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30 Years of DesignCon

The interconnect industry’s biggest gathering celebrated its 30th anniversary this year. Technologist Bob Hult has attended every one of them. Here’s what captured his attention this year. DesignCon 2025 marked the 30th anniversary of this premier technical conference for designers of high-performance chips and printed circuit board systems. An increasing number of attendees are drawnRead More

The Expanding Influence of AI

Generative AI, with its massive training workloads, is having a huge impact on a broad range of technologies and related hardware supply chains. It is nearly impossible to avoid hearing about how artificial intelligence has begun impacting nearly every aspect of our lives. Already, AI is being applied to everything from medical diagnostics to judgingRead More

Open Standards Provide a Path to Innovation

Standards related to electronic devices guarantee interoperability and expands market opportunity for high-volume production that reduces cost and encourages collaboration as well as competition to develop the most effective solution. A universe of standards plays a critical role in the complex world we live in. Imagine having different plugs on your toaster and coffee maker,Read More

AI-Enabled Traffic Control, where are you? 

It seems like the effects of climate change are appearing everywhere. Record levels of moisture, drought, and temperature extremes are being recorded nearly every day. Even skeptics are beginning to accept that our climate is changing in detrimental ways. The only issue remaining is if it is a result of a natural cycle or dueRead More

Heat in Data Centers: The Conundrum of Thermal Management 

Heat has a direct effect on device reliability. As the internal temperature of a chip exceeds its maximum rating, reliability begins to drop off. This results in a shortened life or complete chip failure. Advancing the limits of computing performance has been a constant defining objective of system designers since the first commercial computers wereRead More

Artificial Intelligence: Impact on the Connector Industry

Computer-intensive applications have stimulated the growth of a large-scale purpose-built AI infrastructure. The connector industry will benefit from the AI evolution due to demands for exceptional speed, reduced latency, and energy efficiency. Artificial intelligence exploded into public awareness on November 30, 2022, with the release of ChatGPT and its influence has grown exponentially ever since. ThisRead More

Advanced Packaging and Silicon Photonics Extend Moore’s Law

Approaching the physical limits of traditional silicon chip technology, many predicted we would soon witness the death of Moore’s law. Multi-chip advanced packaging and the rise of silicon photonics offer a path to resuscitation. Not long ago, the consensus among many engineers was that the practical limits of shrinking semiconductor chip features had been reached,Read More

AI Demands a Fresh Look at System Architecture

Engineers are rethinking system architecture to accommodate increasing data rates and performance demands. Emerging technologies like co-packaged optics and OSFP-XD pluggables promise higher bandwidth and improved efficiency. Unless you have spent the last two years living in a remote cave in the Himalayas, the emergence of artificial intelligence has likely caught your attention. There isRead More

Optics Outpace Copper at OFC 2024

Bob Hult shares the phenomenal advances in high-speed optical communications showcased at OFC 2024, including interconnects for 200G per lane optical transmission, liquid cooling, co-packaged optics, PAM6, and other technologies that take us far beyond the reach of copper. The 2024 Optical Networking and Communication Conference and Exposition March 24-April 3 in San Diego nearlyRead More

Digital Lighting Enhances your Theatrical Experience

If you have not attended a theatrical performance recently, you may be surprised by the extent that advanced digital lighting contributes to your experience. Theatrical lighting has evolved from candlelight foot lamps to laser video projection systems. Until late in the 17th century, theatrical performances were held outdoors in the daytime using only natural light.Read More

DesignCon 2024 in Review

Connector suppliers shared new high-speed solutions for IoT, signal processing, electric vehicles, energy storage, machine learning and AI, photonics, 5G, and other technologies at DesignCon 2024. Cloudy skies and drenching rain failed to dampen attendance and enthusiasm at this year’s edition of DesignCon, held in Santa Clara, California, January 28 to February 1. Broad topicsRead More

Chip Technology Struggles to Keep Pace with Moore’s Law

The technical challenges of designing and building devices that pack tremendous computing power into tiny packages are considerable. But new high density semiconductor technologies offer a path to keeping Moore’s Law alive. For nearly 60 years, Moore’s Law has set the pace of advancements in semiconductor chip density, but a combination of physics and economicsRead More

eBook 2024 The Robots are Coming
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