Key Summary

• Electronics Day EMS Europe takes place in Paris on 17 September under the theme “Europe Electronics Gaining Momentum.”
• The event will spotlight Europe’s EMS, PCB, policy, and AI infrastructure opportunities.
• Sessions will focus on resilience, reshoring, consolidation, competitiveness, and supply-chain strategy.
• Senior industry and policy leaders will discuss how Europe can turn momentum into long-term growth.

By Philip Stoten, journalist, speaker and host specialising in the global electronics manufacturing services industry

There are moments when an industry stops reacting and starts shaping its own future. For European electronics, that moment comes to Paris on 17 September, with Electronics Day EMS Europe, a full day dedicated to the businesses, the people and the policies driving European electronics manufacturing forward. The theme says it all: Europe Electronics Gaining Momentum.

The agenda captures the full sweep of the industry. Across four sessions, the day moves from advocacy and policy, through the state of the EMS market, into the AI infrastructure boom, and finally to the future of European PCB. It is, in effect, the whole value chain and the whole conversation, in a single room, in a single day. Each session will be moderated by Philip Stoten of Scoop.

The day opens with advocacy. Following the Association's Alison James, a panel with Peter Nilsson of Kitron, Stéphane Klajzyngier of All Circuits, Eric de Ponthaud of CSI-Cimulec and Raquel Rodriguez of Insyte tackles the question that underpins everything else: what does a resilient European electronics ecosystem actually require, in real strategies, real investment and real policy? This is where political ambition meets shop-floor reality.

The focus then turns to the EMS market. After a scene-setter from Alex Fey of Roland Berger, a panel with Alexander Hageman of Cicor, Bo Lybaek of GPV International, Nicolas Denis of Asteelflash and Bruno Picquart of Agon Electronics Group offers an honest, clear-eyed read on where European EMS stands: softening demand in places, genuine reshoring tailwinds in others, relentless pricing pressure, and a map being redrawn by consolidation in real time.

After lunch, the agenda looks to the future. AI infrastructure is reshaping electronics faster than almost anything before it, and the servers, power systems and boards behind the boom have to be built somewhere. Following Léo Saint Martin of Décision Etudes & Conseils, the AI panel asks where Europe fits and who captures the value. It may be the most future-facing conversation of the day.

The afternoon brings a moment that will stay with everyone in the room: the story of the burn-down and rebuilding of CSI-Cimulec in Toulouse, introduced by Eric de Ponthaud. It is a powerful reminder that resilience is not a slogan, but what an industry does when it refuses to give up.

The sessions close with PCB, and a provocative question: is the European PCB industry genuinely bouncing back, or is what looks like recovery really consolidation in disguise? Following Michiel Op den Camp of NCAB, a panel featuring leaders from TTM, Ilfa, Elvia Group, Varioprint, Somacis, ACB Group and Eurocircuits addresses it directly, with several live consolidation stories sitting right there on the stage.

To bring it all together, Sylvain Maillard, Member of the French Parliament and CEO of Alantys, will speak on how industry should address policymakers, before a closing wrap-up. The closing session is also joined by senior figures from FDeF, Lacroix Electronics and the Global Electronics Association.

The calibre of the participants, the honesty of the conversations and the sense that European electronics is at a turning point make this a day of real questions, real leaders and real momentum, not comfortable generalities.

For everyone who cares about the future of European electronics, Paris on 17 September is the place to be.

More information on Electronics Day EMS Europe. 

Philip Stoten is a journalist, speaker and host specialising in the global electronics manufacturing services industry. He hosts the EMS@C-Level, MADE IN EUROPE and EMS India podcasts.

Key Summary

• AI investment is accelerating, with major spending flowing into servers, semiconductors, networking and infrastructure.
• Inference cost and efficiency are creating new demands across memory, advanced packaging, power and cooling.
• PCB manufacturers are adopting AI, but few have scaled it across factory operations.
• AI’s long-term impact will depend on electronics infrastructure, data quality, operating discipline and human judgment. 

by Sydney Xiao, president, East Asia, Global Electronics Association

I’ve been reading a few pieces on AI recently, and three of them stayed with me for different reasons.

The first is about where the money is going.

Gartner — Worldwide AI Spending Forecast

Gartner expects worldwide AI spending to grow 47% in 2026, reaching about $2.6 trillion. A significant share of that is going into the infrastructure behind AI — servers, semiconductors, networking and the systems needed to run AI at scale.

What I find interesting is the speed at which investment is moving into real capacity. AI is becoming a major infrastructure build-out as well as a technology cycle.

The second is about where AI itself is going.

McKinsey — Frontiers of compute: The technologies to reduce AI inference costs

McKinsey’s “Frontiers of compute: The technologies to reduce AI inference costs” makes a point that stayed with me: the next breakthrough in AI may come from a cheaper token.

As AI becomes more widely used, inference cost and efficiency matter more. That creates new demands — and opportunities — across memory, networking, advanced packaging, power and cooling.

From an electronics perspective, this is where AI becomes very tangible. The economics of AI increasingly depend on the hardware and systems underneath it.

The third read is closer to home: Global Electronics Association’s “AI in PCB Manufacturing: From Pilots to Scale.”

One number stood out to me: 68% of PCB manufacturers are already using AI, while only 8% have reached real scale.

That gap feels very familiar. Starting a pilot can happen quickly. Scaling it across a factory requires good data, clear processes, the right skills and strong operating discipline.

For companies, the key question is whether AI is genuinely improving quality, productivity and decision-making.

For individuals, AI can help us move faster. Experience, curiosity and judgment still matter, and the real value comes from knowing when and how to use the technology well.

For me, these three reads point in the same direction: AI is attracting serious investment, creating new demands across the electronics value chain, and moving from experimentation into real operating capability.

Key Summary

• Electronics Day EMS Europe opens in Paris with a focus on building a resilient European electronics supply chain.
• Global Electronics Association’s Alison James will frame the discussion with insights on advocacy, policy and industrial strategy.
• Industry leaders from Kitron, All Circuits, CSI-Cimulec and Insyte will discuss investment, sovereignty, the Chips Act and EMS competitiveness.
• The session will connect real-world manufacturing experience with the policy choices shaping Europe’s electronics ecosystem.

By Philip Stoten, journalist, speaker and host specialising in the global electronics manufacturing services industry

Europe's electronics industry stands at a genuine inflection point. After years of discussion around supply chain fragility, sovereignty and strategic autonomy, the conversation is shifting from diagnosis to action. That shift sits at the heart of the opening session at Electronics Day EMS Europe, taking place in Paris on 17 September.

This session tackles the question underpinning the rest of the agenda: what does a resilient European electronics ecosystem actually require, in the concrete language of investment, policy and industrial strategy? Alison James of the Global Electronics Association opens with a presentation on advocacy for a resilient European electronics supply chain, setting the frame for the discussion that follows.

The panel brings together leaders who face these challenges every day. Peter Nilsson of Kitron, Stéphane Klajzyngier of All Circuits and Eric de Ponthaud of CSI-Cimulec offer the perspective of manufacturers operating at the sharp end of European industrial policy, with Raquel Rodriguez of Insyte adding further depth. These are leaders who understand the gap between political ambition and shop-floor reality, and what it takes to build, invest and compete on European soil. The session will be moderated by Philip Stoten of Scoop.

The discussion will explore the strategies that genuinely strengthen the ecosystem, the investments that need to flow and where, and the policies that either enable European electronics or hold it back. Expect candid views on the Chips Act, on sovereignty as more than a slogan, and on what mid-sized EMS players need from policymakers.

Eric de Ponthaud's presence carries particular weight. Later in the day, delegates will see the story of the burn-down and rebuilding of CSI-Cimulec in Toulouse, a reminder that resilience is not a theoretical concept but what happens when an industry refuses to give up. That thread of determination runs through the whole event, and it begins here.

Advocacy works only when it is grounded in the real experience of the businesses it represents. This session brings that experience directly into the room and connects it to the people shaping policy across Europe.

The theme of the day is Europe Electronics Gaining Momentum, and momentum needs direction. This opening panel is about setting it.

More information on Electronics Day EMS Europe. 

Philip Stoten is a journalist, speaker and host specialising in the global electronics manufacturing services industry. He hosts the EMS@C-Level, MADE IN EUROPE and EMS India podcasts.

Key Summary

• ADEPT marks its first year with progress in advanced electronic packaging collaboration and IEEE HIR roadmap contributions.
• Global workshops helped turn technical discussions into regional strategies, partnerships and industry priorities.
• New MOUs are supporting collaboration on ecosystem engagement, guidance, standards and best practices.
• Year two will focus on HIR expansion, automotive and EV packaging guidance, and standards development.

Nearly 15 months ago, we launched the Advanced Electronic Packaging Technology Council with a simple premise: the packaging challenges facing our industry are moving too fast—and spanning too many disciplines—for any single company, region, or segment to solve alone. What we’ve seen since then is proof that focused, industry-led collaboration can turn urgency into alignment, and alignment into action.

As we celebrate ADEPT’s first anniversary, here are the some of the achievements that defined our inaugural year and set the trajectory for what comes next. A cornerstone of ADEPT’s first year has been strengthening the IEEE Heterogeneous Integration Roadmap (HIR) with practical, industry-grounded input.

Advancing the IEEE Heterogeneous Integration Roadmap (HIR): Interconnect + Reliability + Automotive chapters 

Through an ADEPT led team, working hand-in-hand with industry members, ADEPT delivered two contributions by adding new sections to:

• HIR Chapter 22, Interconnects for 2D and 3D Architectures
• HIR Chapter 24, Reliability of Heterogeneous Integration (HI) Systems 

This work was recognized as a meaningful step in aligning component innovation with system performance and long-term reliability. In 2026, ADEPT is continuing to expand the section on PCB technologies roadmap in Chapter 22.

This year, the HIR team would like ADEPT to expand on Chapter 5 on Automotive, particularly around EV-related inverter packaging requirements, and initiated that effort—helping ensure the roadmap reflects the rapidly changing demands of electrification, higher power density, and reliability expectations in automotive platforms

A Year of Global Workshops: Converting Dialogue into Direction

ADEPT didn’t limit impact to documents. With ADEPT’s support, we built momentum through workshops across regions to convene experts, pressure-test assumptions, and translate shared problems into shared actions.

Key session and workshops

• North America, special session at ECTC (May 2025) — The spark that helped initiate broader engagement in HIR roadmap and set the workshop model in motion
• Europe, dedicated Association hosted workshop (July 2025) — Expanded collaboration and created a pathway toward formal collaboration platform with European Institutes and companies
• Taiwan, ADEPT special session at IMPACT (October 2025) — One of the most visible inflection points of the year with a full house session of nearly 200 attendees which triggered development of in-country strategy
• Malaysia, dedicated Association hosted workshop (November 2025) — Strengthened regional partnership and accelerated an in-country ecosystem vision

These workshops and events demonstrated that when the community is convened around the right technical priorities, the ecosystem responds—with people, investment, and organization.

Collaboration Formalized: MOUs that Enable Guidelines and Standards

The workshops didn’t end at “good discussion.” They produced follow-through structures—exactly aligned to ADEPT’s intent to enable industry guidance and explore pathways for guidelines/standards. As a direct result of the workshop in Malaysia, the Association signed an MOU with MIMOS, Malaysia’s national Applied Research and Development Centre to advance AEP through collaborative work on ecosystem engagement, strategic guidance, and standards and best practices. The Association is in negotiation with other partners globally, sparked by these workshops. These MOUs create continuity and demonstrate the commitment toward industry collaboration, the foundation on which ADEPT has grown.

Recognition and Contribution Across the Industry Community

ADEPT’s influence has also been reinforced through active participation across related industry venues and bodies:

• Council members contributed to the AEPD, broadening alignment and cross-pollinating best practices.
• Devan Iyer, the mind behind the creation of ADEPT, delivered an invited talk at the IEEE Electronic Packaging Society’s 2026 HIR Symposium, where the council’s work was highly appreciated.
• ADEPT engaged the broader community through participation on special session panels on Aerospace & Defense Electronics and EV and Autonomous Vehicle Electronics at APEX EXPO 2026.
• Dr. Ravi Mahajan, Intel Fellow and Director of Intel’s Technology and Pathfinding group and ADEPT Council member, delivered a keynote at the APEX EXPO 2026 technical conference on using heterogeneous integration as a strategy and on how advanced packaging technology serves as the technical apex for implementing that strategy.

Guidelines in Progress: The Year-One Bridge into Year Two

If year one was about momentum, year two is about conversion. Guideline/standard development is now in progress, directly inspired by the momentum of these roadmap and workshop activities. This is where ADEPT can deliver compounding value: not just identifying challenges but helping the industry converge on practical guidance that accelerates learning curves and reduces avoidable reinvention.

Looking Ahead 

As ADEPT enters its second year, we’re building on a strong foundation:

• Continuing the extension to IEEE HIR Chapter 22 with deeper coverage of PCB technology roadmap  
• Advancing IEEE/HIR Chapter 5 with greater automotive/EV packaging roadmap depth
• Driving guidelines / standard forward so the industry can move faster—with less reinvention and more alignment
• Converting MOUs and regional momentum into sustained working groups 

Thank You to the Community

To every ADEPT member and collaborator, thank you for showing what coordinated, cross-supply-chain technical leadership can deliver in just one year. We started with a council. In one year, we’ve built a platform, one that’s already shaping roadmaps, enabling guidelines, and expanding globally.

Happy 1st anniversary, ADEPT.

ADEPT was created as a collaborative platform that unites industry leaders with the Global Electronics Association to advance packaging across high-impact sectors including AI/Data Centers, Automotive, Industrial, Aerospace and Defense—driving roadmap contributions, standards/guidelines development, and expert engagement across the ecosystem. With members drawn from top technical leadership roles across the supply chain, ADEPT is intentionally designed to connect disciplines that must now be engineered as one.

Advanced Electronic Packaging Technology Council (ADEPT) | electronics.org

Key Summary

• AI-driven memory demand is tightening supply and raising costs. Data center growth is pulling capacity toward higher-margin memory products, creating pressure for electronics manufacturers.
• Critical materials constraints are becoming a lasting supply-chain risk. Rare earths and other key inputs remain vulnerable to export controls, geopolitical disruption and limited processing capacity.
• The skilled-labor gap is limiting industry growth. Electronics manufacturers need more trained engineers, technicians and production workers to meet demand and strengthen resilience.

by Joe Schneider, vice president, U.S./Canada, Global Electronics Association 

I have been listening to our members about what is causing the most pressure on their business today in electronics.  In summary, the three most important pressures facing the electronics industry today.  

• AI-driven memory chip shortage
• Critical materials constraints
• The skilled labor gap

What follows is my summary of the most recognized published sources on each of these critical topics, all are must reads.  Finally, I offer how your Global Electronics Association can be a resource to the industry in these areas. 

1. Memory Chip Shortage

Deloitte — 2026 Global Semiconductor Industry Outlook

Publisher: Deloitte Center for Technology, Media & Telecommunications
Authors: Jeroen Kusters (US Semiconductor Leader), Deb Bhattacharjee, Duncan Stewart, Jordan Bish, Karthik Ramachandran
Why this is a good read: It's Deloitte's flagship annual semiconductor outlook — one of the most widely circulated and cited reports in the industry each year — and this edition is the most quantitatively specific account of the 2026 memory crunch available, translating the shortage into concrete prices, volumes, and timelines rather than general commentary.

Plain-language explainer: What's actually causing this

The short version: AI companies need enormous amounts of memory to run their chatbots and data centers, and chipmakers are giving AI that memory first — leaving less for phones, laptops, and everything else. 

Why it can't be fixed quickly:

• Building a new fab or converting an old one takes 3-5 years and tens of billions of dollars.
• Suppliers are prioritizing AI customers on purpose, not by accident — it's a deliberate business decision to chase higher-margin AI orders.
• Unlike the pandemic-era chip shortage (a supply-chain disruption), this is a deliberate reallocation of capacity toward the more profitable AI market. Most forecasters expect it to last into 2027 or beyond.

2. Critical Materials Shortage

International Energy Agency (IEA) — Global Critical Minerals Outlook 2026

Publisher: IEA, Paris
Why this is a good read: This is the IEA's annual flagship reference report on critical minerals — the most-cited, most-downloaded global benchmark on this topic, picked up by Reuters, Xinhua, and virtually every major trade publication covering electronics supply chains this summer.  Rare earths are a group of 17 metals (things like dysprosium, terbium, yttrium, neodymium) used in tiny quantities inside huge numbers of products — magnets in EV motors and wind turbines, batteries, missile guidance systems, smartphones, semiconductors. They're not actually "rare" in the ground — they're just extremely difficult and dirty to refine into usable form. Over decades, China built up a near-monopoly on that refining step: it does about 61% of global mining but roughly 85-91% of global refining/processing. So even mines outside China often must ship raw material to China to get it turned into something usable.

Where it stands right now

Notably,  this report describes the tariff situation, which is currently paused — suspended until November 2026 as part of a diplomatic truce following talks between Chinese and U.S. leaders. So the risk the IEA flagged is real and structural, but it's currently being held in check by a temporary political pause rather than being actively enforced at full strength — which is exactly why it's such a live issue to watch, since that pause expires in November 2026.

3. Skilled Labor / Workforce Shortage

McKinsey & Company (with SEMI Foundation and NNME) — Closing the Talent Gap in the Semiconductor Industry (2026 National Landscape Analysis)

Publisher/collaborators: McKinsey & Company, in collaboration with the SEMI Foundation and the National Network for Microelectronics Education (NNME)

Why this is a good read: This is the primary underlying study behind the workforce-shortage headline that swept business media this summer (covered by the LA Times and outlets across Asia), and it is the most granular, most-cited source for the "157,000 worker gap by 2030" figure widely referenced across the industry — making it the highest-traffic download on this topic.

Key findings:

• The projected skilled-labor gap ranges from ~127,000 to 157,000 full-time employees by 2030, including ~104,000 engineers and ~73,000 technicians needed against a far smaller pipeline.
• 74% of unfilled roles by 2030 will be in manufacturing; 60% will be in engineering.
• Only about 3% of U.S. engineering students go on to work in the chip industry — most choose more lucrative software/AI-related fields.
• The gap is most acute in Arizona, Texas, New York, Ohio, California, Oregon, Idaho, and Utah, the states hosting major new fabs (TSMC's ~$265B Arizona buildout, Micron's $100B New York memory investment, Samsung's Texas facility, Intel's $28B Ohio project).
• CHIPS Act-funded NSF workforce programs ($200M through 2027, run through NNME) have expanded technician pipelines but have "hardly made a dent" in the engineer shortfall.
• Recommendation: sustained government funding, expanded semiconductor curricula, and earlier student exposure to chip-industry careers.

Bottom Line

All three reports converge on the same message: these are structural, multi-year constraints, not short-term cyclical blips. Memory tightness may persist up to a decade (Deloitte); critical-material export controls have become a permanent economic-security issue rather than a temporary shock (IEA); and the labor gap will not close before 2030 without coordinated industry and government action (McKinsey/SEMI/NNME).

How the Global Electronics Association Can Help

Each of these three pressures maps directly to something the Global Electronics Association already does for members — this isn't a hypothetical value proposition; it's an extension of existing programs.

On the memory shortage: Members don't need to track DRAM/NAND pricing and allocation news alone. The Global Electronics Association has brought real-time market intelligence in-house, including the in4ma European EMS/PCB statistical program and the New Venture Research global EMS intelligence program — giving members an ongoing, association-backed lens on supply and pricing shifts rather than a one-time report. As memory allocation continues to favor AI infrastructure over consumer and industrial electronics, the Global Electronics Association can serve as the trusted, member-facing source that translates volatile market signals into forecasting members can act on for procurement and production planning.

On critical materials and rare-earth export controls: Through the Global Trade & Policy Advocacy mandate — the Global Electronics Association already works to secure access to global supply chains, fair trade, and strong partnerships between government and industry. The Global Electronics Association is positioned to convene members around sourcing alternatives, monitor the status of China's export-control suspension (set to expire November 2026), and represent industry interests directly to policymakers as the rare-earth situation evolves — turning a member's individual supply-chain risk into a collective advocacy effort with real leverage.

On the skilled-labor gap: This is the Global Electronics Association’s strongest and most immediate lever. Electronics U — the Association's workforce hub — already delivers apprenticeships, IPC standards-based certifications, role-based training, and (as of January 2026) third-party software certifications through its new Altium Designer partnership. These programs are a direct, ready-made answer to the ~127,000-157,000 worker gap the McKinsey/SEMI/NNME report projects by 2030 — member companies can start closing their own piece of that gap today rather than waiting for the broader pipeline to catch up.

Why members should believe this works: The Global Electronics Association members already report measurable returns from these programs — 72% report higher quality, 53% improved competitiveness, 43% reduced rework, and 39% cut unnecessary scrap from using Association standards and training. That track record, not just future promises, is the strongest case for engagement.

A live next step: IPC Builds — a week of standards-development committee meetings shaping the next generation of electronics manufacturing standards — runs September 19-24, 2026, in Paris. It's a concrete, near-term venue where members can engage directly in the standards and sourcing questions this report raises, rather than treating these findings as something to simply read and file away.

Key Summary

• The industry has a visibility problem: Many engineering students are unfamiliar with electronics manufacturing careers.
• Hands-on experience drives interest: Projects and labs are the strongest influence.
• Students want clear career paths: They want to understand real roles and day-to-day work.
• Industry strengths match student priorities: Job security, advancement, and earning potential matter most.