Perhaps it's unfair to single out TI here, as I am sure that most companies put their own spin on the cost of their products. The questionable practice is publishing a low suggested resale price (per 1ku) of a particular device. And as near as I can tell, the distribution channels don't come anywhere near this budgetary price. Any thoughts or experience on where TI is coming from?

Just for instance take the MSP430G2111 (tssop pkg.) with TI stating $0.46/1ku. Checking Digikey they are $0.638 per 2k reel, Avnet $0.608 per 500, or Arrow at $0.78 per 2k reel. Nearly 50% higher than suggested resale.

 

It might depend on the level of business you do with a particular distributor. I know that we routinely got better prices on things the more business we did with a particular firm. The line card keeps changing so you have to keep up with who is selling what and if you never ask for a lower price the answer is always NO.

 

What is the price if you buy directly from TI?

http://ti-estore.com

For instance, the msp430 dev boards were advertised at $4.30. But they were more than that from mouser and digikey and such.. The $4.30 price was only from TI's eStore.

It is probably just standard markup from the other companies.

 

Well right now, the 1ku pricing is a bit on the hypothetical side. Being a hobbyist, I would have zero bargaining power with the large distributors. But as mentioned, it never hurts to ask.

TI doesn't have a visible pricing schedule for the microcontrollers that I'm aware of, say like Microchip direct. Will go ahead and call up next week to see what their rep says.

Got my Launchpad finally, so plenty of work ahead to get up to speed. The multiplex nature of the TI MSP430 comparator module looks promising for a small solar charging circuit.