Concerns over AI control are intensifying as more powerful models demonstrate autonomous behavior that developers struggle to predict or contain. A robot is offering a compact look at the increasingly global supply chain behind embodied AI hardware.

Odesa-based startup 1UA-AGE reported its AI engineering agent achieved 100% connection routing across two PCB benchmarks in KiCad./p>

PCEA Training said only a handful of seats remain for its CPCD training and certification program, taking place Sept. 28-Oct. 2 at PCB West 2026.

Apple is reportedly producing only a few hundred foldable iPhones per day ahead of its expected Sept. 9.

ASYS and Rohde & Schwarz developed a flexible gripper system for the DIVISIO 5100 depaneling platform.

Sonification is primed for a resurgence as a means of making sense of a deluge of data in a variety of fields, particularly for networking data in the age of 6G, one expert says.

Zuken releases E3.series 2027 electrical design software.

Coherix unveils 3-D GlassMaster tracker adhesive dispensing inspection system.

An upcoming PCEA webinar will look at component availability, lifecycle risk, lead times and electronics supply chain challenges.

PCEA announced 11 free technical sessions and a keynote for PCB West 2026, covering topics including AI, PCB design, signal integrity, flex, UHDI, fabrication and assembly on Sept. 30 in Santa Clara, CA.

PCB West 2026 will feature a panel examining AI, interposers, high-speed and high-current design, and optical interconnects shaping PCB design through the end of the decade.

PCEA announced two fall webinars covering the role of the PCB designer and signal routing for controlling energy, signal integrity and EMI in digital PCBs.

PCB West 2026 will feature 11 presentations on electronics assembly processes, including a half-day solder paste qualification workshop and sessions covering SMT printing, stencil design, reflow soldering and more.

PCEA will host a 3.5-hour webinar on Nov. 4 led by Susy Webb covering signal routing techniques to improve signal integrity and EMI performance.

CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY is accepting entries for the 20th annual New Product Introduction Awards, with submissions for electronics assembly products due Dec. 14.

Looking for networking opportunities? Join the PCEA Discord server, bringing together engineers and designers from around the world on a private channel for discussing technical questions and career opportunities.

AI safety concerns are escalating as increasingly capable models show signs of autonomous and unpredictable behavior.

Global semiconductor sales reached $146B in July, up 6 percent sequentially and 135 percent year-over-year.

Calumet Electronics has opened its $54M Center for Advanced Substrate Technology in Michigan.

Zhen Ding Technology reported August revenue of approximately $654M, up 41 percent year-over-year.

TSMC and Samsung have committed to adopting ASML’s roughly $400M High NA EUV lithography systems, with Samsung planning to use the technology for DRAM production beginning in 2028 and TSMC targeting advanced chip production in 2030.

Vietnam is moving to strengthen domestic electronics and semiconductor supply chains after exports reached an estimated $101B in the first eight months of 2026.

Gold Circuit Electronics plans to invest approximately $436M in a new plant at Taiwan’s Zhongli Industrial Park.

Green Circuits has implemented Z2Data’s electronic supply chain intelligence platform.

The Charge of the Bucket Brigade
PCD&F/CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY

Spatiotemporal Mapping of Anisotropic Thermal Transport in Gan Thin Films Via Ultrafast X-ray Diffraction
Nature Communications

Interfacial Reactions of Sn-19Bi-19In Solder on OSP and ENIG Surface Finishes During Thermal Aging
Journal of Electronic Materials

EVENTS

PCB Update is a digital newsletter for PCB design, fabrication and assembly professionals, brought to you by Printed Circuit Engineering Association™. E-mail industry press releases or links to the editors of CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY or PCD&F: pr@pcea.net.