DesignCon 2025: Looking Great at 30

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DesignCon may be turning 30 this year, but the Silicon Valley staple doesn’t look a day over 25. Attendees turned out for this celebratory bash, many of them reminiscing about their first DesignCon event 20 or 30 years ago.

The Tuesday night welcome reception was basically a 30th birthday bash, sponsored by Mouser. Show managers went all out, with strobe lights and a DJ blasting a mix of old and new dance tunes. That was fitting, because I spoke with engineers from ages 21 to 81 at DesignCon this year. Nice to see more younger folks each year.

On Wednesday morning, NVIDIA’s John Linford gave a keynote presentation to a packed room, with attendees standing on the stairs, along the back wall, and anywhere they could find a spot in the Elizabeth A. Hangs auditorium. “The Transformative Power of Accelerated Computing and AI” focused on the many innovations possible with AI, now and in the near future. He showed an example of design modeling of an automobile’s aerodynamic “fluid flow” in a virtual wind tunnel, which can now leverage real-life data. The digital twin is becoming mainstream.

Traffic on the show floor stayed busy for most of Wednesday. This year’s event seemed to be at least as busy as last year’s, which was the biggest show since the days before COVID. Show mascot Chiphead posed for photos throughout the day.

AI was the topic all over the conference and the expo hall, from manufacturing and supply chain optimization to EDA tools. JITX founder Duncan Haldane describes the company’s tools as “code-based AI-driven” design software, and he cites the acceleration of design cycles up to 30x. AI is definitely here to stay.

Let’s all wish DesignCon a happy birthday, and raise a toast to 30 more years as Silicon Valley’s destination for electronics desginers.

Marcy LaRont, managing editor of PCB007 Magazine, wrote a review of the keynote address and some technical sessions. Read the review here.