Hardware Podcasts

Book-to-Bills, Tariffs, Economic Uncertainty, and the Reshaping of US-Europe Relations: All on EMS & The Economist with Shawn DuBravac

EMS@C-LEVEL · 16 Mar 2025 · 19m

What this episode covers

Shawn DuBravac, Chief Economist at the Electronics Industries Alliance (IPC), discusses the current state of the EMS and PCB industries, noting strong book-to-bill ratios driven partly by tariff-driven order pulling. He highlights how White House policy shifts and tariff uncertainties regarding Mexico, Canada, and Europe are creating planning nightmares for manufacturers, particularly regarding USMCA exemptions. DuBravac also explains the structural shift in European defense spending, which is creating tailwinds for European EMS companies, while AI's energy demands drive new hardware opportunities.

Most relevant to

established companies

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
Electronics Industries Alliance, IPC
Also
USMCA, APEX, MWC

Related episodes from other shows

Other shows on the same ground, closest first.

  • The Circuit · 45m

    Episode 114: More Semi Tariff Chaos, Lip Bu's Plan, TSMC Earnings

    Ben Bajarin and Jay Goldberg discuss the chaotic impact of new US tariffs on the semiconductor industry, noting 145% duties on Chinese goods and 25% on Taiwan, Japan, and Korea, which are driving up consumer electronics prices while AI infrastructure remains somewhat insulated. They analyze Intel's organizational restructuring under new CEO Lip-Bu Tan, highlighting employee anxiety over potential 'bloody summer' layoffs and the appointment of Sachin Katti as CTO. The hosts also examine TSMC's recent earnings, arguing that while the company is strong, its forecasts are lagging indicators of a potential slowdown in hyperscaler capital expenditures driven by economic uncertainty and ROI concerns.

    Policy, trade & tariffsChips, FPGAs & semiconductors
    8 chapters

  • Thoroughly Considered · 1h 11m

    124: Tariff Talk

    Myke Hurley joins hosts Tom Gerhardt and Dan Provost of Studio Neat to discuss the impact of tariffs on their business, explaining how they mitigate costs by performing final assembly and value-added machining in the US while sourcing raw metal parts from Asia. The group also covers the discontinuation of the Material Dock due to its complex, multi-supplier supply chain and low sales volume, and reviews past predictions, including a debate on whether DSLR camera sales are recovering. Finally, they discuss Studio Neat's new Pocket Notebook, highlighting its use of Colorplan paper and GeoSmyth's Abstract recycled paper, and touch on the strategic shift toward automated, AI-driven marketing.

    Policy, trade & tariffsManufacturing partners & offshoring
    6 chapters

  • The Startup CPG Podcast · 23m

    Bonus: Tariffs 101 with Aaron Alpeter

    Aaron Alpeter, founder of supply chain consultancy Izba, explains the mechanics and strategic objectives of recent US tariffs on goods from Mexico, Canada, and China. He details how these tariffs, justified by national emergency clauses in the USMCA, impose a 25% duty on products from Mexico and Canada and 10% from China, impacting everything from raw ingredients to co-manufacturing costs. Alpeter advises brands to engage in tariff engineering, cost sensitivity analysis, and alternative sourcing to mitigate the financial shock of these rapidly evolving trade policies.

    Policy, trade & tariffs
    6 chapters

  • OnTrack · 22m

    OnTrack PCB Design Podcast 2025 Year in Review

    Host Zach Peterson reviews 2025 industry trends, highlighting how tariffs reshaped global supply chains and spurred UHDI manufacturing expansion in the US. Guests including David Schild, Tyler Richards, and Greg Papandrew discuss the economic realities of reshoring, the technical challenges of high-layer count and rigid-flex PCBs, and the specific innovations in solder paste and substrate materials. The episode also examines the practical application of AI in embedded development and supply chain management, noting both its utility in automating coding tasks and its current limitations in deterministic engineering optimization.

    Sourcing & supply chainAI & machine learning
    12 chapters

  • The Amp Hour · 1h 08m

    World Trade Futurity (WTF)

    Hosts Chris Gammell and Dave Jones discuss the potential impact of the 2016 US election on the electronics industry, focusing on proposed tariffs and supply chain complexities. They review recent industry news, including Qualcomm's acquisition of NXP and Lattice Semiconductor's sale, while also covering technical topics like EMI reduction, MicroPython for prototyping, and the Siligo programmable chip. The episode concludes with reflections on the SuperCon conference and the failed Schiaparelli Mars landing.

    Policy, trade & tariffsEmbedded firmware
    8 chapters

The summary, chapters and topics are generated from the episode’s audio by this directory, not written by EMS@C-LEVEL. The episode itself belongs to its publisher.