Chips in hardware is like programming languages and libraries in software, chips make the world turn around. Does your hardware need power? It needs power cont

Chips in hardware is like programming languages and libraries in software, chips make the world turn around. Does your hardware need power? It needs power controller and converter chips, such as a MOSFET driver, a DC-DC converter, a charge pump, a linear regulator, a voltage monitor, or a power multiplexer (if it has multiple power sources). Does it have a battery? It needs a battery charging controller, or a battery gauge. Does it need to communicate via a data interface or a cable? It needs interfacing chips, such as I2C chip, SPI chip, IIO chip, RS-232/RS-485/RS-422 chips, CANbus chipss, LVDS chips, voltage level translation chips, and I/O extending chips. Does it have USB? It may need a USB multiplexer chips to switch between different signal sources (for example, USB Type-C can be an audio port or a data port), or a USB charging controller chip. Does it need wireless communication? It needs RF front-end chips, RF amplifier chips, RF frequency synthesizers, and SoCs for Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS, etc. Does it need data acquisition capabilities? It needs ADC chips, DAC chips, amplifier chips, and signal conditioning chips. Does it need NFC/RFID? It needs NFC and RFID chips. Does it have a screen or a LED light, like a screen backlight or a flashlight? It needs LED controller chips and power chips. Does it need any kind of software control? It needs a microcontroller. The list goes on. And Maxim's products cover almost all of these applications. So does Analog Devices' products, but with an emphasize on high-precision, high-performance components.