Force Technologies has been working in the obsolescence space for more than four decades, and their role has always been very clear. The company supports customers who operate long-life systems in sectors like aerospace, defence, industrial control and transport, where equipment may be in service for several decades and where the semiconductor market simply doesn’t move at the same pace as those systems.
Interview with Charlotte Hughes, Commercial Director at Force Technologies.
A brief description of the company and its activities.
Charlotte Hughes: Our work is all about continuity: helping customers keep their platforms reliable and supportable even when the components they rely on have long disappeared from mainstream production. We do that by designing form-fit-function (FFF) and 1:1 replacements for obsolete semiconductors. Our solution types range from build from bare die, die extraction and packaging, testing, providing engineering support, and increasingly by holding and managing long-term strategic inventory on behalf of our customers in our nitrogen storage programme.
What are the main areas of activity of the company?
C.H: The core of what we do is obsolescence solutions, but that phrase doesn’t always communicate the breadth of the work involved. Obsolescence isn’t simply the inconvenience of a hard-to-find part; it’s a real threat to system availability, costing time, money and sometimes certification when a redesign is forced unexpectedly. Many of the organisations we support can’t afford unplanned downtime, and they certainly can’t run the risk of integrating unverified parts from unknown sources. Our “continuity principle” recognises that obsolescence will always happen, as OEMs will always discontinue product lines, but a well-structured approach gives customers control and time to be proactive. For us, that means engineering-led solutions, proper risk planning, and proactive measures like storage, FFF and 1:1 replacements, lifecycle reviews, rather than reactive last-minute purchasing. It’s about giving engineering teams the confidence that their equipment can keep performing long after the market has moved on.
What’s the news about new products/services?
C.H: The most significant development for us has been the expansion of our long-term storage capabilities. The Titan Building has been designed as a purpose-built, environmentally controlled facility for the secure storage of semiconductor die and assembled product. It gives customers a level of stability and traceability that simply isn’t available if they try to manage this themselves, and makes it possible to plan decades ahead rather than years.
Alongside that, we’re introducing a new range of standardised products that give customers predictable, supported alternatives for commonly problematic devices. It’s an important step because it brings together everything we’ve learned into a catalogue of ready-engineered solutions, reducing the time and cost for customers facing repeat or unexpected obsolescence patterns.
What are the ranges of products/services?
C.H: Our work spans several technology areas, all focused on the same objective: extending the life of essential equipment. We design custom form-fit-function replacements when a device is no longer manufactured, ensuring compatibility with the original application without forcing an unnecessary redesign. We provide full assembly and packaging capabilities, from ceramic hermetic packages to more modern plastic formats, depending on the system requirements as well as storage, testing services, and engineering support.
We support customers with up-screening, full-device characterization, and testing all the way up to Mil-Std 5004/5004, which is becoming increasingly important as the market sees more grey-market activity and greater risk of counterfeit or lower spec parts.
What is the state of the market where you are currently active?
C.H: The semiconductor world is innovating faster than ever, driven largely by consumer electronics, automotive electronics and AI demand. But for long-life systems, that acceleration creates an ever-growing gap. Components that once remained in production for a decade might now only be available for three to five years. In aerospace and defence, where systems may remain in service for 30 or 40+ years, this widening gap is becoming more and more of a risk.
Many organizations still focus heavily on “what’s next”, while giving far less attention to the equipment already in service and equipment that they have contracts in place to maintain and support. The challenge is that legacy systems cannot simply be redesigned every time the market shifts. Our role is to bridge that lifecycle mismatch and allow customers to keep delivering capability, safety and performance long after mainstream support ends.
What can you tell us about market trends?
C.H: One trend we’re watching closely is the continued move away from OEMs operating their own wafer fabs. When the world relies on a smaller number of foundries, any shift in technology, priority or capacity has a global impact.
As fabs focus on leading-edge nodes, mature-node and legacy processes receive less attention, even though they are essential for the kinds of systems we support. Alongside that, demand pressures have contributed to a rise in counterfeit devices, which remains one of the biggest risks to high-reliability sectors. These counterfeiters are becoming more sophisticated, and once a product goes end-of-life, the temptation to source from uncontrolled channels increases sharply. It reinforces the need for trusted partners, controlled storage and robust test and validation regimes.
What are the most innovative products/services marketed?
C.H: Obsolescence isn’t what most people think of when they talk about innovation because much of the work involves legacy technology. But innovation sits in the processes, not the parts. Our Titan Building is an example of this — it’s a modern approach to a longstanding problem, giving customers a way to manage semiconductor lifecycle risk in a secure, controlled and scalable way. Our engineering methodologies have also evolved significantly, allowing us to design custom replacements that match the performance of devices manufactured decades ago, while meeting today’s reliability expectations. The innovation is in finding new ways to preserve old systems, and in making those solutions predictable, traceable and sustainable.
What estimations do you have for the end of 2025?
C.H: Looking into 2026, we expect obsolescence pressures to continue rising. The supply chain is still recovering from years of disruption, and the threat of counterfeit devices remains a concern for any organisation without a proactive strategy. Mature-node and legacy components will only become harder to source as fabs shift focus towards advanced technologies. In response, we are preparing to introduce new measures that give customers greater visibility and protection against counterfeit risk. We can’t give full details yet, but it will strengthen the assurance that the parts our customers receive are genuine, traceable and fit for their environments. As always, our focus is on giving programmes confidence that their systems can be supported for as long as they’re needed.
