Through the static – conversations stuck in 2025

Looking back on 2025, a few conversations truly stood out—ones that made me pause and reflect on where Europe's electronics and manufacturing industry is heading. Early in the year, my talk with Terho Koivisto from Confidee particularly resonated. It wasn't just about Europe's shrinking PCB manufacturing capacity; he highlighted something even more urgent: the risk of knowledge being lost. As the industry slowly shrinks and fewer people work in PCB manufacturing, the experience of the "old guard" disappears too. It's not just about numbers or production capacity; it's about preserving decades of knowledge before it's gone forever. My conversation with Ronny Nietzsche from Rochester Electronics echoed long after the interview. "We talked about component obsolescence—the question isn't if it happens, but when—and it made me wonder why this topic isn't discussed more regularly. His way of describing it made it clear that designing without considering component lifecycles isn't just risky, it's almost like inviting future problems." That talk actually led me to write the column "The component lifecycle is collapsing under its own momentum," which pointed out how the industry's habitual denial and reactive strategies worsen the problem instead of planning proactively for end-of-life. Mid-year, I spoke with Claus Aasholm, founder of Semiconductor Business Intelligence, who delivered a spot-on formulation: "The semiconductor cycle is broken." After hearing his arguments, it's hard to disagree. The supply and demand patterns we've relied on for decades simply no longer hold, with major consequences for anyone trying to plan long-term in the field. In many ways, the conversation became a realistic and sobering reassessment of the global semiconductor market. Then there was the conversation with Dieter Weiss, who provided clarity on Europe's EMS decline. He argued that the 14% market contraction in 2024 was not an unexpected collapse, but an inevitable result of years of artificial growth. In practice, the decline was a "logical correction," not a result of panic or mismanagement, but a market adjusting after years of excessive growth. He ended with a strong warning for the future: "If we do the same thing again, there will be a second bullwhip effect. And we all know the bullwhip effect ultimately has a negative part. Then we risk another 2024." Finally, Dirk Stans from Eurocircuits reminded me how much more needs to be done. He challenged Europe to move from awareness to action—to not just talk about the risks, but actually do something to regain competitiveness. That conversation stayed with me, not just as analysis, but as a call to roll up our sleeves. I tried to do that in my own way through my column "Europe dreams of sovereignty—but the PCB industry is disappearing before our eyes," partly inspired by that talk. These were the moments that, for me, truly cut through the noise in 2025. They reminded me why I continue to have these conversations, why I keep asking questions, and why, even in a challenging industry, there are always insights worth holding onto