Into the design before it freezes
You sell chips, MEMS, sensors and LiDAR, photonic components or the materials that go into them to OEMs and tier-one suppliers who design them into their own products. The person who chooses you is an engineering lead working to a product program calendar, and once your part is designed out, the next chance usually comes with the next generation of that product.
Who this page is for
- Chip, MEMS and sensor makers selling to OEM and tier-one engineering teams
- LiDAR and photonics companies whose parts are designed into other products
- Materials suppliers whose products go into chips, sensors and photonic parts
Usual starting point: Demand
How do you increase sales for a semiconductor or electronics company?
Get into OEM programs before the design freezes. Identify the programs at each named account, reach the hardware and application engineers who own the part choice, and back every claim with the datasheet and an evaluation board. Count design wins as the sale and track revenue separately, because production volume arrives on the customer's schedule.
What do the numbers say about Semiconductors & Electronics?
Each figure links to the page it comes from, so you can check it before you repeat it.
| What the evidence says | Source |
|---|---|
| Global semiconductor sales were $159.7 billion in August 2026, and year-to-date sales passed $1 trillion through August. | Semiconductor Industry Association (5 October 2026) |
| Industry write-ups on automotive silicon describe production revenue trailing the design win by roughly 12 to 24 months on qualification alone. | SignalForge |
| The European Chips Act entered into force on 21 September 2023. | European Commission |
| The EU Cyber Resilience Act's main obligations apply from 11 December 2027 and cover hardware and software products with digital elements. | European Commission |
Why does the usual approach stall in Semiconductors & Electronics?
Design-in has a window, and the OEM sets it. Engineering teams shortlist components early in a program, test them in their own lab and then qualify the chosen part, which in automotive means stress testing against AEC-Q100 for integrated circuits, and that qualification costs the OEM enough time that a program rarely reopens the slot once a part has passed. A supplier who arrives after the bill of materials is frozen is selling to the following program, which can be years away.
The evaluators are engineers who compare every marketing claim with the datasheet and the test report. A range, noise or accuracy figure in an ad that does not match the datasheet conditions costs you credibility with the exact people you need, and they rarely tell you why they stopped answering. With a few hundred OEM programs that could use your part, broad campaigns mostly reach students, hobbyists and competitors, and the category you are creating often has nobody searching for it yet.
If you sell catalogue parts through distributors to thousands of small buyers, distribution and search will do more for you than account-based work, and this page describes the wrong problem.
Where does pipeline break in Semiconductors & Electronics?
We look at five stages in the Diagnostic, because each fails for a different reason. The rows show the failure we look for first at each stage and what changes once Torke fixes it, in the order a deal meets them.
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Discovery
Where it breaks
Engineers searching a problem you solve find other suppliers' material, because your test data is not published under the words they use
What changes once it is fixed
The Visibility practice publishes your application notes and test data under engineers' own terms, on the pages buyers and AI assistants read
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Timing
Where it breaks
You learn an OEM program existed when it launches, after the bill of materials froze and your part was out for a product generation
What changes once it is fixed
Account signals tracks program announcements, engineering hiring and end-of-life notices, and Demand covers each OEM by program while selection is open
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Evaluation
Where it breaks
An ad quotes a range or accuracy figure without the datasheet's test conditions, and the engineers comparing it stop answering
What changes once it is fixed
Campaigns on approved claims checks every figure against the datasheet conditions you approved before a line is exported, and it never launches spend
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Qualification
Where it breaks
Every enquiry reaches your application engineers, so the accounts that matter wait behind students, hobbyists and competitors
What changes once it is fixed
Inbound response qualifies each request and routes it by language and segment, and a lead counts only once its five facts are recorded
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Handover
Where it breaks
Fair conversations go cold once application engineers return to customer projects, because no follow-up is owned by account
What changes once it is fixed
Revenue operations sets lifecycle stages and routing, so every fair contact lands with an owner against the same account list as outreach
Who is in the buying group?
One person rarely decides alone, so a lead from the wrong role moves nothing. These are the roles we map at every account on your list.
Who signs
The program or product manager who owns the bill of materials, with purchasing negotiating terms, volumes and second-source requirements.
Who evaluates
Hardware, systems and application engineers who test your part against the program's requirements, often in their own lab, and sometimes an R&D lead at an earlier stage.
Who can block
Quality and qualification teams with automotive or industrial requirements, and purchasing when you cannot show a second source or security of supply.
Which signals open an account in Semiconductors & Electronics?
Each signal is a dated, public event a sceptical buyer could check in thirty seconds. Market-wide news can change an account's conditions, and we never write it up as something that company did.
| Signal | What it changes inside the account |
|---|---|
| An OEM announces a new vehicle, machine or device program | Component selection for that program is open or about to open |
| Hiring for hardware, sensor fusion or photonics engineers at the account | A team is being built to design a capability into a product |
| The EU Cyber Resilience Act's main obligations apply from 11 December 2027 | Makers of connected hardware sold in the EU must meet security requirements by a known date, so parts that help them do it are being evaluated now |
| A competitor's end-of-life or product change notice becomes public | Programs relying on that part need an alternative and have to qualify it |
| The account exhibits at electronica in Munich, 10 to 13 November 2026 | Engineering and purchasing leads are reachable in person for a known week, and a meeting can be set before and after |
What does a qualified lead look like here?
A systems engineer at a machine manufacturer on your agreed list replies that their next-generation platform needs obstacle detection in dust and asks for test data under those conditions. The basis for contacting them in their country is recorded, and the account is not an open opportunity in your CRM. That reply, with the platform announcement it followed, is a qualified lead.
A lead counts only when all five facts are recorded, and you have five business days to reject it with a reason. The Torke Service page explains each fact.
- Fact one
- A named person in the buying group
- Fact two
- At an account you agreed to in writing
- Fact three
- A need or timing in their own words
- Fact four
- A lawful basis for contact
- Fact five
- Not already open in your CRM
Where should you start?
Every client starts with the Diagnostic, and here it most often points to Demand organised by OEM program, because the constraint is timing, and sometimes to Visibility when engineers cannot find your test data.
Every engagement opens with the Diagnostic, two to three weeks that end on one of four decisions: stop, fix one barrier, run one practice, or expand later.
Usual first step for Semiconductors & Electronics
The practice the Diagnostic most often points to here, run month by month once it does.
Get in touchHow do Torke Service and Torke Engine help?
The same engines run in both, so you can begin with one and move to the other without starting over.
Torke Service, we run it
For example, a MEMS spin-off selling to industrial OEMs finds that it learned of most programs only after the parts had been chosen. Torke runs Demand against the agreed list of OEMs and tier-one suppliers, watching program announcements and engineering hiring, and plans the electronica meetings around the accounts whose programs are open.
How Torke Service worksTorke Engine, your team runs it
Campaigns on approved claims matters most here, because every figure that reaches an engineer has to match the datasheet conditions you approved, and Account signals matters next, because program announcements, hiring and end-of-life notices are public and dated. First-touch outreach suits engineering buyers, since every sentence traces to something the person or company said and anything inferred is asked as a question.
For example, a marketer asks the assistant to draft first emails to the hardware leads at five OEMs that announced new platforms this quarter. The assistant returns one draft per person, each sentence tied to the announcement or talk it comes from and the inferred need phrased as a question, and a person on the team reviews and sends each one.
How Torke Engine worksWhat can you expect?
You can stop after any stage and keep what it produced.
A Diagnostic that can say stop
In two to three weeks the Diagnostic tells you whether you arrive too late in OEM programs or lose them for another reason, and ends on one of four decisions: stop, fix one barrier, run one practice, or expand later.
Leads tied to a program
Each qualified lead names an engineer or manager at an agreed account with the need in their own words, recorded with its evidence, and your team has five business days to reject it.
A monthly read with honest gaps
Every month you receive the leads and a written read of coverage, spend against plan and each channel's contribution, and design-in cycles mean some results are reported as too small to judge.
What do teams in Semiconductors & Electronics ask about Torke?
Each answer stands on its own, so you can forward one to a colleague, and an assistant asked the same question can quote it as it is.
How does a chip or sensor maker get designed in before a program freezes?
OEM engineering teams shortlist components early in a program, test them in their own lab and then qualify the chosen part, which in automotive means stress testing against AEC-Q100 for integrated circuits, so a program rarely reopens the slot once a part has passed. A semiconductor supplier therefore has to reach the program while component selection is open. Torke's Demand practice organises coverage by OEM program, with outreach and events timed to program announcements and engineering hiring.
Can AI draft ads for a sensor company without misquoting the datasheet?
Torke Engine's Campaigns on approved claims module checks every range, accuracy and environmental figure in a semiconductor or sensor company's ads against the datasheet conditions the company approved before a line can be exported. It produces files in each platform's import format with paid campaigns paused and never launches spend, so a person on the team releases each campaign.
Where should a semiconductor company start with Torke?
A semiconductor or electronics company starts with Torke's Diagnostic, which reads its account list and recent wins against the programs it lost or never heard about. It most often points to the Demand practice organised by OEM program, because the constraint is timing, and sometimes to Visibility, so engineers searching a problem the company solves find its application notes and test data.
How long is the sales cycle for semiconductor companies selling to OEMs?
Design-in work often runs about a year, and for automotive parts industry write-ups describe production revenue trailing the design win by roughly 12 to 24 months of qualification, such as AEC-Q100 stress testing. Plan pipeline around program dates.
What is a design win in semiconductors?
A design win is the point where an OEM selects your part for a product program and puts it on the bill of materials. Revenue follows only when that product reaches production, which is why chip companies count design wins as the sale.
Bring us the problem, and we bring the solution to it
Tell us what your team sells, who buys it and where deals stop moving. You'll get a written reply saying which way of working fits you, or whether a Diagnostic makes sense, and if neither does, the reason.