Through the noise: conversations that stuck with me in 2025

Early in the year, my interview with Terho Koivisto of Confidee really stuck with me. It wasn’t just the “normal” conversation about Europe’s dwindling PCB manufacturing capacity – he highlighted something even more pressing: the risk of losing knowledge.

As the industry slowly fades and fewer people come into PCB manufacturing, the expertise of the “old guard” is disappearing with them. That part of the conversation really hit me. It’s not just about numbers or production capacity; it’s about preserving decades of know-how before it’s gone for good. 

My conversation with Ronny Nietzsche from Rochester Electronics had a ripple effect that lasted far beyond our interview. We talked about obsolescence –  not as a question of if, but when – and it made me wonder why this topic isn’t discussed more routinely. The way he framed it, designing without considering the lifecycle of parts isn’t just risky; it’s almost asking for future bottlenecks and headaches.

The conversation actually spilled over into my own column later in the year about how “the component lifecycle is collapsing under its own progress,” a piece exploring how the industry’s reactionary approach to obsolescence, rather than strategic planning for it, is creating unnecessary risk. 

Mid-year, talking to Claus Aasholm, founder of Semiconductor Business Intelligence, came with a great “one-liner” when he said that: “the semiconductor cycle is broken,” and after hearing him out, it’s hard to argue. The patterns of supply and demand we’ve relied on for decades just don’t hold anymore, and that has big implications for anyone trying to plan long-term in this space It was, in many ways, a sobering reassessment of the global semiconductor market.

Then there was my conversation with Dieter Weiss, who made sense of Europe’s EMS decline. He argued that the 14% market decline in 2024 was not an unexpected collapse, but the inevitable result of years of artificial growth.

In reality, the downturn was a “logical correction.” It wasn’t panic or mismanagement, but a market adjusting after years of inflated growth. He ended our conversation with a strong warning for the future: “If we do that, it's going to be a second bullwhip effect. And we all know the bullwhip at the end has a negative part. And then we would end up having another 2024.”

And finally, Dirk Stans from Eurocircuits reminded me of how much more needs to be done. He challenged Europe to move from awareness to action — not just talk about the risks, but actually do something to regain competitiveness. That conversation stuck with me because it wasn’t just analysis; it was a call to roll up our sleeves. I did what I could in my own way, writing a column, Europe dreams of sovereignty – but its PCB industry is disappearing in plain sight, partly inspired by this conversation.

These were the moments this year that, for me, really cut through the noise. They reminded me why I keep having these conversations, why I keep asking questions, and why, even in a challenging industry, there are always insights worth holding on to.