The semiconductor industry is at the heart of digital transformation, powering advancements in AI, IoT, and next-generation computing. As innovation accelerates, companies must navigate supply chain disruptions, cybersecurity risks, mergers and acquisitions, regulatory requirements, and an increasing need for operational efficiency. Managing vast amounts of technical content — including manufacturing and quality control documentation, SOPs and design documents, technical specifications and process descriptions, maintenance and safety manuals, compliance and test reports, intellectual property protection, and global collaboration — has become a strategic imperative.

Modern component content management systems (CCMS) address these challenges by centralizing structured documentation, automating compliance tracking, and improving collaboration. For semiconductor companies operating in fast-changing regulatory and technological environments, a CCMS helps content teams rapidly update documentation, maintain audit trails, ensure content accuracy and consistency, and streamline approval workflows.

Case studies from Palo Alto Networks, BlackBerry, Broadcom, and others show that content is key to navigating these complexities, improving efficiency, and maintaining a competitive edge in the rapidly evolving semiconductor landscape.

Navigating key business challenges.

The semiconductor sector faces numerous challenges stemming from increasing regulatory scrutiny, the need for more efficient workflows for faster go to market, and the necessity of securing sensitive intellectual property. Additionally, companies must navigate infrastructure investment requirements and ensure scalability in production.

1. Supply chain disruptions.

Global shortages and geopolitical instability continue to impact semiconductor production. The 2020–2023 global chip shortage highlighted the vulnerabilities in the supply chain, causing delays in production and significant financial losses.

A modern CCMS like Adobe Experience Manager Guides facilitates smooth and fast communication across the content supply chain, ensuring key stakeholders have access to accurate, updated information at all times. By centralizing documentation efforts, organizations can improve transparency and responsiveness. By automating version tracking and compliance validation, a CCMS reduces the risk of outdated documentation being used in production, preventing costly errors. Semiconductor firms automating their compliance tracking can easily identify net changed or new content, track how it is connected to specific compliance, and perform regulatory reviews faster. This helps documentation teams meet regional and international requirements to accelerate product launches.

2. Pace of technological change.

Keeping up with technological advancements like AI and IoT requires constant updates to technical specifications, compliance reports, and process documentation. Without a structured approach, maintaining accuracy and consistency across these documents can become overwhelming.

AI-driven content management supports version accuracy by automatically tracking changes across regulatory documentation, compliance reports, and multilingual product guides — reducing manual effort and error rates. Automated workflows streamline content approval cycles, while metadata tagging improves content discoverability. Multichannel publishing enables semiconductor firms to produce documentation in PDF, HTML5, and structured formats like XML and JSON for API integrations. Automated translation workflows ensure terminology consistency, helping firms meet documentation requirements for key markets such as the United States, EU, and China. These capabilities reduce release delays and keep all teams aligned with the latest technological advancements.

3. Cybersecurity and intellectual property protection.

The semiconductor industry is a frequent target for cyberattacks and intellectual property theft. Sensitive documentation and design files must be protected from unauthorized access.

AI-powered CCMS solutions enforce encryption, role-based access control, and audit trails to safeguard proprietary data. Restricted and permission-based content access management ensures compliance with organizational best practices. By centralizing content within a secured system, organizations mitigate the risks of information leaks and data breaches.

4. Regulatory compliance and global standards.

Semiconductor companies must comply with evolving international regulations and export controls, including:

• The US CHIPS and Science Act, which restricts funding recipients from expanding semiconductor manufacturing in specific countries
• The US export controls on AI chip exports to certain countries, impacting supply chain logistics
• The EU Cybersecurity Act, which imposes strict security standards on semiconductor firms operating in Europe

A well-designed CCMS simplifies compliance by standardizing documentation processes and automating reporting requirements which can be directly tied to specific markets and regulations. Built-in validation tools ensure documentation aligns with regulatory mandates, while version tracking provides full audit trails for compliance reviews.

5. Workforce shortages and knowledge retention.

The semiconductor industry faces a growing talent gap, with projections indicating a need to hire approximately 1 million additional skilled workers by 2030 while maintaining its existing workforce.

A structured content management system preserves institutional expertise by maintaining an accessible, organized repository of critical documentation, training guides, and SOPs. AI-driven content recommendations enhance employee training, while automation simplifies onboarding processes. By digitizing and centralizing knowledge, organizations prevent skill loss and accelerate workforce development.

Real-world applications and success stories.

Leaders in the semiconductor industry recognize that managing product information and technical content effectively is not just about documentation — it directly impacts product development, regulatory approval, and intellectual property protection. The following case studies illustrate how companies have used CCMS solutions to eliminate documentation bottlenecks, reduce compliance risks, and streamline content workflows.

Palo Alto Networks — strengthening security and content velocity.

Palo Alto Networks, a global cybersecurity leader, needed a scalable way to manage its security documentation. With a rapidly evolving product landscape, ensuring timely, accurate, and accessible documentation was critical to helping customers deploy their solutions effectively.

By transitioning to Experience Manager Guides, Palo Alto Networks  transformed its documentation strategy. Key benefits included:

• A 250% increase in content reach, making security documentation more accessible to end users
• Automated updates, reducing the burden of manually maintaining thousands of documentation pages
• Integrated security compliance, ensuring documentation adhered to the highest cybersecurity standards
• A content-first approach, positioning technical documentation as a key driver of customer education and engagement

Laralyn Melvin, senior director of technical documentation at Palo Alto Networks, said, “Our technical documentation isn’t just about explaining all of the buttons. We use our technical documentation as an opportunity to show how our products can solve customers’ security problems. That’s why we feel that technical documentation really needs to be at the forefront of our users’ journeys.”

BlackBerry — achieving content efficiency and scalability.

BlackBerry transitioned from a smartphone company to a security-focused enterprise software provider working in the semiconductor industry. With a growing portfolio of cybersecurity and enterprise software solutions, the company’s product documentation needs expanded exponentially. Its legacy content management approach struggled to keep up with the demand for accurate, up-to-date, secure, and reusable documentation.

By implementing Experience Manager Guides, BlackBerry consolidated multiple CMS platforms into a unified system, streamlining content workflows and ensuring efficient multi-format publishing. The structured content approach enabled:

• Seamless content reuse, reducing redundant effort and accelerating update cycles
• Improved content security, ensuring only authorized personnel could access and edit sensitive product documentation
• Automated workflows, allowing content teams to reduce time spent on manual updates and compliance checks
• Faster time to market, ensuring product documentation remained in sync with rapid software updates

Broadcom — streamlining content migration and standardization.

Broadcom faced a major challenge in content management following its acquisition of CA Technologies. With multiple documentation systems in place, content was scattered across different platforms and formats, making collaboration and compliance difficult. During the transition, Broadcom moved over 1.7 million content assets and 300,000 HTML pages into Experience Manager Guides, leveraging structured content management to standardize documentation in a unified system. The results speak for themselves:

• Achieved 66% faster publishing times by implementing automation and bulk publishing tools
• Enhanced security measures for documentation access and compliance tracking
• Simplified content reuse, enabling consistent messaging across multiple product lines
• Improved collaboration between teams by centralizing content in a single, AI-powered CCMS

By implementing a structured content approach, Broadcom improved content governance, reduced inefficiencies, and seamlessly delivered content across its global operations.

Jo’lene Jernberg, senior manager of technical publications and web content strategy at Broadcom, says, “Preparation, people, and planning are the keys to success — accounting for everything that needs to be done, and the people who need to do it. We paired people who had experience with Adobe Experience Manager Guides with an expert so that there was a learning opportunity. All our stakeholders were all on board for this.” Broadcom’s ongoing acquisitions required a unified documentation strategy. By consolidating content from multiple sources into a structured CCMS, Broadcom improved how suppliers, partners, employees, and customers use content — ensuring faster access to accurate product information, resulting in direct improvements in year-over-year profits.

Structured content — a strategic competitive advantage.

The semiconductor industry is built on precision, innovation, and speed. Yet without a structured approach to managing critical product information and technical content, even the most advanced organizations risk delays, compliance failures, and inefficiencies that can ripple across supply chains, regulatory approvals, and product launches.

The case studies from Palo Alto Networks, BlackBerry, and Broadcom show that a modern, future-ready CCMS is not just a tool — it’s a competitive necessity. By centralizing content, automating compliance, and improving collaboration, semiconductor companies can drive operational efficiency, safeguard intellectual property, and accelerate time to market in an increasingly volatile landscape.

Interested in learning more? Visit the Adobe Experience Manager Guides website.

Saibal Bhattacharjee is the director of product marketing for the Digital Advertising, Learning & Publishing Business Unit at Adobe.

Saibal has been with Adobe for 15+ years, and is currently in charge of global GTM and business strategy for a diverse product portfolio in Adobe — ranging from market-leading cloud-native component content management system (Adobe Experience Manager Guides), advertising and subscription monetization products for connected multiscreen TV platforms (Adobe Pass), to content authoring and publishing desktop apps (Adobe FrameMaker, Adobe RoboHelp).

With more than 21 years of experience in the technology sector, Saibal is a high-impact marketing, strategy, and product executive with a passion for tackling the most complex challenges in enterprise software and turning solutions into scalable works of enterprise-grade art. He has successfully built, mentored, and managed global GTM teams spanning India, US, UK, Germany, and Japan for more than a decade. Saibal holds a BE degree from Jadavpur University, Kolkata, and an MBA degree from the Faculty of Management Studies, University of Delhi.

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