How NDA'd SoCs kill China factories
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So you were dumb enough to sign up to an NDA'd chip because that was how you were told it could be done and then your factory got some technology and started producing gadgets like all these factories did:
And so you realize your product looks like everybody else's and you decide to go one up and make your own customized device with a few more bells and whistles.
The first thing you would do is ask for support from the chip factory. But you are not going to get any because the support is strictly narrowed to the product your factory has been equipped to make. Thats because everything is NDA'd and the chip factory cannot allow their engineers to go on line and start asking for help to port LCDs and other types of added gadgetry to the chip because they would violate the NDA describing what is in the chip.
So then you think you are the factory and you got the datasheets, and you can go online and ask for support.
No fat chance at all!!
You signed the NDA and it would be illegal for you to describe the chips and pins to get help.
So in the end your factory collapses because you are unable to add bells and whistles to your product and differentiate your product from the rest of the crowd.
Looking at all the gadgets at dx.com,
Signing up for SoCs with NDAs kill all future prospects for products. As far as possible, don't sign NDAs. Go sponsor chips and fabless companies that can work without need for NDAs.