Where Silicon Actually Breaks Down
Semiconductors will grow from $627 billion to over $1 trillion by 2030 and PwC attributes the surge to end-markets across automotive, healthcare and beyond. But for the industries doing the buying, the constraint is no longer whether the silicon exists. It is whether they can integrate it, support it and keep it working across a product lifetime measured in years or decades. The Silicon Shift measures that constraint. Independently conducted by Coleman Parkes Research, the study surveys 300 senior engineering, R&D and hardware decision-makers across automotive, medical technology, network equipment and industrial automation, spanning the US, Europe and Asia, supported by ten in-depth executive interviews.
What 300 Leaders Told Us
are more dependent on semiconductors than three years ago; 99% expect that dependency to keep rising.
say semiconductor technologies meet their needs well. Only 69% say the same of their semiconductor providers.
name integration complexity as the single biggest reason current solutions fall short—ahead of supply chain constraints (14%) and performance (13%).
expect their future route to run through engineering partners: co-development, engineering services, partner supplementation or hybrid models. Only 4% expect greater reliance on off-the-shelf silicon.
The Gap Nobody Owns
Ask these organizations about the silicon itself and the answer is broadly positive—91% say current semiconductor technologies meet their needs very or extremely well. Ask about the companies supplying it and the picture changes: 69%.
That gap is not a criticism of chip makers. It is a description of a space no one was built to own. Chip companies design excellent silicon; integrating it into a regulated medical device, a software-defined vehicle or a carrier-grade network was never their remit. The industries buying silicon are discovering that the hardest part of their semiconductor strategy sits between the chip and the product—and that almost nobody is accountable for it.
The data says the same thing from a different angle. Asked for the single primary reason current solutions fall short, respondents name integration complexity ahead of supply, performance and cost. And when asked where partners could add more value, every one of the top five answers is named by a majority: integration (67%), supply chain and lifecycle support (61%), industry understanding (59%), system-level architecture (55%) and AI expertise (53%).
Insights
say semiconductor technologies meet their needs well—only 69% say the same of their providers
name integration complexity as the primary reason solutions fall short
want more from their partners on hardware/software integration—the single largest as
Where Buyers Are Going
Faced with that gap, organizations are making a choice-and the choice is remarkably consistent.
A third (34%) expect to continue with their current approach. Of all respondents, partner-led routes dominate what comes next: external engineering partners (20%), hybrid models combining internal teams with service providers and ecosystem partners (18%) and co-development with vendors or engineering partners (14%). Together with greater use of engineering-services partners, these routes account for 59%.
What almost nobody is choosing is to build the capability alone. Just 3% expect to increase internal investment in custom silicon—and only 4% expect to lean further on off-the-shelf components.
Almost nobody is trying to become a chipmaker. They are looking for someone to engineer with.
One Shift. Four Journeys.
The Silicon Shift is universal-but no two industries are living it the same way. Find yours.
From “which chip” to “which compute platform”
100% now prefer partners who can support the full semiconductor lifecycle.
73% cite lifecycle support and 72% hardware/software integration as gaps in what partners provide.
What they expect a partner to know:
- Tier-1 ecosystem (80%), EV platforms (79%), ISO 26262 (79%), AUTOSAR (76%).
The story:
- EV architectures and software-defined vehicles have moved the silicon question upstream—from component selection to platform commitment spanning vehicle generations.
Intelligence under regulation
96% call component obsolescence a significant challenge—the highest of any sector.
Only 63% say their semiconductor providers meet their needs—the second lowest of the four sectors.
What they expect a partner to know: quality systems (91%), medical device software (87%), IEC 62304 (87%), FDA/MDR (85%).
The story:
Innovation is conditional—a device that cannot prove continuity of supply and compliance cannot ship, however intelligent it is.
AI at infrastructure scale
87% say AI is fundamentally increasing the semiconductor capability their networks require—the sharpest AI pressure in the study.
Just 59% say their semiconductor providers meet their needs—the lowest of the four sectors.
What they expect a partner to know: cloud-native networking (89%), high-speed and optical infrastructure (84%), network virtualisation (72%), 5G/6G architectures (71%).
The story:
AI has changed what a network is—and network equipment makers are redesigning from the silicon up to carry it.
The fastest-moving dependency
75% are much more semiconductor-dependent than three years ago—the strongest momentum of any sector.
65% cite integration as the leading shortfall in current solutions.
What they expect a partner to know: PLCs (81%), Industrial IoT (77%), Industry 4.0 (64%), factory automation (61%).
The story:
factories are becoming intelligent systems built on assets that run for twenty years—integration is where industrial advantage will be won or lost.
Leader Perspectives
What strikes me most in conversations with engineering leaders is not the urgency — that is expected — but the gap between ambition and readiness. They know semiconductor capability is central to their competitive strategy. They are far less certain how to get there, and who to get there with."
The vehicle has become a computer that moves. Our clients are no longer asking which chip to buy; they are asking whether a compute platform can carry the next three vehicle generations."
In medical technology, innovation is only half the story — a device must stay compliant, supplied and supported for decades after it ships. Obsolescence has become a board-level risk, and lifecycle engineering is the capability our clients hire partners for."
AI has not just increased network traffic — it has changed what a network fundamentally is. Equipment makers are redesigning from the silicon up, and the pressure concentrates on performance-per-watt, acceleration and hardware/software co-design."
Industrial shows the fastest-moving dependency in this study - and the hardest integration problem. Bridging deterministic, safety-critical operations with modern silicon is where the next decade of industrial advantage will be won."
Inside The Silicon Shift
- The dependency data—how fast silicon reliance is rising, sector by sector
- Where solutions fall short—and the single biggest reason why
- Four deep-dive industry chapters, each with its own capability, gap and partner analysis
- The AI effect—how edge AI, co-design and architecture demands are rewriting requirements
- The custom silicon roadmap—where organisations sit today and where they are heading
- The partner mandate—what senior buyers now expect, sector by sector
- Voices from the field—ten in-depth interviews across all four sectors
Why HCLTech
Engineering the Space Between Chip and Product
The research points to a gap that sits between the silicon and the system—integration, validation, lifecycle continuity and the industry knowledge to do all three inside a regulated or safety-critical product. That space is where HCLTech has engineered for three decades.
- 30+ years of semiconductor engineering—230+ tape-outs, 95% first-silicon success rate
- Hardware/software co-design across silicon, firmware, embedded software and platform validation
- Industry-specific engineering evidence—ISO 26262 for automotive, IEC 62304 and ISO 13485 for medical devices, O-RAN and 3GPP for networks, IEC 61508 and IEC 62443 for industrial
- Lifecycle and obsolescence engineering—component surveillance, second-source qualification, redesign and sustaining engineering
- 90+ global semiconductor clients, including all top 5 equipment companies and all the top 10 chip companies
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