Microchip's program allows embedded designers to exchange selected microcontrollers and associated tools from its rivals for a rebate as high as 30 percent--up to a $120 savings. Customers can exchange their products for selected devices from Microchip.

On its site, Microchip listed rival tools from Atmel, TI and Freescale. The program ends Oct. 30, 2009.

"We know that you have some clunker tools from our competition just rusting away on your shelf, taunting you with painful memories of their many crashes," said Thang Nguyen, development tools marketing manager at Microchip, in a statement. "I would like to personally invite you to trade in those battery-guzzling clunkers for Microchip's latest models and experience firsthand why more than 63,000 global embedded customers prefer Microchip."