2018 will be a banner year for the electronic interconnect industry!

The year started of strongly with high hopes, optimism, orders and the promise of new facilities in the U.S. and China. Paced by a number of breakthroughs, ranging from new chips for AI, to packaging materials and processes, to megamergers, sales of semiconductor and printed circuit equipment were strong around the world with the IC segment rising faster than the board/substrate segments. The need for new and modified standards to meet tougher reliability needs has become evident. The demand for skilled and semiskilled labor seems to be surging beyond supply even as the use of robots and cobots rapidly increases.

Check out the January 2018 column of Weiner's World on-line.