Six conversations that shaped electronics in 2025
Throughout 2025, Evertiq held a series of conversations with industry leaders and analysts who helped illuminate how the electronics market is evolving. Global supply chains are transitioning into a new phase, influenced by AI, reshoring, labour scarcity, national security, sustainability and a redefinition of the semiconductor cycle.
The following selection reflects, in an editorial-content capacity, the six conversations that offered the clearest insight into how the electronics industry evolved in 2025. It is intended as a perspective on structural shifts, rather than a comprehensive list of every interview conducted.
The year was neither a continuation of the pandemic-driven panic nor a simple oversupply correction. Instead, 2025 revealed a complex landscape in which new technological models, geopolitical constraints and industrial strategy are becoming decisive. The conversations below were among the most insightful windows into that transformation.
A fragile transition in supply and distribution
One of the most comprehensive market perspectives came from DigiKey CEO Dave Doherty, who described an industry no longer governed by short-term shocks but by structural reordering. AI is reshaping product development and production workflows, reshoring has become part of industrial policy rather than an abstract preference, and supply stability has become the cornerstone of planning. For both OEMs and component distributors, resilience is now strategic infrastructure. The global marketplace has stabilised, but not because demand patterns have returned to normal. Instead, companies are learning to manage volatility, fragmentation and localisation as permanent conditions.
Semiconductors and the broken cycle
A particularly strong analytical point came from Claus Aasholm, founder of Semiconductor Business Intelligence, during Evertiq Expo Malmö. The semiconductor industry’s historical four-year cycle, once treated as almost natural law, appears to have fractured. Rather than synchronised highs and lows, the market has split into asynchronous segments where profit and demand grow selectively and unevenly. Mature nodes, automotive semiconductors, high-bandwidth memory and strategic defence applications are not following the same pattern as consumer electronics or PCs. The implication is clear: forecasting must evolve. Companies can no longer assume that one cycle governs all. Semiconductor planning is becoming granular and profit pools are being redistributed.
Industry execution and scaling
The manufacturing landscape was addressed through the perspective of Otto Pukk, CEO of Incap, during Evertiq Expo in Kraków. Electronics manufacturing continues to expand, with new capacity, long-term programmes and regionally tailored production. The message is pragmatic: electronics remains a growth industry with long-running demand, but scaling will require industrial discipline, capital access and talent development. The role of EMS companies is expanding into strategic partnerships, lifecycle support and the flexible scaling of mission-critical production.
Vertical manufacturing in Europe
A defining operational development came from TLT Manufacturing, discussed in an exclusive conversation with Vytautas Ilgūnas, Chief Commercial Officer of TLT PCB. The company inaugurated a EUR 320 million expansion in Vilnius, including four new factories and a vertically integrated production park. Rather than outsourcing critical steps, TLT is building a complete manufacturing ecosystem inside Europe – component processing, subsystem integration and end-product assembly – all within a controlled industrial environment.
The strategic message is clear: reshoring is no longer incremental but structural. Vertical integration strengthens cost competitiveness, reduces supply risk, accelerates industrialisation and creates a durable base for European OEMs. As Ilgūnas explains, “We are not just building factories – it’s Europe’s strength for the future,” positioning manufacturing capacity as a long-term strategic asset rather than a short-term response to volatility.
Defence-driven industrial expansion
A complementary operational perspective came from Gocar Electronic, represented by Expansion Director Juan Docio Gomez. The company sees Central Europe as a stable and attractive base for further expansion in semiconductors and components. The discussion also highlighted the growing ambitions of Spain’s defence sector and its increasing reliance on advanced electronics in procurement and technology development. Defence is no longer a marginal niche in Spain, but a mainstream industrial force shaping sourcing strategies, specialised skills and manufacturing capabilities.
Sustainability and circular economy
Rounding out the year’s insights we can point a discussion with MPM Environment Intelligence, which showed how circularity is becoming a strategic priority, not a peripheral initiative. PCB and EMS production waste contains valuable metals and materials, yet its environmental and economic footprint is still underestimated. Industrial recycling, when executed correctly, can reduce ecological harm, recover value and ease the pressure on raw material sourcing. Given Europe’s dependence on imported resources and the growing sensitivity around critical materials, circularity in electronics manufacturing is gaining strategic weight.
Key takeaways
These six conversations paint a detailed picture of electronics in 2025. AI is no longer a trend but an organising principle for engineering, logistics and planning. Reshoring is not a slogan but a strategic lever that reflects risk tolerance, security and proximity. The semiconductor industry has entered a new structural phase in which a unified cycle has given way to fragmented profit pools and differentiated demand. Manufacturing continues to scale, with Europe emerging as a stable industrial base for electronics and defence production. Distribution is reinventing itself by elevating resilience, culture and partnership as operational assets. And sustainability is no longer optional: circularity, recycling and waste recovery are becoming strategic factors in material security and industrial planning.
What defines 2025 is not a single technological shift, but an intersection of industrial forces that will shape the next decade of electronics: AI, sourcing, localisation, defence, manufacturing discipline, semiconductor strategy and circular economy. Each conversation held by Evertiq this year is a reminder that the electronics industry is not just adapting to external shocks. It is redesigning itself from within, building the infrastructure, partnerships and capabilities that will determine competitiveness and resilience for years to come.