Rain or Shine, DesignCon 2024 is Happening

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"Upon us all, a little rain must fall." —Led Zeppelin “The Rain Song”

Robert Plant was right, but a little rain didn’t have much effect on attendance the first day of DesignCon 2024. Located in Silicon Valley, DesignCon may not be bulletproof, but it’s pretty close. If you’re an engineer working with chips, packaging, or PCBs, DesignCon is a must-attend show. Attendees and exhibitors said this year’s event seemed to be as busy as the 2019 show, which was a high-water mark for attendance right before the effects of the pandemic.  

This year’s show kicked off with a tiger-themed party hosted by Samtec, with engineers posing in front of a jungle backdrop holding stuffed tigers and snakes. After all, signal integrity can be a jungle; did the stuffed animals represent the skew and crosstalk that attendees were learning to defeat during the conference?

The conference featured more AI and battery content than ever, in addition to the usual signal and power integrity sessions. There was even a presentation by an international trade law attorney who focuses on helping companies navigate other countries’ tariffs and regulations. And the show floor was busy the entire first day. I spoke with speakers, attendees, and exhibitors, and no one had a negative word to say—about the show, or the industry. Several attendees said the same thing: “This is a great time to be in this industry.”

There are myriad challenges facing high-speed design engineers, but for these attendees, challenges make the job fun.

Check out our photo coverage from this year's event below.