AI demand for advanced compute is redrawing the component supply landscape in 2025. For lower-volume sectors such as aerospace and defence, the ripple effects can show up as longer lead times, abrupt last-time-buy notices and devices that quietly slip off line cards just as programmes need them most. For many engineers, that reality frames every product sustainment plan.
For visitors arriving at the Engineering Design Show, this context makes obsolescence conversations worth having early. When obsolescence looms, the difference between firefighting and foresight is understanding available routes, trade-offs and time constraints.
Force Technologies positions itself as a solutions provider. The team’s EDS message is simple: visitors can take their obsolescence problem to the stand and expect to leave with options mapped across immediate, mid and long-term horizons. Those options are designed to preserve form, fit and function wherever feasible, reduce scrap and protect lifetime performance in safety-critical contexts.
Force Technologies’ commercial director, Charlotte Hughes, said: “Semiconductor innovation is relentless and typically follows volume applications. Capacity concentrates where orders are largest meaning low-volume, high-reliability sectors can struggle to secure device continuity.”
Obsolescence pressures
In the past it was common for sectors like mobile phones to absorb entire classes of components. Now AI infrastructure is soaking up GPUs and adjacent technologies, pulling attention and fab time toward hyperscale buyers. For programme teams working on systems such as avionics or mass transit with decades-long service lives, the result is a widening gap between in-service need and commercial focus. The practical question becomes what to do when an off-the-shelf device disappears while qualification, certification and budgets demand continuity.
Charlotte said: “The first reaction is naturally a scramble for sources, starting with authorised resellers and well-known aftermarket channels, but the better response is to widen the search to solution providers that can offer graded choices rather than a single outcome. That framing moves teams from panic to plan.
“We offer standard products but see ourselves more as a solutions provider. Engineers look at each case and, where possible, put forward multiple paths: the most cost-effective route; the approach that saves most time; and the choice that maximises longevity. The customer can then decide based on schedule, certification constraints and programme priorities.
From panic to plan: mapping options for sustainment
That approach dovetails with sustainment. The company stresses helping teams through the immediate shock while also steering them toward a 10- to 20-year outlook avoids a fix that simply resets the clock.
Charlotte explained: “We often propose parallel solutions: near-term to keep hardware shipping and a longer-horizon path that aligns with platform life, maintenance windows and the realities of test and certification. The theme is resource efficiency rather than one-off rescue.”
A recurring pillar is life extension through device-level re-engineering. When a packaged part becomes unobtainable, Force can work from bare die, or extract a die from legacy packages, then repackage to deliver a one-to-one replacement that preserves footprint and function. That helps avoid trigger effects, where redesigning one part of a board forces redesign of others, multiplying risk and cost.
Charlotte added: “We’re finding die extraction and repackaging becoming very popular. It gives the customer form, fit function or one-to-one replacement, avoiding reworking the board. It’s a pragmatic answer to a common failure mode where a single FPGA or ASIC endangers the fate of a complete assembly.”
For EDS attendees wanting a deeper technical dive, device packaging flexibility is a frequent question. Force collaborates with package manufacturers to modify a package and sample it for customer sign-off. Although many engagements centre on legacy package styles, a case-by-case mindset is important. Force has never encountered a case where the package was an issue.”
Qualification and data access are part of the conversation. Force explained its support process is built to meet customers’ expectations in high-reliability environments. Transparency is central to building confidence in solutions that will live in safety-critical platforms for years.
Component test is also an important consideration. For some legacy devices, programmers and fixtures are no longer available. Force uses in-house 3D printing to prototype parts and even produce bespoke programmer housings when commercial options no longer exist, which helps eliminate test bottlenecks that could block certification.
On-stand application showcase
Force Technologies’ stand will feature display cabinets containing devices that illustrate the range of solutions, packages and materials the company works with.
Charlotte said: “We always bring a cabinet of components with examples labelled by whether the route was die extraction and assembly or bare-die assembly and packaging, which helps turn a complex process into something visitors can hold in their hand.”
Long-term storage is also part of the story, with team members on stand to talk through storage parameters with engineers and programme managers.
Meet the team
In addition to Charlotte, visitors to Force Technologies’ stand will have the opportunity to talk strategy with the company’s CEO, Karen Salmon, and applications manager, Ben Savage, who offer decades of experience.
Visit Force Technologies’ stand to get hands-on with solutions, explore the technicalities of die extraction/repackaging and draw up an options roadmap. The company encourages visitors to share part numbers and context such as programme timelines, redesign constraints and test requirements. Conversations can start with immediate needs and broaden to support long-term sustainment.
Getting the most from your visit
Before the show, shortlist assemblies where a single missing device could block manufacture. At the stand, ask to see examples matching package styles. Share certification and test constraints so the team can propose routes that maintain reliability without restarting qualification. Align on a stopgap that protects near-term builds, then scope the longer-horizon path that supports the programme’s full service life.
