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From Silos to Systems: 2026 and Beyond
Welcome to the debut issue of I-Connect007 Magazine. This publication brings all of the pieces together from PCB design and fabrication for a closer alignment and a more integrated electronics manufacturing landscape.
The Automation Advantage
In this issue, we discover how AI, machine learning, and practical factory automation are reshaping PCB fabrication, and where these tools can meaningfully move your business forward.
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This month, we give thanks to our columnists—the brilliant minds who share their expertise, experiences, and passion for the PCB industry. Meet the people behind the pages, learn what drives them, and discover their personal stories.
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IPC APEX EXPO 2023 Special Session Sneak Peek
January 3, 2023 | Julia Gumminger, IPCEstimated reading time: 3 minutes
The IPC APEX EXPO 2023 Technical Conference at the San Diego Convention Center will feature two hot topics—Advanced Packaging and e-Mobility/EV Automotive—in custom and curated Special Sessions on Thursday, Jan. 26. Please plan your travel accordingly to attend these exciting sessions.
Advanced Packaging
Led by IPC’s Chief Technologist, Matt Kelly, the Advanced Packaging special session will provide latest insights on IC-substrate and packaging needs from industry experts.
The electronics industry is in the early stages of a new era, with unprecedented change already in motion. In this era of heterogeneous integration led by massive changes in semiconductor and advanced packaging sectors, the days of following Moore’s Law are over. These fundamental changes in the semiconductor sector have significant impact throughout the rest of the electronics supply chain. As lines blur between IC substrate and HDI printed circuit board technologies and capabilities, the lines between OSAT and EMS manufactures also blur. Please join us for this important Advanced Packaging Special Session focused on IC substrates and packaging assembly.
The session will be interactive with panelists providing top of mind priorities, followed by a panel discussion with interaction from attendees. HDI and ultra HDI PCB needs along with IC substrate and package assembly design, material, equipment, and process needs will be discussed.
E-Mobility/EV Automotive
Climate change, government policy, and consumers are all driving us fast and furious toward an electrified future. As our century-old, mostly mechanical modes of powering transportation transition to using electric powertrains, and with the ever-increasing use of electronic systems in advanced driving assistance and autonomy systems, the PCBA industry plays an increasingly important role in making sure that electronic assemblies can work harder, longer, and at higher operating temperatures. This provides opportunities for many consumer PCBA manufacturers to participate in the automotive industry for the first time, but also creates challenges for the industry around navigating new technologies and supply chains.
Whether building an infotainment or driving assistance system with processors running over 200 watts, or a charging station’s printed circuit boards running at 1,000 volts, the industry is being called upon to help with design, material selection, and test in an environment where quality and reliability are challenged by requirements focusing on time to market. Meanwhile, specifications from design to test struggle to keep up. To further challenge the industry, EVs are part of a large rapidly developing ecosystem of charging stations that now require up to 97% uptime performance, and battery energy storage systems that require more than 20+ years of reliability, each with its own unique standards for design and test.
Co-chairs for the Technical Program Committee special sessions are Brian O’Leary, global head of e-mobility and infrastructure at Indium, and Jason Schwartz, business development manager at KYZEN. “The first part of the agenda will address the problems and challenges, with the second part addressing the solutions,” says O’Leary. “Our speakers will share a macro perspective about supply chain issues; a policy perspective about new government regulations and incentives; and a few technical perspectives from Tier 1, Tier 2, and OEMs.”
The e-Mobility session is supported by IPC’s e-Mobility Quality and Reliability Advisory Council and closely aligns with the council’s mission to help deliver e-Mobility quality, reliability, and safety while protecting the drive for innovation. IPC, in the first-of-its-kind event at IPC APEX EXPO’s e-Mobility/EV Automotive Special Session, will bring together stakeholders from OEMs, their supply chains, regulators, and policy and technology experts to discuss the many challenges as well as the collaborative-based solutions to those challenges.
The e-Mobility/EV Automotive session is a three-hour panel discussion with audience participation encouraged. Registration for this Jan. 26 session will be included in the “All Access” or “Full Technical Conference” packages, or it can also be added as a “Technical Conference Single Session Pass.”
Julia Gumminger is manager of professional development and events for IPC.
Testimonial
"We’re proud to call I-Connect007 a trusted partner. Their innovative approach and industry insight made our podcast collaboration a success by connecting us with the right audience and delivering real results."
Julia McCaffrey - NCAB GroupSuggested Items
I-Connect007 Announces Newest Columnist Chandra Gupta of Remtec
02/12/2026 | I-Connect007 Editorial TeamI-Connect007 is excited to announce its latest columnist, Chandra Gupta, whose new column, Below the Surface, will explore what truly determines performance in advanced electronic packaging, long before a product ever reaches assembly or test. Gupta is a seasoned practitioner who cuts through industry buzzwords to explain how substrate physics, materials, and manufacturing realities actually govern performance in high-reliability electronics.
EMS Leadership Summit: A Smarter Way to Gather EMS Leaders
02/11/2026 | Nolan Johnson, SMT007 MagazineMark Wolfe is a career EMS and electronics expert, whose leadership has helped expand and improve the EMS Leadership Summit at APEX EXPO. Last year’s event received a huge approval rating from attendees: a whopping 96% said they’d be back. Not content to rest on those laurels, Mark and his team have put together a program that preserves the Summit’s strengths while finding ways to improve. In this interview, Mark makes a strong argument why EMS leadership at all levels should take a day to examine the wider picture of our industry.
EIPC Winter Conference 2026 Review: The Keynote Sessions
02/11/2026 | Pete Starkey, I-Connect007Aix-en-Provence (pronounced “ex-ahn-pro-vonse”), a historic city and commune in the south of France, about 20 miles north of Marseille, was the pleasant venue for EIPC’s Winter Conference in early February. Industry delegates from 11 European countries, as well as from the U.S. and China, gathered at the Renaissance Hotel for a two-day programme, “Driving the Future: Innovation, Energy, and Sustainability in PCB Technology.” An added attraction was a privileged visit to the ITER fusion power project at the Cadarache research and development centre.
Global Chips Market Hitting Record High Sales Figures in 2025
02/09/2026 | ESIAThe European Semiconductors Industry Association (ESIA) announced that global semiconductor sales reached US$ 791.69 billion in 2025, which means a marked 26.1% increase on a year-on-year basis. Semiconductor sales in the Europe reached US$ 54.46 billion in 2025, a 6.2% rise versus 2024.
I-Connect007 Editor’s Choice: Five Must-Reads for the Week
02/06/2026 | Nolan Johnson, I-Connect007Here’s the thing about time travel. You can’t just manipulate the time dimension; you have to move in three-dimensional space as well. That’s because Earth orbits a star, which orbits a galaxy, which is on its own path through three-dimensional space. Our planet follows a complex corkscrew-like path through the universe, covering great distances in just seconds. Build a time machine like HG Wells envisioned, and even a short jump in time means that Earth has moved, and you’re now floating in the void of space. Unsettling, to be sure.