NEUILLY-PLAISANCE, FRANCE – Asteelflash's board of directors has appointed Nicolas Denis as its new chief executive officer, effective Dec. 1.

WASHINGTON – Seven microelectronics firms received nearly $10 million in combined funding to commercialize technologies of interest to the US military services as winners of the Defense Business Accelerator (DBX) Microelectronics Challenge. The initiative is funded by the Department of Defense (DoD) and led by the US Partnership for Assured Electronics (USPAE).

In November I was invited to join the “disruptors” of the industry – also known as Mark Goodwin and Gene Weiner – on a panel to discuss the derisking of the supply chain.

Against the backdrop of the biennial Productronica trade show, the largest of its kind for electronics manufacturing in the West, and hosted by my media colleague Trevor Galbraith, we attempted to delve into the issues at hand when it comes to ensuring supply chain resiliency.

As Goodwin, the chief operating officer of Ventec, correctly framed the situation, the vast majority of materials originate in Asia, particularly China, and while parts of the supply chain are being moved back to the West, a full-scale migration won’t happen in our lifetimes. Given that, what needs to happen at the margins to ensure at least a minimal degree of secure chains?

The role of government naturally came up, and it was suggested that legislators are driving reverse migration. I pushed back on that notion, opining instead that commercial businesses lead the way and governments are reacting both to the years-long industry impetus and the post-Covid realization that supply chains are not secure. (For more on that, see our interview with David Schild of the Printed Circuit Board Association of America in this issue.)

WASHINGTON – Global semiconductor industry sales totaled $46.6 billion in October, an increase of 3.9% compared to September's total of $44.9 billion but 0.7% less than the October 2022 total of $46.9 billion, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association.