The Route
Analysis of artificial intelligence’s place in the world is as ubiquitous (and occasionally, insufferable) as those chatbots cluttering up many businesses’ websites. Not unironically, then, am I adding to the din.
Many years ago, in The Dark Knight, Batman’s nemesis the Joker famously observed that nobody panics when things go “according to plan – even if the plan is horrifying.” It’s when the unexpected happens that chaos erupts.
Another Productronica has come and gone. What did we learn?
That the biggest trend – besides the ubiquitous white sneakers attendees wore – was size. (Glass-free substrates were a close second.) More on that in a moment.
When it comes to the recent or pending investment in the US, some are interested in the company names – TSMC, Samsung, Wistron, Pegatron.
I’m more curious about the technologies they might bring.
Reason is, all the capital investment in the world won’t matter if you don’t have the personnel to operate the factories.
Or maybe not.
Magnetic transistors have been a hot topic for years, but a breakthrough led by researchers at MIT with chromium sulfur bromide (CrSBr) could push us closer to realizing more energy-efficient and powerful electronics. By replacing silicon with this 2D magnetic material, researchers have overcome a significant hurdle: combining the benefits of magnetism and semiconductor properties in a single device.
PCB WEST has, since its inception, been the leading conference for printed circuit board design and manufacturing.
One reason for that is the intense focus on what the industry needs in terms of training. Another is, besides the educational aspects, it can be fun, surprising and occasionally even provocative.
Years ago, the conference founder Pete Waddell introduced a session called EDA Face-to-Face, where CAD vendors took to the stage and addressed questions straight-on from their users. As you might imagine, the back-and-forth sometimes got a little heated. One particular memory includes a couple users, fed up with the lack of bidirectional electronic data transfer, roiling the crowd with their public callout of the major ECAD companies for not modifying their tools to permit data in.
Press Releases
- Nordson Electronics Solutions to exhibit innovations for conformal coating and selective soldering at APEX Expo 2026 booth # 1831
- Boardera Launches EU Data Hosting for PCB Costing Platform
- ECIA Issues Industry Alert on Recent Tariff Developments
- Altus Expands Advanced X-ray Inspection at Prototype Electronics