“Cars are very complex compared to phones or smartwatches,’’ Elon Musk said five years ago. “You can’t just go to a supplier like Foxconn and say: Build me a car.” He may be proven wrong.

Greg Smith and Tony Lentz talk with Mike Konrad about stencil design and how to reduce voiding on the latest episode of Reliability Matters.

Tesla plans to open a design and research center in China to make “Chinese-style” vehicles.

The European Commission is considering a ban of facial recognition in public places for up to five years, with exceptions for research and security projects.

UP Media Group seeks abstracts for PCB West, to be held Sept 8-11. The four-day technical conference and one-day exhibition will be held at the Santa Clara Convention Center.

Susy Webb on Mar. 26–27 will lead Design Essentials for PCB Engineers, a two-day workshop covering parts placement, routing, fine-pitch BGAs, fanout, controlling impedance and high-frequency energy, and stack-up and power issues, in Austin, TX.

Phil Zarrow will present a two-day SMT Assembly Boot Camp, a practical workshop on processes and materials used in through-hole and SMT, in Austin, TX, on Mar. 24–25.

Smaller tech companies are urging Congress to look at how big tech uses their considerable clout to hurt rivals.

What will be the big consumer technology breakthroughs of the next 12 months?

Compal Electronics expects its notebook shipment growth to be flat in 2020, but shipments of non-notebook products such as wearables, smart home devices, automotive electronics, servers and networking devices will enjoy a double-digit increase.

Compal Electronics is planning a second plant in Vietnam, with its first reaching full capacity around the second quarter of this year.

Prime Technological Services has acquired TeligentEMS for an undisclosed sum.

The correlation coefficient between worldwide GDP growth and IC market growth over the past decade was 0.85 (0.96 excluding the memory market in 2017 and 2018), a strong figure given a perfect positive correlation is 1.0, says IC Insights.

The government of Tianjin is discussing the sale of two firms, including Tianjin Printronics Circuit, according to reports.

Yekani Manufacturing, a South African EMS company, is reportedly facing liquidation.

Total capital expenditures of Taiwan PCB factories in 2020 will exceed NT$50 billion ($1.67 billion), thanks in large part to demand for 5G mobile communications.

5G Mobile phone functions should help promote specification upgrades and increase the sales of plate materials such as SLP, antenna flexible boards, AiP, BT substrate, and others, TPCA said.

Inovar named Gregory Bradfield president, Logan Division.

Indium promoted Claire Hotvedt to product development specialist.

From the pages of
PRINTED CIRCUIT DESIGN & FAB:
Digital Building Blocks
AI and machine learning will shape the coming era of electronics manufacturing.
by Daniel Gamota, Ph.D.

From the pages of
CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY:
Rocket Men
Silicon Valley’s fastest-growing EMS is taking flight.
by Mike Buetow

EVENTS

Email industry press releases or links to the editors of CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY or PCD&F: pr@upmediagroup.com.

PCB Update is a digital newsletter for PCB design, fabrication and assembly professionals, brought to you by UP Media Group. E-mail industry press releases or links to the editors of CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY or PCD&F: pr@upmediagroup.com.