John Mitchell's Top Three Reads: Europe's PCB Blind Spot, Robots Without Buyers, and Computing with Light

Jun 25, 2026
KEY SUMMARY
  • John Mitchell examines three major global electronics trends: Europe’s shrinking PCB manufacturing base despite heavy semiconductor investment, China’s rapid humanoid robot buildout ahead of proven demand, and breakthroughs in photonic computing that could reshape future AI hardware.
  • The blog highlights key policy and industry risks, including electronics supply chain resilience, industrial competitiveness, robotics market maturity, and the strategic importance of supporting the full technology stack.
  • It offers a global perspective on how printed circuit boards, advanced robotics, and light-based computing are emerging as critical issues for electronics manufacturing, innovation, and long-term economic growth.

by John W. Mitchell, Global Electronics Association president and CEO

Every time I sit down to write one of these, I remind myself there is genuinely too much happening to do it justice. Our industry sits at the center of almost every technology story on the planet right now — and it can feel like trying to drink from a firehose some weeks. But here are three things I cannot stop thinking about at the moment. As always, I'll try to make them globally relevant rather than just U.S.-centric.

Building Chip Fabs on a Foundation That Isn't There

This issue is personal because it goes to the heart of our advocacy work. Europe is investing billions in semiconductor capacity — Intel in Magdeburg, TSMC in Dresden, and major expansions at Infineon and STMicroelectronics. The strategy is sound: sovereign silicon matters. But without PCB capacity, chips do not become systems.

That is the gap. Europe’s share of global bare-board PCB production has fallen from 16% in 2000 to about 2% today. The number of European PCB manufacturers has dropped from 555 to fewer than 180. Roughly 65% of EU PCB imports come from China. And in spring 2026, a disruption in PPE resin supply drove premium PCB prices up 30–40% almost overnight. This is not a hypothetical vulnerability. It is a live one.

This article captures the problem clearly: the EU Chips Act is reinforcing the top of the electronics stack while the base continues to weaken. I have long argued for a “Chips Act Plus” approach that supports the full stack, not just semiconductors. This piece makes that case exceptionally well. It should be read by anyone shaping supply chain policy or industrial strategy in Europe.

All These Robots… But Who's Actually Buying?

A few issues back, I wrote about consumer robots in the home. This is different and just as important. Humanoid robots are moving quickly into manufacturing, raising a key question: supply is accelerating, but where is demand?

Reporting from Beijing, CNBC’s Evelyn Cheng highlighted Lingyi iTech, a longtime Apple and Samsung supplier now pushing aggressively into humanoids. The company built 300 robots within weeks of opening and is targeting 500,000 units annually by 2030. Morgan Stanley sees the same trend, but with an important caveat: production is running ahead of sales because many manufacturers are building robots to generate AI training data, not fulfill customer demand. Most current orders are just one or two units.

China has effectively made humanoid robotics a politically favored industry. That creates momentum and risk. The bubble question is valid. But the technology is real. Demand will catch up, and when it does, the electronics content will be substantial.

What If Your Computer Ran on Light?

I’ll be honest — I had to read this one a few times. But once I understood it, I could not stop thinking about it.

Researchers at Monash University recently published a paper in Nature Photonics describing a tiny chip that can generate, steer, and read light-based information on a single device using “valleytronics,” encoding data through quantum properties of light rather than electrons in circuits. The implications are substantial: higher bandwidth, lower energy consumption, and far faster processing. It also works at room temperature, which is critical for commercial viability.

This is not an isolated development. QuiX Quantum, a Dutch startup, has installed a key real-time control component for its universal photonic quantum computer, and McKinsey estimates quantum technologies could create up to $2.7 trillion in economic value by 2035. I am generally skeptical of round-number forecasts, but the pace of progress this spring suggests something real is accelerating. Worth watching closely: the hardware behind the next generation of AI may look very different from today’s semiconductor architecture.

As always, there is far more I did not get to than what made this list. If you want to make sure you catch the next one, subscribe to the Association blog.