Freudenstadt, Germany, March 04, 2026 – SCHMID Group (NASDAQ: SHMD) has successfully delivered the first specialized InfinityLine H+ system designed for Panel-Level Packaging (PLP) applications with formats of up to 700×700mm to a leading U.S. technology company.
The newly developed InfinityLine H+ platform is based on a highly flexible, expanded modular architecture, enabling SCHMID to address the rapidly increasing panel sizes required by next-generation substrate manufacturing. The system incorporates advanced engineering concepts enabling horizontal processing of large-format substrates, allowing customers to implement critical process steps with high economic efficiency, high process stability, and improved throughput.
This project highlights SCHMID’s engineering expertise in developing customer-specific production solutions for markets that demand the highest standards in quality, cleanliness, and process control. The delivery further strengthens SCHMID’s position in high-growth applications such as AI-driven computing infrastructure, advanced high-performance computing (HPC) platforms, as well as space and defense electronics.
Addressing the Exponential Growth in AI, HPC Infrastructure and Space & Defense Applications
The global expansion of artificial intelligence infrastructure, AI server boards, and HPC platforms – together with rapidly increasing demand in space and defense applications – is reshaping the semiconductor and advanced substrate industry.
Rising interconnect density, increasingly sophisticated power-delivery architectures, the economic scaling of chiplet-based designs, and growing layer counts are significantly increasing process complexity. As a result, manufacturing requirements for IC substrates and Panel-Level Packaging (PLP) are advancing rapidly, demanding new levels of precision, scalability, and process stability.
The newly developed SCHMID Platform directly addresses these evolving Demands.
At the core of the expanded InfinityLine H+ platform is a fully single-sided, completely touchless process architecture, designed to ensure maximum cleanliness, process stability, and yield for next-generation substrate and panel-level packaging applications. By utilizing a carrier plate with the build-up structure positioned on top, the system ensures stable and reproducible processing - even for highly complex and sensitive multilayer designs.
Face-Up and Face-Down Processing with Maintained Leading Edge
A key technological highlight is the integrated inline flipping station. It enables both face-up and face-down processing while maintaining the leading-edge orientation throughout the entire process flow.
The flipping operation itself remains single-sided and touchless, ensuring maximum repeatability, stable line integration, and consistent process performance in fully automated manufacturing environments.
Within this architecture, key chemical processes benefit from bottom-side processing which eliminates puddling effects on top surface, an important advantage for larger substrate formats and next-generation applications.
Reduced Dragout & Cleanliness as a Strategic Yield Lever
As substrate density increases, sensitivity to particles and media carry-over rises significantly. Yield performance increasingly depends on process purity and contamination control.
The platform’s architecture is therefore product-specific and engineered to minimize media carry-over. Additionally, particle-free drive solutions in the dryer modules significantly reduce the risk of particulate contamination.
Combined with a fully integrated ESD protection concept and automated real-time process parameter monitoring with closed-loop control, the system delivers stable process windows, high repeatability, and sustainably optimized yield performance - critical performance drivers for next-generation AI- and HPC-boards.
Cleanroom-Ready and Scalable for Next-Generation Applications
The system features a full enclosure design, making it suitable for operation in controlled and clean manufacturing environments.
Executive Statement
Roland Rettenmeier, Chief Sales Officer of SCHMID Group, states:
“The global expansion of AI infrastructure, high-performance computing platforms, and rapidly growing demand in space and defense applications is fundamentally transforming the semiconductor and advanced packaging industry. Increasing interconnect density, advanced power-delivery architectures, and the economic scaling of chiplet-based designs are accelerating the transition from traditional wafer-level packaging toward large-format panel level technologies.
With the expansion of our modular InfinityLine H+ platform, we have introduced and successfully delivered another technological game-changer for equipment used in IC substrate and panel-level packaging manufacturing. The system directly addresses the structural growth we are seeing in the panel-level packaging ecosystem.
Our customers are investing heavily in next-generation production capacity and require manufacturing solutions that support larger formats, higher resolutions, maximum cleanliness, exceptional process stability, and optimized consumption of chemicals and resources – while consistently delivering superior yield performance.
With solutions such as the InfinityLine H+, SCHMID positions itself as a key innovation partner, enabling the manufacturing infrastructure behind the next generation of AI-driven computing systems.”
With this project, SCHMID reinforces its strategic focus on the fastest-growing segments of the electronics industry and further strengthens its role as a critical technology enabler for the next generation of high-performance IC substrate and panel-level packaging solutions.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains statements that constitute "forward-looking statements". All statements other than statements of historical fact included in this press release are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are subject to numerous conditions, many of which are beyond the control of the Company, including those set forth in the "Risk Factors" section of the Company’s registration statement and final prospectus for the offering filed with the SEC. Copies are available on the SEC’s website, www.sec.gov. The Company undertakes no obligation to update these statements for revisions or changes after the date of this release, except as required by law.
About the SCHMID Group
The SCHMID Group is a global leader in providing solutions for the high-tech industry in the fields of electronics, photovoltaics, glass, and energy systems. SCHMID N.V. and Gebr. SCHMID GmbH are headquartered in Freudenstadt, Germany. Founded in 1864, the company currently employs over 800 people worldwide and operates technology centers and production facilities at multiple locations, including Germany and China, along with several global sales and service locations.
The Group focuses on developing customized equipment and process solutions for a variety of industries, including electronics, renewable energy, and energy storage. Our system and process solutions for the production of substrates, printed circuit boards, and other electronic components ensure cutting-edge technology, high yields at low production costs, maximum efficiency, quality, and sustainability through environmentally friendly manufacturing processes.
Siemens today announced Inventec Corporation, a global leader in high-tech electronics and server manufacturing, has adopted Siemens’ Valor NPI software and Process Preparation X solutions from the Siemens Xcelerator portfolio to strengthen design-for-manufacturing (DfM) efficiency and production quality across its server and notebook product lines.
Solving manufacturing issues before production
Inventec is a major Taiwan-based original design manufacturer (ODM) and original equipment manufacturer (OEM) that designs and manufactures notebooks, servers and other electronic devices for leading global brands. As the complexity of server and AI-driven hardware designs increases, the gap between design and manufacturing becomes a critical bottleneck. Realizing this, Inventec sought a scalable, automated approach to improve its early-stage manufacturing readiness and production quality.
By adopting Siemens’ Valor NPI, Inventec has embedded automated DfM verification into its development workflow, enabling engineering teams to identify and resolve manufacturing issues before production. This shift has helped Inventec significantly reduce late-stage design changes, improve first-pass yield and cut EQ from PCB and assembly partners by more than 50 percent.
“Our goal is to deliver cutting-edge server and notebook technology to our customers with speed and precision,” said Barry Chen, senior ECAD manager, Inventec Corporation. “With Siemens’ software, we’ve moved away from manual, document-based processes to a fully digitalized workflow. This has allowed us to identify and resolve potential manufacturing issues before production begins, accelerate time-to-market, reduce engineering change cycles and enhance collaboration between design and manufacturing teams.”
Fast error-free SMT readiness
In parallel, Inventec implemented Siemens’ Process Preparation X to streamline surface-mounted technology programming and digital work instruction generation, creating a unified programming environment across multiple SMTs, reducing manual data conversion and preventing polarity, offset and placement errors through virtual validation. As a result, Inventec achieved earlier detection of DfM and equipment-related issues before pilot runs, accelerated SMT program preparation by up to 50 percent, enabled automated and error-free generation of more than 20,000 production work instructions annually and improved consistency and quality across its global manufacturing operations.
“Electronics manufacturers are under increasing pressure to deliver highly complex products faster, with uncompromised quality,” said AJ Incorvaia, senior vice president and general manager, Electronic Board Systems, Siemens Digital Industries Software. “By adopting Siemens’ portfolio, Inventec has transformed its DFM operations to unlock new levels of operational excellence and gained significant productivity boosts to its SMT programming and work instruction generation workflow.”
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - Flux, the AI-powered platform for hardware design, today announced $37M of new investment, including a $27M Series B led by 8VC, with participation from existing investors including Bain Capital Ventures, Liquid 2 Ventures, and Outsiders Fund.
Flux also disclosed a previously unannounced $10M Series A led by Outsiders Fund and co-led by Bain Capital Ventures.
It’s yet more fuel for the Silicon Valley startup leading a grassroots revolution in hardware design.
Flux is the world’s first AI hardware engineer, trained on hundreds of thousands of real-world designs and fine-tuned for common design tasks. With nothing more than natural language prompts, Flux’s agentic AI works with users to plan circuit-board layouts, source components, and test designs. It outputs everything a manufacturer needs to produce a finished product. It even suggests ways to minimize costs and reduce supply-chain risks.
And it does all this in the web browser—no desktop application required.
“With Flux, you can have a brilliant idea one day and hold the finished product in your hand a few weeks later,” said Flux CEO Matthias Wagner.
More than 1 million makers, designers, and entrepreneurs have used Flux to design nearly 6.5 million devices, from wearables to robots to smart home controllers and drone navigation systems.
One Flux customer built an IoT device that extracts data from construction machinery, taking the entire project from concept to production without hiring an electrical engineer.
Another is using Flux to design and ship custom electronics throughout Africa.Yet another uses Flux to build IoT-enabled organ-on-chip platforms for drug discovery and biological barrier modeling.
With Flux, anyone can become a builder. In the past, designers had two options: They could hire electrical engineers to design PCB boards from scratch or buy OEM components off the shelf. But many smaller businesses can’t afford to hire, and don’t want to pay for OEM parts that do more than they need.
Flux gives them a third option: AI that delivers bespoke PCBs at near-material costs. Flux’s custom layouts reduce the need for complex multi-board integration, resulting in faster, cheaper production and easier maintenance in the field.
“We wrote Flux’s first check when they were only a few founders with an audacious vision to transform hardware design,” said 8VC partner Francisco Gimenez. “Seven years later, they’re redefining who can build electronic hardware. Their market is not simply electrical engineers designing PCBs. It’s the universe of makers from individuals to businesses to whole industries. We’re privileged to renew our support.”
Flux plans to use the new funding to extend its AI to even more complex electronic use cases.
“Historically, building hardware has been insanely difficult,” said Flux CEO Wagner. “When you’re working with atoms instead of electrons, everything costs more and takes longer. Those limitations have always kept hardware in the hands of an elite few. By bringing the cost of design down to near-zero, we’re giving millions of non-experts the ability to build for niche audiences—or make something for themselves. The electronics business has always been structured around giant manufacturers. Now, for the first time, Flux puts creators at the center.”
About Flux:
Flux is the AI hardware engineer—a new kind of AI agent that goes from text prompt to manufactured board in a single browser tab. Flux is leading a paradigm shift in hardware design with its end-to-end, eCAD environment, which includes integrated workflows, reusable blocks, and modern collaboration tools. Headquartered in San Francisco, Flux is backed by investors including 8VC, Bain Capital Ventures, Liquid 2 Ventures, and Outsiders Fund, along with Figma board member John Lilly and Github founder Tom Preston-Werner.
Atlanta — Following the Supreme Court's invalidation of IEEPA-based tariffs and implementation of new Section 122 global tariffs of 10-15%, the Electronic Components Industry Association (ECIA) is urging policy makers to prioritize stability and transparency in trade regulations to support the complex electronics supply chain.
"The electronics supply chain operates on relatively thin margins and requires predictable business conditions to function effectively," said David Loftus, President & CEO of ECIA. "While we adapt to new tariff structures, the constant volatility creates substantial operational and financial strain throughout our industry. Our manufacturers and authorized distribution channel need stability to serve customers reliably and maintain the working capital necessary for a healthy supply chain."
The rapid succession of tariff changes has created significant challenges for our manufacturers, and especially for their electronics distributors who serve as the critical link between global manufacturers and thousands of domestic customers.
Key pressure points include:
Pricing uncertainty that prevents accurate long-term customer quoting and extends sales cycles
Working capital trapped in duty drawback claims that can take months or years to process
Inventory valuation volatility from sudden tariff shifts affecting millions in on-hand stock
Documentation complexity requiring extensive tracking across thousands of components from multiple origin countries
"Our industry thrives on innovation and speed to market," Loftus continued. "Regulatory instability undermines both. We need consistent tariff classifications, transparent landed cost information from importers of record, and streamlined duty recovery processes to maintain supply chain reliability."
ECIA represents the full spectrum of companies in the electronics components supply chain.
ATLANTA, GA – ECIA has issued a follow up Industry Alert from its Global Industry Practices Committee (GIPC) experts to update members on last Friday’s U.S. Supreme Court tariff ruling. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) does not authorize the imposition of tariffs. As a result, tariffs enacted under IEEPA authority have been invalidated, and the collection of those duties is being halted. This decision may affect ECIA member companies that import electronic components, subassemblies, or finished electronic products. This alert covers the component categories impacted and how companies might respond.
“The ECIA GIPC teams are working to keep our members informed and up to date,” ECIA VP of Industry Practices Christine Wolnik commented. “We will be hosting a webinar on tariffs on March 4th to highlight the Supreme Court ruling and provide an opportunity to answer questions. Look for details and an invitation soon."
While recognizing the need to balance global trade and support U.S. manufacturing, ECIA has taken the position that tariffs have imposed significant and uneven challenges on the component channel. ECIA is committed to monitoring the situation and providing members with the latest information for timely decision making.
February 18, 2026 – Boardera Software Inc., a provider of PCB costing and quoting automation software for the electronics manufacturing industry, today announced the launch of European data hosting services to support its growing customer base across Europe and ensure compliance with regional data privacy requirements.
With this deployment, European PCB fabricators and EMS assembly companies can now leverage the full capabilities of the Boardera Platform while maintaining their data within Europe. This enhancement reinforces Boardera’s commitment to data security and regulatory alignment.
By deploying EU data hosting services, Boardera directly addresses key concerns for manufacturers operating under GDPR and other European regulatory requirements. Sensitive customer data, engineering files, and pricing intelligence remain under EU jurisdiction, supporting compliance objectives without compromising access to advanced automation and AI-driven capabilities.
"One of our primary objectives is to ensure our global partners can utilize the platform’s services, with data compliance and residency regulation being top of mind. Designs and design data are to be treated as top secret within any network of partners involved with manufacturing in this industry. We look forward to servicing EU partners while maintaining that standard,” stated Curtis Hunter, CEO of Boardera Software Inc.
