I-Connect007 Editor’s Choice: Five Must-Reads for the Week
August 12, 2022 | Andy Shaughnessy, I-Connect007Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

There was some good news this week, as Republicans and Democrats managed to cooperate long enough to pass the CHIPS Act. Sure, it’s a little late, and I think Washington only acted because they realized that they had to at least act like they were doing something about semiconductor supply chain problem. But this act might keep us from getting in this same situation a few years down the road.
Members of the House and Senate don’t usually act until they get worried about being voted out of office, so pardon me if I’m not ready to sing “Happy Days Are Here Again” just yet. But this is still really good news; the politicians are on the record now, and we can hold them accountable.
As Winston Churchill once said, “America can always be relied upon to do the right thing—after exhausting all possible alternatives.” We’ve tried everything else; now it’s time to cooperate, even with competitors, for the good of the industry, and the country.
IPC Lauds Passage of 'CHIPS and Science' Act; Electronics Industry Calls for a Holistic Approach to Reviving Domestic Electronics Capabilities
Published August 9
Congress and President managed to pass the CHIPS Act. Yes, as the saying goes, “Better late than never,” but we’ll take it. This legislation won’t make any difference in our industry in the near future, but maybe it will preclude future semiconductor supply chain jams. At least the DoD has gotten its head out of its hindquarters with regards to the American electronics industry. Hope springs eternal.
SMTA International 2022 Conference Program Finalized
Published August 9
SMTAI is just around the corner, and if you’re not registered, what are you waiting for? I’ve never been to Minneapolis, so I’m looking forward to it. Co-located with the Medical Design & Manufacturing (MD&M) show at the Minneapolis Convention Center, this show is going to be a big one. SMTA should organize a trip to Prince’s purple palace after the show. Just a suggestion.
Myths vs. Facts: The Printed Electronics Roundtable, Part 1
Published August 11
The buzz about printed electronic circuits has been going on for a decade now, but I still hear a lot of questions from engineers who are curious about how to get into this segment. So, we convened a roundtable of PEC experts—fabricators and OEMs—and asked them to dispel some of the myths surrounding this process. One takeaway: PEC are in more products right now than you would imagine.
Fein-Lines: Live in Person—PCEA/Orange County Meets Up Again
Published August 11
It’s been too long since the last meeting of the Orange County Chapter of the Printed Circuit Engineering Association (PCEA). Two years, in fact. Technical Editor Dan Feinberg has a great review of this event. Freedom CAD’s Scott McCurdy has built the OC chapter into the largest in the world, and these meetings always draw a huge crowd of designers and other PCB technologists.
Business Email Compromise: The $43 Billion Scam
Published August 10
Our tagline reads “Good for the industry.” So, this week we published a PSA from J. Edgar Hoover’s boys about a very sophisticated transfer-of-funds scam that’s affecting a lot of American companies now. I know some of you have been hit with all kinds of cyber skullduggery, so we wanted to get the word out about this BEC/EAC craziness. The people behind this stuff would be the perfect IT guys, if they ever decided to don the white hat. Watch out, folks.
Suggested Items
HANZA Acquires Orbit One
12/05/2023 | HANZAHANZA AB has signed an agreement to acquire all shares in Orbit One AB, a Swedish company that offers contract manufacturing of electronics and electromechanics. Orbit One has annual sales of approximately SEK 1.1 billion with an operating profit (EBITA) of approximately SEK 70 million.
Materials Costs Continue to Improve but Labor Costs Remain a Pain Point for Electronics Manufacturers
12/05/2023 | IPCElectronics industry sentiment improved during November with demand sentiment also taking a solid step up over the last 30 days per IPC’s November 2023 Global Sentiment of the Electronics Supply Chain Report.
IPC Day Mexico Highlights Aeronautics Industry
12/05/2023 | Robert Erickson and Lorena Villanueva, IPCAbout 200 kilometers (125 miles) north of Mexico City lies Queretaro, an area rich in history, with stone streets and public squares, and which twice has been the country’s capital. But it’s also quickly becoming a global capital of electronics manufacturing, especially aeronautics, and was the location for the first IPC Day Mexico this past June.
U.S. Partnership for Assured Electronics Awards Nearly $10M to 7 Microelectronics Firms
12/04/2023 | USPAESeven microelectronics firms received nearly $10 million in combined funding to commercialize technologies of interest to the U.S. military services as winners of the Defense Business Accelerator (DBX) Microelectronics Challenge. This groundbreaking initiative is funded by the Department of Defense (DoD) and led by the U.S. Partnership for Assured Electronics (USPAE).
Nordson Electronics Solutions Releases the New ASYMTEK Select Coat SL-1040 Conformal Coating System
11/30/2023 | BUSINESS WIRENordson Electronics Solutions, a global leader in electronics manufacturing technologies, is pleased to announce the release of the new ASYMTEK Select Coat® SL-1040 conformal coating system.