Quilter AI Tool Lays Out Complete Computer Design in Less than Week, Company Says

LOS ANGELES – Quilter in December announced the creation of a printed circuit board design for a computer using artificial intelligence tools in under a week.

The startup company, founded in 2019 by former SpaceX engineer Sergiy Nesterenko, said a single engineer completed the layout taking a schematic to manufacturing-ready files in less than a week, a process that traditionally takes an entire engineering team months and requires multiple rounds of redesign. This initiative, called Project Speedrun, represents a major milestone for the hardware industry, demonstrating an ability to compress quarter-long hardware R&D cycles into rapid weekly experiments.

Project Speedrun based its computer design around the widely used NXP i.MX 8M Mini processor, the same embedded computing hardware commonly used in automotive infotainment, safety and machine-vision systems. The system was fully functional upon first boot, capable of handling the demands of video calls, video games and more – a rare outcome in printed circuit board design, where projects typically build in as many as 3-5 respins when scoping.

Professional PCB designers quoted 428 hours of manual labor to create the same two-board system that Project Speedrun would produce; 238 hours for the baseboard and 190 hours for the system-on-module (SOM). With Quilter, 98% of the placement, routing and physics validation was completed autonomously in 27 hours. A single engineer required 12 hours to clean up the baseboard and 26.5 hours to clean up the SOM, which represents an 11x acceleration overall and a peak of 20x improvement on the baseboard.

Quilter works by using physics-driven reinforcement learning to explore manufacturable board layouts. Instead of placing hundreds of components and routing thousands of traces manually, engineers simply submit a schematic and let the AI generate multiple physics-tested designs to choose from.

“We see this as the compiler moment for hardware,” said Nesterenko. “What used to take a team months now happens in days, which means you reach market months, if not a year, ahead of competitors. That’s how hardware will be built from now on.”

Tony Fadell, an investor in Quilter, founder of Nest and a codeveloper of the iPod and iPhone, commented, “Everyone in hardware knows that the best PCBs are still designed by humans, track by track, over weeks of painstaking work. Quilter blows that bottleneck apart. It’s a complete paradigm shift. When you iterate faster, you can out-innovate your competitors.”

Quilter integrates with Altium, Cadence and Siemens Xpedition, and runs natively on private cloud and GovCloud.

Guangzhou Guanghe Technology Files for Hong Kong IPO

HONG KONG, CHINA – Guangzhou Guanghe Technology has submitted its prospectus to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, seeking a main-board listing with CITIC Securities and HSBC acting as joint sponsors.

According to its prospectus and third-party data from Frost & Sullivan, Guanghe ranked third globally and first among China-headquartered manufacturers by cumulative revenue from computing server PCBs between 2022 and 2024. Server-related products now account for more than 70% of total revenue, reflecting strong demand tied to AI workloads, data center expansion and high-performance computing.

The company operates major manufacturing bases in Guangdong and Hubei provinces and supplies both OEM customers and electronics manufacturing services providers through a direct sales model.

US-China Economic & Security Review Commission Highlights Need for American-Made PCBs

WASHINGTON – The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission has released its 2025 Report to Congress, warning that decades of offshoring PCB manufacturing have sharply eroded domestic capacity. According to the report, US PCB production in output value has fallen from roughly 30% of global supply in 2000 to just 4% today.

The Commission emphasized that semiconductors used in national defense, critical infrastructure and commercial systems all rely on PCBs as their foundational platform. It flagged US dependence on foreign suppliers, particularly China, which now accounts for approximately 60% of global PCB production, as a strategic vulnerability.

While current US defense needs are still supported by domestic manufacturers, the report noted that defense demand alone is insufficient to sustain a modern PCB industrial base. As a result, the United States lacks the capacity to scale production rapidly in response to national or economic security needs.

“We agree with the Commission’s finding that Congress should create or expand industrial policy tools, including grants, loans, loan guarantees, advanced manufacturing tax credits and a dedicated industrial finance entity, to rebuild domestic capacity, modernize equipment, and support the US workforce,” said David Schild, executive director of the Printed Circuit Board Association of America.

Schild added that the association is backing H.R. 3597, the Protecting Circuit Boards and Substrates (PCBS) Act, which aligns closely with the Commission’s recommendations. “We encourage members of Congress to co-sponsor this important legislation, which would help revitalize the US PCB industry and reduce risks to national and economic security,” he said.

Looming Substrate and Materials Shortages for Advanced Packaging, TechSearch Warns

AUSTIN, TX – Rapid growth in AI servers and data center hardware will push substrate demand beyond available capacity by 2028, forcing manufacturers to expand production within the next three years, according to a recent report from TechSearch International.

Advanced Packaging Update highlights rising pressure on substrate materials – especially glass fiber used in core constructions – and evaluates potential alternatives as supply tightens.

The analysis also compares projected high-bandwidth memory (HBM) demand against planned capacity, noting widening gaps as AI accelerators scale. A dedicated section examines hybrid bonding adoption, equipment requirements, and competing fine-pitch interconnect approaches now entering development.

Foxconn to Invest $170M to Build Electronics Manufacturing Plant in Louisville

LOUSIVILLE, KY – Foxconn in December confirmed plans to establish a US production hub in Louisville, announcing a $170 million investment that will bring 180 new jobs to the region. The project is being supported by Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority incentives for the company.

The company expects production to begin in the third quarter of next year.

Executives from Foxconn Technology USA joined Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg to unveil the plan, noting that the facility will produce a well-known consumer product for a well-known brand, though further details were not disclosed. During the announcement, a global operations map labeled the Louisville site as “Kentucky Assembly – TV/Display,” hinting at potential product categories.

Local officials said the project signals renewed momentum for US-based electronics manufacturing.

Foxconn has a long history of announcing major investment programs in the US, only to back away, however. Over the past decade, new plants in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and other states have been announced, only to fail to materialize as planned – or at all.

Incap Buys Lacon in $54M Deal, Expands Defense and Design Services

HELSINKI – Incap has signed an agreement to acquire 100% of Germany’s Lacon Group in a transaction valued at $54.2 million, marking an expansion of the Finnish EMS provider’s presence in Europe and growing its position in fast-growing defense and industrial markets.

Lacon Group operates EMS and ODM facilities in Germany and Romania totaling roughly 21,300m². Its offering includes PCB assembly, cable harnessing, box build, system integration and design and testing services, which are capabilities that expand Incap’s scope beyond manufacturing and into full product-development support. For the first 10 months of 2025, Lacon reported unaudited revenue of $61.8 million.

The purchase price will be paid in cash and funded through Incap’s own reserves and a bank loan of about $32.5 million. An additional earn-out of up to $5.4 million may be paid in 2027 based on Lacon’s 2026 financial performance. Closing is expected in the first quarter of 2026 pending foreign-investment approvals in Germany and Romania.

Incap expects the acquisition to increase revenue in 2026 and have a slightly positive effect on operating profit after accounting for integration and purchase-price allocation costs. The deal also gives Incap a larger foothold in the DACH region and adds more than 600 employees, bringing the combined organization to over 3,000 employees across Europe, Asia and North America.

Micro-Precision Technologies Acquires Stellar Manufacturing

SALEM, NH – Micro-Precision Technologies has acquired Stellar Manufacturing, adding PCB assembly capabilities to its US microelectronics platform. The deal, which closed in early October, builds on MPT’s partnership with Great River Capital Partners and supports its expansion across defense, aerospace, medical and commercial markets.

Stellar’s Salem, NH, operation will continue serving customers. MPT said the acquisition combines Stellar’s PCBA expertise with its own hybrid, multichip module and thick-film technologies.