Printed Circuit Design & Fab Online Magazine

Material Gains

Alun Morgan High-performance computing has moved out of its niche to become a mainstream requirement and continues to rely on human skills to deliver its optimum potential.

Historically, supercomputing has been a niche discipline, the preserve of rare and almost mythical machines embodying esoteric design principles. Only a tiny number of organizations, such as national laboratories, top-tier businesses and elite universities, had workloads that justified using them. Also, there were only a few engineers and scientists in the world capable of running them.

Read more: Why Human Expertise Still Matters in High-Performance Computing

Alun Morgan As the PCB industry absorbs AI’s impact on nearly every aspect of business, the latest humanoid robots are showing how the technology can multiply our ability to imagine.

AI is one of my favorite subjects, as you may have noticed, and I make no apology. It’s already transforming our lives, and this will continue for years to come. Fixating on those two letters is easy, as they are currently evoking many emotions, including both excitement and fear. In the PCB industry, we are seeing how AI server demand is drastically reshaping the board market and the supply chain for substrate materials. So much so that, within Ventec, we feel the market will never be the same again.

Read more: AI, Humanoid Robots and the Next Leap in Human Imagination

Alun Morgan Rising geopolitical tensions and defense demand are intensifying pressure on compound semiconductor supply chains powering next-generation RF systems.

The stock market’s volatility index, or VIX, has had an eventful 2026 so far, beginning with uncertainty over trade tariffs and most recently due to the conflict in the Middle East. Also known as Wall Street’s fear gauge, the VIX has been spiking around 30, which is a significant psychological threshold for investors. There have been sharper increases in the past, during the notorious financial crash of 2008 and, of course, in the pandemic. While those historical events sent investors dashing for traditional areas of cover, normally to buy bonds and sell stocks, the current situation is more complex, combining the threat of inflation and supply disruptions.

Read more: In the Current Climate, Access to Cutting-Edge Technologies is Sure to Become More Difficult

Alun Morgan AI server growth could boost PCB and copper-clad laminate demand more than 200% by 2027, straining global materials supply.

The global excitement surrounding AI has certainly caught my attention for many reasons. However, I was taken aback by an analysis indicating that increasing demand for new infrastructure will significantly boost growth rates for copper-clad laminates (CCL), which are expected to rise by over 200% in 2027, as reported by Goldman Sachs in January.

Read more: Today’s AI-Driven Supply Shortages Signal Global Seismic Shift