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

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

This week’s news makes me think of the long-running U.S. television game, “Wheel of Fortune,” where you compete against two others to solve word puzzles. Contestants take turns spinning a wheel, which determines a dollar amount. Then, they choose a letter from the alphabet to be revealed in the puzzle, earning them that dollar amount for each letter revealed—that is, if they ultimately solve the puzzle. For years and years, many contestants have shouted, as they spin the wheel, “C’mon, big money!” The whole character of the show is down-home and personable.

And, as it turns out, this week’s news feed also contains a bunch of big money items, as well as some interesting industrial and technology puzzles to be solved. There’s even some down-home people news from the Dallas SMTA conference held this week. Don’t overlook the latest issue of PCB007 Magazine, either. The topic is sustainability, which is becoming an ecosystem of its own.

All that, and a plug for the latest episode of our podcast, “On The Line With…” This week’s edition features Cadence’s Taylor Hogan and Patrick Davis, discussing the developing role of AI in PCB design.

Have a great weekend, everyone; you’re now up to date on the news.

SMTA Dallas 2024 Photo Gallery
Published March 20

I-Connect007’s editorial field team was onsite at the SMTA Dallas event in Plano this week. Managing editor, Marcy LaRont shares this photo gallery from the event.

Sustainability Explored in the March Issue of PCB007 Magazine
Published March 20

Speaking of sustainability, this month’s issue of PCB007 Magazine–focusing on the hot button issue of sustainability–makes for great reading. The issue examines this topic through the lens of several individuals and organizations. As Dr. Kelly Scanlon of IPC points out, the concept of sustainability applies to many areas, including the economy, training, and education. Get your copy at the link above.

Enabling a New Paradigm for Flexible, Point of Need Design and Manufacturing
Published March 18

The headline on this news article from DARPA hides what is a very interesting read about the DoD “Rubble to Rockets” program. From the article: “The Department of Defense (DOD) needs the flexibility to manufacture critical structures at the time and point of need using locally available materials. Yet current manufacturing approaches for forward production operate under the assumption that pristine raw materials will be readily available; furthermore, any change in material input would require costly redesign. This means that structure designs are reliant on fixed inputs to produce fixed outputs, hindering the flexibility required for forward production where raw materials and resources are limited.”

The implications of this new paradigm are staggering; to colonize the Moon or Mars, on-site fabrication will require this kind of capability. A very interesting read and worth following.

Asia/Pacific PC Market Dropped 16.1% in 2023
Published March 18

I’m choosing this specific announcement, but there are two other IDC-sources news items, which support this report. From this report: “In 2023, the Asia/Pacific region decreased year-on-year (YoY) in all quarters as the overall demand for devices continued to decline across the consumer and commercial segments. Purchases were soft given that a good portion of demand was already fulfilled during the COVID-19 pandemic, and ongoing challenging economic conditions didn’t help either.”

IDC also released this report (link) detailing a 9% drop in PC workstation shipments (PC workstations are a contributor to the 16.1% drop in this report. But not all is doom and gloom; in another report (link), IDC reports that the wearables sector saw some up-and-down growth in 2023, but is poised for a strong rebound in 2024.

Put the three reports from this week together, and it’s continuing evidence that computing platforms are evolving into dramatically different form factors.

Intel, Biden Admin Announce up to $8.5 Billion in Direct Funding Under the CHIPS Act
Published March 20

CHIPS Act and other related money is being awarded. Intel sees an award of $8.5 billion, which will be invested into Intel’s U.S. facilities in Arizona, New Mexico, Ohio, and Oregon. Intel is not the only company to announce funding awards this week. Elsewhere in our news coverage this week, was news of an award to SAIC from the U.S. intelligence community.