EIPC SpeedNews: News from the European PCB Industry

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A Practical Approach to Material Selection for High Power PCBs

08/17/2026 | Drew Delaney, Isola Group
With AI server architectures demanding high-power converter solutions to improve power efficiency and affordability, PCB design can challenge engineers who treat material selection as a single-variable problem. Pick a laminate for thermal conductivity, and you may experience a CTE mismatch that cracks vias after 50 thermal cycles. Optimize for dielectric loss, and you might sacrifice the isolation margin your certification depends on. High-power boards require consideration of multiple variables, including electrical, thermal, mechanical, reliability, and manufacturability, which cannot be optimized alone.

Why Principal Mineral Bought Isola: The Vision Behind the Acquisition

07/16/2026 | Marcy LaRont, I-Connect007
With a mission focused on strengthening domestic capacity for strategic minerals and materials critical to national security, energy, AI, defense, and next-generation manufacturing, Principal Mineral is working to address some of the most urgent vulnerabilities in today’s supply chain. Its recent acquisition of Isola Group adds a major electronics materials platform to that portfolio. In this interview, Principal Mineral cofounders Adam Johnson, CEO, and Wes Spurlock, COO, discuss why Isola matters and what it will take to rebuild resilient U.S. supply chains at an industrial scale.

Principal Mineral Announces Acquisition of Isola and $280 Million in New Funding for Next Phase of Strategic Growth

06/16/2026 | Principal Mineral
Principal Mineral, a leader in rebuilding the industrial “missing midstream” of the global strategic materials supply chain, today announced the acquisition of Isola Group (“Isola”), a premier manufacturer of copper-clad laminates and dielectric prepregs used in printed circuit boards (PCBs). The transaction closed on June 16, 2026.

From Backbone to Breakthroughs: I-Connect007 Wraps PCB Materials Series with Focus on Innovation

05/06/2026 | I-Connect007
I-Connect007 wraps up its six-part podcast series, PCB Materials: The Backbone and Future of Electronics, with Episode 6 and a discussion focusing on innovation. In Episode 6, Marcy LaRont speaks with Isola CTO Kirk Thompson about a critical turning point for the PCB industry as innovation accelerates. As data rates climb and demands from AI infrastructure, power density, flexible electronics, photonics, and chiplet integration intensify, traditional material assumptions are no longer sufficient.

Podcast Hits the Mark in a Materials Market

04/15/2026 | Marcy LaRont, I-Connect007
The base material of a printed circuit board is its literal and functional foundation. Isola, founded in 1912 in Düren, Germany, is one of the longest-standing manufacturers of glass-reinforced laminates in the electronics industry. Originally focused on insulation and fiberglass materials, the company played an early role in supplying the foundational substrates that enabled the growth of PCB technology. As electronics advanced, Isola evolved alongside the industry, expanding from basic glass-epoxy laminates into high-performance copper-clad materials and engineered prepregs.