It's not really "favors". The person selling individual chips profits because they don't have the overhead of a formal business. There are open markets for form

It's not really "favors". The person selling individual chips profits because they don't have the overhead of a formal business. There are open markets for formal businesses, which also expect you to be a formal business ready to purchase large volumes. and, tbh, transparency doesn't matter at low volumes. If someone can afford to carry a prototype to production, the difference between the average and lowest potential guanxi price for a single chip is negligible.