Hardware Podcasts

On Location at ALL Circuits: President & CEO Bruno Racault on Disruption in European Automotive Manufacturing

EMS@C-LEVEL · 27 May 2026 · 10m

What this episode covers

Bruno Racault, President & CEO of ALL Circuits, explains how the company pivoted early to support the automotive industry's shift from internal combustion engines to electric vehicles (EVs). He details the strategic decision by carmakers to retain engineering and intellectual property in-house, relying on EMS partners like ALL Circuits for PCB assembly and process discipline rather than full ECU design. Racault highlights the competitive advantage of proximity to European OEMs, offering faster iteration and DFX feedback compared to the lower costs but longer lead times of Chinese manufacturing. The conversation also covers the company's agility in adapting to market changes and the mutual learning relationship with Chinese manufacturers, where Europe provides innovation while China excels in execution.

Most relevant to

companies scaling up

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
ALL Circuits, Bosch, Conti, BMW, Renault, PSA, Citroën, DBG

Related episodes from other shows

Other shows on the same ground, closest first.

  • EE Times Current · 32m

    Making Cars and Going ‘Fabless’ | Next-Gen EV & AV

    Colin Barnden, an analyst at Semicast Research, argues that new automotive entrants like Apple, Fisker, and Sony will adopt a 'fabless' model, designing vehicles while relying on contract manufacturers like Magna and Foxconn for production, mirroring the semiconductor industry's shift away from owned fabs. He suggests that the commoditization of EV 'skateboard' architectures lowers the barrier to entry, allowing companies with strong purchasing power, such as Apple, to bypass traditional manufacturing infrastructure and secure critical semiconductor supply. The discussion also covers the technical distinctions between EVs and autonomous vehicles (AVs), highlighting the roles of wide bandgap semiconductors like GaN and SiC, and promotes an upcoming EE Times conference on Next-Gen EV and AV technologies.

    Scaling productionSourcing & supply chain
    6 chapters

  • The Amp Hour · 1h 23m

    CircuitHub, 12 Years Later with Andrew Seddon

    Andrew Seddon, founder and CEO of CircuitHub, explains how the company evolved from a failed EDA library startup into a vertically integrated, high-mix domestic electronics manufacturer. He details their ground-up rethink of assembly processes, inspired by semiconductor fabs, to handle 50,000+ part SKUs efficiently without forcing design standardization. Seddon discusses the operational challenges of attrition, the strategic shift toward on-demand small-batch production, and the impact of tariffs and reshoring trends on US manufacturing capacity.

    Manufacturing partners & offshoringScaling production
    11 chapters

  • EE Times Current · 20m

    Monte Carlo Formula E Race | Trade War: China’s View | AI @ Hot Chips

    Rick Merritt reports on the Hot Chips conference lineup, highlighting a shift toward AI accelerators with talks from Cerebras, Habana, Intel, and Upmem, while noting Huawei's potential absence due to trade tensions. Junko Yoshida interviews David Fritz from Siemens about the design challenges of autonomous vehicle SoCs, contrasting the automotive industry's reactive validation cycles with the smartphone industry's rigorous pre-silicon methodologies. Sally Ward Foxton reports from the Formula E race in Monte Carlo, discussing the new Gen2 car's battery capacity and the critical role of software in powertrain management, while also highlighting team principal Susie Wolff's experiences with gender bias in motorsport. Finally, Echo Zhao provides a perspective from China on the US-China trade war, describing the pragmatic response of electronics suppliers like Huawei and their 'Plan B' vendors.

    Chips, FPGAs & semiconductorsAI & machine learning
    9 chapters

  • The Hardware Entrepreneur · 30m

    #007 - How one company wants to radically cut down the lead-time of electronics manufacturing of all volumes, with Radu Diaconescu of Swie.io, Switzerland

    Radu Diaconescu, co-founder and Business Development Manager at Swie.io, explains how his company uses Industry 4.0 technology to create a distributed manufacturing network that drastically reduces electronics production lead times. He details the challenge of adapting traditional factories for low-volume, high-mix production and the company's asset-light business model that connects customers with global factory partners. Diaconescu also discusses the specific difficulties of raising Series A funding for hardware startups in Europe compared to software ventures.

    Manufacturing partners & offshoringScaling production
    6 chapters

  • The Amp Hour · 1h 09m

    SpaceX, Enclosures & Startups - Urging Unemployment Ullagone

    Hosts Chris Gammell and Dave Jones discuss the hidden costs of outsourcing manufacturing, citing a General Electric article on insourcing and the inefficiencies of distance between design and production. They analyze the Altium leadership crisis, noting founder Nick Martin's ousting and the company's strategic pivot back to core EDA tools. The conversation extends to career advice, covering resume strategies, the value of personal websites, and the realities of startup hiring and funding.

    Manufacturing partners & offshoringEDA & CAD tools
    10 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.