SAN JOSE, USA: Chip maker Microchip Technology Inc has forayed into a new domain by unveiling what it calls the 'Cash-for-Clunkers' program. The new initiative has been explained as a development-tool exchange program which in fact takes off the auto industry operations.

According to the company, the new program would be developed in such a way that it would allow embedded designers to exchange selected microcontrollers and associated tools from its rivals for a rebate as high as 30 percent. This would actually mean a savings of up to $120. Company sources added that customers can exchange their products for selected devices from Microchip.

Along with making public the initiative, Microchip Technology has listed rival tools from Atmel, TI and Freescale on its website. The program ends October 30, 2009, it said. Thang Nguyen, development tools marketing manager at Microchip, in a statement that, “We know that you have some clunker tools from our competition just rusting away on your shelf, taunting you with painful memories of their many crashes. I would like to personally invite you to trade in those battery-guzzling clunkers for Microchip's latest models and experience firsthand why more than 63,000 global embedded customers prefer Microchip.”