Why Longevity Matters in Industrial IoT: Securing Factory Operations for Decades

Edel Griffith of Dialog Semiconductor

Today’s industrial factory is a finely tuned collection of equipment. Each component plays a critical role in driving efficiency and maximizing output, according to Edel Griffith, Industrial ASIC marketing manager at Dialog Semiconductor. Yet, as with any sophisticated system, the hardware inevitably reaches the end of its useful life.

Industry data show that the average lifespan of an integrated circuit ranges from three to ten years, while top‑performing devices can operate for more than two decades. When a component fails, even a brief outage can halt production, directly eroding a company’s bottom line.

Planned downtime—while disruptive—is usually scheduled and controlled, limiting its impact. Unplanned outages, on the other hand, can cost thousands to millions of dollars per incident, driving the need for more reliable, long‑term solutions.

To address this challenge, manufacturers are demanding longevity assurances for the parts that underpin their systems. They need guarantees that components will remain available and supported throughout the equipment’s intended lifespan.

Longevity of supply

Supply availability often falls short of factory requirements. When a critical component is discontinued or declared end‑of‑life, businesses face costly downtime. Some operators resort to pin‑for‑pin replacements, but these swaps can be imperfect and may still require significant rework. If a replacement lacks functional parity, the risk to production—and to profitability—increases dramatically.

Custom Application‑Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) provide a robust answer. By consolidating hundreds or even thousands of discrete functions into a single silicon die, an ASIC dramatically reduces bill‑of‑materials complexity and gives manufacturers tighter control over the supply chain.

Moreover, an industrial ASIC can be engineered exclusively for the customer’s application. The design process can incorporate redundancy, design‑for‑reliability features, and other safeguards that extend the chip’s service life. Because the customer essentially owns the part, they dictate its expected lifespan, ensuring that board‑level replacements can be sourced even 15 years into the future without supply risk.

Dialog has been delivering industrial ASICs for over two decades, supporting clients with long‑term supply commitments that keep factories running without unplanned interruptions.

The author is Edel Griffith, industrial ASIC marketing manager, Dialog Semiconductor.