That shift also changed how AEM worked with customers. Rather than developing products in isolation, it began collaborating with customers from the earliest stages to understand their challenges and co-design solutions.

Winning new customers came with a learning curve. “We had to teach them how to work with us on tailored solutions,” he explained. “Sometimes, we’d challenge their requirements and ask, ‘Are you sure that’s the best approach? At scale, it could make the machines far more complex and costly. Maybe there’s a simpler way to achieve the same objective.’”

The same approach underpins AEM’s razor-and-blade model, Mr Kabbani said. Customers invest in the company’s core testing platform – the “razor” – before adding customised test collaterals and instrumentation, or the “blades”, as new chip generations emerge. This allows them to keep using the same platform without replacing entire systems.

“We’re not a one-time equipment sale,” he added. “Our platform adapts alongside customers as they move through successive generations of chips. That reinforces the depth of our customer relationships because we’re embedded in their production cycles over the long term.”