[exmadscientist]

The chip is very expensive, sadly. If it were just a matter of the cartel, that would be one thing (and would have Shenzhen-made workarounds). No, the USB lunatics made USB-PD one of the most insane specifications you'll ever find, so that no one can implement it correctly period. (Seriously, it's actually the description of the actual behavior of an old TI part, bugs and all, turned into a spec. It's horrid. It's the genuine worst specification ever.)

So you end up needing a 48MHz Cortex-M0 microcontroller just to do the god damned power delivery. At least, I've never seen it done by a less capable part. And processors of that class are, alas, just not that cheap.

[explodingwaffle]

As someone who has read the PD spec and agrees with your assessment- I’m curious what that chip is?

[exmadscientist]

I don't, I'm sorry. I also don't think I ever tracked down that part myself (but who knows, it's been years), so it may not actually be true. But it's sure plausible!