I'm trying to come up with an explanation why TI would do that. The only explanation I can come up with is that TI wants a closer relationship with their custo

I'm trying to come up with an explanation why TI would do that. The only explanation I can come up with is that TI wants a closer relationship with their customers. They don't want to be a commodity chip producer. When distributors host the datasheets, then customers would probably never visit TIs website, and just compare chips from multiple vendors on the distributors website. Customers are just going to pick the cheapest part that matches the specs. Maybe TI wants to be seen as a premium vendor. They don't want customers to look for a LED driver on an electronics distributors website, they want you to look for a TI LED driver on ti.com. They can explain the benefits of their chips much better on their own website. As someone who occasionally tinkers with electronics, I think this decision by TI sucks. I like that Mouser and Reichelt host all their datasheets. But I guess TI doesn't care if I'm going to buy two LM3886s or not.