> So technically even you can replace those chips, you can't buy them. They don't even need to resort to this. If the chip requires programming, they keep the

> So technically even you can replace those chips, you can't buy them. They don't even need to resort to this. If the chip requires programming, they keep the chip protected from read and the code locked and bingo: you can buy an identical one but it won't work without the original code. Pretty much any digital product in existence works like that today. One could have the entire BOM of an iPhone available, but without their iron level firmware, all programmable chips would just sit there doing nothing thus making the device unusable.