I-Connect007 Editor’s Choice: Five Must-Reads for the Week

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

While news about our industry is what keeps the engine running, I also find it interesting to see what’s happening just outside and around electronics manufacturing. We supply the building blocks for a much larger, much more expansive, and more robust tech world. So, this week, I looked at what was making news in the spokes of our wheel. Consumer electronics, new publications, mergers, and a pretty cool little plane are what caught my eye.

It's been a chilly week for most of us in the United States, and whether you’re in the frozen Pacific Northwest (where I live) or the windswept plains of the Midwest and beyond, you were hunkering down and fighting to stay warm. What better way to pass the time than these editorial offerings. Have a great weekend, everyone.

Fein-Lines: CES 2024—Showstoppers and a Real Show-Opener
Published January 16

Our technical editor Dan Feinberg turns into an intrepid reporter for CES, one of his favorite events of the year. Dan walks miles and miles to see as much as he can during this consumer electronics show, and never gets to see everything there is on exhibit. But he tries, oh he really tries. On Press Day at CES 2024 in Las Vegas, he chose to attend presentations from TCL, Samsung, and a few others, but while traveling between events, he became distracted by an intriguing presentation by Abbott Labs that he had to tell you about. Dan filed three reports, so be sure to check them all out.

Kick Off the New Year With the Winter Issue of IPC Community!
Published January 15

What do gnomes, cows, and asteroids have in common? Well, you’ll have to read the latest issue of IPC Community to find out. This quarterly magazine is a joint venture between I-Connect007 and IPC, and Managing Editor Michelle Te and her team search the globe to find the most interesting and relevant content—from standards updates to important networking events—that impact the work we do each day. While I’m busy covering technical topics as editor of SMT007 Magazine, Michelle’s publication takes a somewhat different approach and it seems to be working. They’ve just celebrated their first year, so congratulations! Be sure to check it out.

Synopsys to Acquire Ansys, Creating a Leader in Silicon to Systems Design Solutions
Published January 17

It was a big week for Ansys, it would seem. While earlier in the week, the company announced its SimAI SaaS offering, it followed up by announcing it has been acquired by Synopsys. Together, the companies hope to “(bring) Synopsys’ pioneering semiconductor electronic design automation (EDA) with Ansys’ broad simulation and analysis portfolio (to) create a leader in silicon-to-systems design solutions.” With so much of today’s focus on silicon-to-systems, this merger couldn’t be more timely. 

Electronics Industry Welcomes Pentagon’s New National Defense Industrial Strategy
Published January 15

IPC has expanded its advocacy team in Washington, D.C., and Richard Cappetto, the new senior director of North American Government Relations at IPC, keeps himself abreast of what’s happening at the DoD. Earlier this week, he weighed in on the National Defense Industrial Strategy (NDIS), writing, “IPC is encouraged to see that the NDIS highlights several key priorities which we have been urging in recent years on behalf of the electronics industry. IPC believes all nations must ensure trusted, secure supply chains for essential electronics products.” Like the Synopsys/Ansys merger, the NDIS continues to make a case for the U.S. government to take a silicon to systems approach to building up the supply chain. That makes the DoD’s move—and Cappetto’s statement even more relevant. 

Skunk Works Rolls Out X-59, NASA's Newest X-Plane
Published January 15

There are a few things I geek out over, and planes are one of them. So, I had to include this announcement from Lockheed Martin Skunk Works, which rolled out the X-59, a unique experimental aircraft designed to quiet the sonic boom. The Palmdale, California ceremony marked a significant milestone in Lockheed Martin's and NASA's decades-long journey to solve one of the most persistent challenges of supersonic flight—the sonic boom. Relevant? Heck, yeah. Super cool? Most definitely.