A noted solutions architect offers an audacious plan for AI acceptance. It just might work.

The talk of AI-based printed circuit design – and the idea that artificial intelligence could theoretically design a board faster and more efficiently than a human – has inevitably led to the fear that designers will be replaced by their algorithmic counterparts.

Rather than stoke those fears, a proposed process for AI implementation presented by a leading ECAD architect at PCB West in October focused on the new opportunities that could come for designers as AI implementation begins to take place.

The annual user event was tuned into AI, but that’s not the only melody being played.

Zuken welcomed customers and partners to Cleveland in September for the electronics design software company’s annual users event, providing an opportunity for networking and a backstage pass to the company’s most recent software updates and future innovations.

Zuken Innovation World Americas, colocated with Vitech’s Integrate24, opened with comments from Kent McLeroth and Enrique Krajmalnik, the chief executives of Zuken USA and Vitech, respectively, and a keynote address befitting its location in the supposed birthplace of rock and roll with Mark Schulman, drummer for such artists as P!NK, Billy Idol, Foreigner and Cher.

2023 saw only a handful of fabricators gain ground, but SE Asia is primed to boom.

Small it was, but the Thailand Electronics Circuit Asia exhibition held in Bangkok in late July was extremely informative as to what is happening in the Southeast Asian nation. According to the Thailand Board of Investment (BOI), the PCB output in Thailand may become the third or even second largest in the world. From 2022 to 2026, about $6 billion to $7 billion will be invested in PCB capacity in Thailand (at this moment, 40-plus fabricators from Taiwan and China are pouring into Thailand). Calling Thailand the second-largest PCB-producing country may be a bit of a stretch, but the third largest is not an exaggeration. From the view of “nationality,” however, Thailand-based KCE and a few other small ones will account for less than 10% of the total output. Taiwan-, China- and Japan-based companies will hold the lion’s share of the PCB output in Thailand.

Nine considerations to prevent signal degradation due to crosstalk and EMI.

With demand growing for AI chips the need for high-speed PCBs is on the rise. As operating frequencies increase over 10GHz, the risk of reflections, crosstalk and EMI increases.

For optimal performance, all frequency components of a signal should maintain consistent amplitude changes. Additionally, signals must reach their destination simultaneously to prevent phase discrepancies. Understanding these aspects will help the design of circuits without signal distortion.