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Strategic Materials Conference 2025 Spotlights Materials Innovation to Advance Semiconductor Manufacturing
June 2, 2025 | SEMIEstimated reading time: 1 minute
With materials innovation at the core of next-generation semiconductor technologies, the Strategic Materials Conference (SMC) 2025 brings together top executives and technology leaders from the semiconductor manufacturing industry for exclusive insights into the latest trends and advancements. The event will be held on June 23-25, at Hayes Mansion in San Jose, California. Registration is open.
SMC is the industry’s premier event focused on drivers of advanced materials, highlighting key opportunities across the electronics supply chain in growth markets including computing and data storage, wireless communication, automotive, consumer and industrial electronics.
SMC 2025 Keynote Presentations
Accelerating AI Computing with Innovations from Materials to AI Factories
- John Hu, Director, Advanced Technology Group, NVIDIA
Semiconductor Industry – A Logic Technology Outlook
- Carlos H. Diaz, PhD, Senior Director, TSMC
Reinventing the Transistor for the Quantum Age
- Chetan Nayak, PhD, Technical Fellow, Microsoft
Integrated Material Development Modality Enabling the AI Revolution
- Surésh Rajaraman, PhD, Executive Vice President & Business Unit Head, Thin Films, EMD Electronics
Themed The New Era of Materials Innovation, SMC 2025 will feature the following key sessions:
- Market Geopolitical, and Economic Trends
- Materials in Next Generation Memory Devices
- Next Generation FETs
- Materials Innovation Enabled by AI
- Advanced Packaging, Materials Integration & Challenges
- Orbital Foundries for Next-Generation Semiconductors
- SEMI PFAS Update
- Executive Panel: Impact of US Policy on Semiconductor Industry
Presentations at SMC 2025 will feature insights from the following industry leaders:
- AMD
- Applied Materials
- ASML
- Axiom Space
- Ayar Labs
- Boston Consulting Group
- EMD Electronics
- Entegris
- imec
- Intel Corporation
- Lam Research
- Linx Consulting
- Meta
- Microsoft
- Mitsubishi Chemical Group
- Needham & Company
- NVIDIA
- SEMI
- Techcet
- Terecircuits
- TSMC
The event will feature two exclusive networking sessions, offering attendees the chance to reconnect with industry peers and build new relationships with professionals driving materials innovation.
Testimonial
"In a year when every marketing dollar mattered, I chose to keep I-Connect007 in our 2025 plan. Their commitment to high-quality, insightful content aligns with Koh Young’s values and helps readers navigate a changing industry. "
Brent Fischthal - Koh YoungSuggested Items
Punching Out: How Are the Big Boys in Electronics Doing?
05/12/2026 | Tom Kastner -- Column: Punching Out!Let’s see what the public companies are up to in the PCB and EMS industries. In North America, there are only a couple of publicly traded PCB companies: TTM Technologies and Firan Technology Group. On the EMS side, there are a few more: Flex, Jabil, Celestica, Sanmina,, Benchmark, Fabrinet, Kimball Electronics, Plexus Corp, Nortech Systems, and Key Tronic Corp. From an M&A standpoint, these public companies have been fairly quiet in the past five years. FTG completed two deals in 2022 (IMI and Holaday), Flex had three deals, Jabil had five deals, and Sanmina had one deal.
I-Connect007 Editor’s Choice: Five Must-Reads for the Week
05/08/2026 | Marcy LaRont, I-Connect007This week, I’ve selected some outstanding interviews that you’ll want to take note of. First, is a roundtable discussion featuring three dynamic industry cybersecurity experts. Please watch this important discussion that affects us all. Following that, I spotlight the IPC-2581 Consortium, which explains why IPC-2581 is the standard to replace Gerber data for manufacturing. Next, I am including my interview with PCBAA and AAM, who collaborated to release a short documentary on U.S. PCB manufacturing.
A Necessary Shift From Gerber to IPC-2581
05/07/2026 | Tracy Riggan, Global Electronics AssociationIPC-2581 is an open, vendor-neutral data exchange standard developed by the Global Electronics Association to streamline the exchange of PCB design information across fabrication, assembly, and test. It replaces multiple legacy formats—including industry standards, Gerber, and ODB++—with a single, comprehensive, XML-based dataset that captures all manufacturing details.
ViaSat-3 F3 Satellite Successfully Launches from Kennedy Space Center
05/04/2026 | BoeingBoeing mission controllers confirmed that the ViaSat-3 F3 (VS-3 F3) satellite is healthy in orbit following its successful launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket at 10:13 a.m. ET from Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida.
Microchip Expands Post-Quantum Root of Trust Controllers
04/29/2026 | MicrochipAs the industry embarks on the transition to post‑quantum cryptography (PQC), Microchip Technology is expanding its portfolio of Trust Shield, PQC‑ready devices with the TS1800 Platform Root of Trust controller and the TS50x secure boot controller.