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March 25th, 2026
News and Resources for PCB Design, Fab and Assembly Professionals Subscribe •  Advertise •  PCD&F •  Circuits Assembly •  Tell A Friend
THE LEAD

Siemens says customers are delaying investments as the Iran war drives up energy and material costs, while Russia is expanding domestic PCB materials production to reduce reliance on foreign suppliers.

TECH NEWS

Agile Robots, a Munich-based robotics manufacturer, will integrate DeepMind's foundation models into its industrial bots while feeding real-world data back to the AI lab.

Penn State’s AI Hub is accepting nominations for its annual Artificial Intelligence Awards.

ZYT (Zhuoyu Technology), a Chinese autonomous driving startup, is deploying intelligent factory systems to scale electronics production for autonomous driving technologies.

KiCad released KiCad v. 10.0 PCB layout software.

Teradyne unveils Omnyx PCBA test platform.

Espec releases EHS-222M-L HAST chamber.

CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY announced the winners of the 2026 New Product Introduction (NPI) Awards, recognizing leading electronics assembly equipment, materials and software introduced over the past year.

Early bird registration for the PCB East 2026 technical conference ends March 27, ahead of the April 28–May 1 event in Worcester, MA.

Mike Buetow discusses Cadence’s acquisition of EMA Design Automation and what the deal could mean for the companies and the PCB design software market on the PCB Chat podcast.

Francisco Aguilar, CEO of Bounce Imaging, will keynote PCB East 2026, sharing how a prototype 360-degree tactical camera evolved into a mission-critical tool through iterative design and EMS collaboration.

PCB Detroit will return to Wayne State University June 15-16 with technical sessions covering ESD, EMI, RF design, thin copper impacts, thermal management, signal integrity and AI-driven PCB workflows, alongside a tabletop exhibition and networking events.

PCEA will debut the PCB Management Forum at PCB East on April 28, focusing on AI adoption, material shortages and workforce challenges.

CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY has opened registration for the 2026 Service Excellence Awards, inviting EMS providers and industry suppliers to benchmark customer service performance through direct customer feedback ahead of the April 31 deadline.

Looking for networking opportunities? Join the PCEA Discord server, bringing together engineers and designers from around the world on a private channel for discussing technical questions and career opportunities.

ROI
The Next Materials Reckoning in Electronics Manufacturing
Necessity is the mother of invention, they say. Well, I am not sure necessity is the mother of all invention, but it can definitely be tied to a whole bunch, and probably has more than a few still to birth.

PETER BIGELOW

Peter Bigelow





















BUSINESS NEWS

Siemens says customers are delaying investments as the Iran war drives up energy and raw material costs.

Russia is expanding domestic PCB materials production to reduce reliance on foreign suppliers and strengthen its electronics supply chain.

Tesla is planning a new chip manufacturing facility to secure semiconductor supply for its AI, robotics and data center ambitions.

A policy paper outlines a coordinated US-China approach cto reduce reliance on each other in technology and critical minerals while avoiding supply disruptions.

Broadcom says AI-driven demand is straining supply chains, with TSMC capacity and PCB lead times emerging as key bottlenecks.

Foxconn has invested an additional $136M in Mexico through its Singapore subsidiary, which sources said is likely aimed at boosting AI server production there.

OKI this week will launch comprehensive electronics manufacturing services (EMS) for AI server equipment.

The Iran war is exposing AI supply chain vulnerabilities by threatening energy and material flows critical to semiconductor production.

Tripod is seeing strong AI-driven PCB demand with sales up 25 percent, but rising material costs and supply chain pressures are weighing on margins.

Delton Technology, a Chinese printed circuit board manufacturer, on Friday raised $422M through a new listing on the Hong Kong Exchange.

Kunshan is shifting from traditional electronics manufacturing toward new technology sectors as legacy production models lose momentum.

IEH has received a $5.1M order for its Hyperboloid connectors in support of the Patriot Missile system.

Arbell Electronics has been named Zestron’s 2026 Distributor of the Year for strong growth and partnership performance.

THE ROUTE
Europe's Electronics Dilemma: A Will Without a Way
The EIPC Winter Conference in February was revealing for several reasons, not the least of which was that the view among the 125 primarily European electronics engineers and executives in attendance was their industry and governments had failed them by not acting more swiftly and vigorously to staunch the offshoring tide.

MIKE BUETOW

Mike Buetow






















TECHNICAL ARTICLES

Consider Manufacturing Complexity When PCB Designs Have Tight Hole-to-Trace Spacing
PCD&F/CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY


Mechanochemically Activatable Liquid Metal Powders for Sustainable, Reconfigurable, and Versatile Electronics
Advanced Functional Materials


Reconfigurable Superconducting Quantum Circuits Enabled by Micro-Scale Liquid-Metal Interconnects
Quantum Physics


EVENTS

Apr. 28-May 1: PCB East 2026Worcester, MA
May 15, 22, 29, June 5, 12: Certified Printed Circuit Design Training, Online
May 26-29: IEEE Electronic Components and Technology ConferenceOrlando, FL
June 2-4: Fac Tec China 2026Shanghai, China
June 9-10: EIPC Summer Conference, Lithuania
June 9-11: ZIW Americas 2026Dallas, TX
June 15-16: PCB Detroit 2026Detroit, MI
June 24-26: Vietnam Intcomm 2026 & Electronic Vietnam 2026Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Sept. 29-Oct. 2: PCB West 2026Santa Clara, CA
Feb. 17-19, 2027: Nepcon JapanTokyo, Japan


 

BOOK-TO-BILLS/MARKET TRENDS
             Dec. Trend
EMS 1.24 Up
Semiconductors         25.6% Up
PCBs 1.18 Up
Component Sales Sentiment 120.1 Down
Changes are year-over-year.    

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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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