isn't the first time I have seen this either, there have been a couple other ICs in the past (couldn't note any atm) that were also supplied by them through digikey as well.

Has anyone had any experience with these (un?)licensed clones?

https://www.digikey.com.au/products/en/integrated-circuits-ics/pmic-power-management-specialized/761?k=max8521
https://www.digikey.com.au/products/en/integrated-circuits-ics/interface-drivers-receivers-transceivers/710?k=max8521

Ryan.

[ajb]

Rochester is a licensed distributor for Maxim and a lot of other manufacturers, and Digikey now has this 'marketplace' thing that they appear to sell through.  So I don't see any reason to assume these are clones, and in fact when I look at the ones you link to they show the manufacturer as Maxim and that they're sold by Rochester.  Even if they were clones made by Rochester, they appear to do a fair bit of licensed manufacture of EOL parts, so if they're clones they ought to be on the up-and-up, since otherwise Maxim wouldn't let them distribute. 

[rfleming]

If that's the case, DigiKey is allowing a competing supplier to sell products on their own site and undercut them. They're obviously getting their cut, but interesting...

I guess right now in Chipageddon, this still helps DigiKey to make a profit while they struggle to get push through their own ICs.