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THE LEAD
The US and European Union on Friday announced an agreement to speed up and enhance the use of artificial intelligence to improve agriculture, healthcare, emergency response, climate forecasting and the electric grid.
TECH NEWS
ASMPT rolls out Virtual Assist AI-based production support system.
Registration is now open for PCB East, the electronics design and manufacturing trade show for the East Coast.
Avishtech releases Gauss SI and SI PRO toolsets for PCB stackups and impedance simulation.
Steven Bowles, Stan Rak and Savita Ganjigatti received the IPC President’s Award last week.
Dispense Works shows RPX Series robotic dispenser.
Travis Kelly, chairman of the Printed Circuit Board Association of America, joins PCB Chat host Mike Buetow to discuss the latest policy plans in support of the US printed circuit industry, and the new president of the trade group.
Amphenol Ardent Concepts releases TR90 TR Multicoax Series connector.
Wolseley has launched a recycling/reconditioning program said to enable faulty or obsolete PCBs from boiler manufacturers to be returned in exchange for a small payment per component.
Christopher Almeras of Raytheon reviews the various ESD mitigation strategies as well as some ESD horror stories on the Reliability Matters podcast.
GETTING LEAN
Teaming with Customers in Continuous Improvement
Most medium-to-high-volume EMS providers design their NPI process to identify issues in PCB layout, overall product design or process flow that create defect opportunities. Unfortunately, a key challenge in the EMS industry is convincing customers to adopt those recommendations. Additionally, some design or process issues escape NPI or pilot production, not becoming evident until a product is running at full volume. SigmaTron International’s team in its Acuña, Mexico, facility is working to change those dynamics one customer at a time.
JORGE PENA

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BUSINESS NEWS
Tesla CEO Elon Musk and a pair of top aides to President Joe Biden met in Washington on Friday to discuss the electric vehicle industry and the broader goal of electrification.
Intel saw about $8 billion wiped off its market value on Friday after the US chipmaker stumped Wall Street with dismal earnings projections, fanning fears around a slump in the personal-computer market.
India’s Centre for Materials for Electronics Technology (C-MET) on Friday inaugurated an indigenously developed 1 ton/day PCB recycling facility.
A smart online electronics sourcing platform with intelligence and market updates can open a wide spectrum of opportunities to maximize business.
Among the top three DRAM suppliers, only Samsung has seen a slight drop in inventory level thanks to its highly competitive pricing strategy.
Zentech Manufacturing has been awarded the Stan Plzak Corporate Recognition Award.
Freedom CAD Services announced Dan Amiralian as chief strategy officer.
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THE ROUTE
Keep an Eye on AI
fter several iterations and refinements, ChatGPT was rolled out in November and has, as they say, gone viral. Because I’m curious that way, I had to see for myself how this worked. So I logged in at openai.com and waited patiently for my turn – it is often at capacity. After a few hours, a slot opened and I fired my first shot: What is the future of printed circuit boards?
MIKE BUETOW

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TECHNICAL ARTICLES
DfM: The Devil is in the PCB Design Details
PCD&F/CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY
Screen-Printing Method Can Make Wearable Electronics Less Expensive
Science Daily
Intermediate Low-Melting-Temperature Solder Thermal Cycling Enhancement Using Bismuth and Indium Microalloying
Journal of Electronic Materials
EVENTS
Jan. 30–Feb. 1: |
SMTA Pan Pacific Microelectronics Symposium, Kauai, HI |
Feb. 9-10: |
EIPC Winter Conference, Lyon, France |
Feb. 14-16: |
SMTA Wafer-Level Packaging Symposium, Fremont, CA |
Apr. 26: |
SMTA Atlanta Expo & Tech Forum, Peachtree Corners, GA |
Apr. 26-27: |
Del Mar Electronics Show, San Diego, CA |
May 9-12: |
PCB East 2023, Boxborough, MA |
May 31-June 2: |
JPCA Show 2023, Tokyo, Japan |
June 14-15: |
EIPC Summer Conference, Orebro, Sweden |
June 27-29: |
TPCA Show Shenzhen / Hannover South China Industry Fair, Shenzhen, China |
Sept. 19-22: |
PCB West 2023, Santa Clara, CA |
Oct. 25-27: |
TPCA Show 2023, Taipei, Taiwan |
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SUBMISSIONS
Email industry press releases or links to the editors of PCD&F/CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY: pr@pcea.net.
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BOOK-TO-BILLS/MARKET CHANGES |
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Nov. |
Trend |
EMS |
1.38 |
Up |
ICs |
-2.9% |
Down |
PCBs |
1.0 |
Down |
Computers/elec. products |
6.7% |
Up |
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ABOUT
PCB Update is a digital newsletter for PCB design, fabrication and assembly professionals, brought to you by Printed Circuit Engineering Association™. E-mail industry press releases or links to the editors of CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY or PCD&F: pr@pcea.net.
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