EIPC 2025 Winter Conference: Business Outlook and New EMS Opportunities

Estimated reading time: 9 minutes

“Navigating and Optimizing Complex Processes: How to Overcome Today’s and Tomorrow’s Challenges in PCB Processing” was the theme of the 2025 EIPC Winter Conference, held Feb. 4–5, in historic Luxembourg City, the capital of Luxembourg, a small country in the heart of western Europe with borders to Belgium, France, and Germany.

EIPC president Alun Morgan welcomed delegates from more than 70 companies in Europe and beyond, and thanked the sponsors of the event. Morgan can always be relied upon for a topical opening presentation. This time, he addressed “Internet of Things: Vulnerabilities and How to Address Them.”

He explained that, broadly, the Internet of Things (IoT) provides connectivity from human to device and device to device, whereas the Industrial Network of Things (IIoT) provides connectivity from industrial machines to other machines. Both are capable of intelligent data analysis and interpretation. The number of IoT connections worldwide currently totals around 20 billion and continues to increase rapidly.

Of the vulnerabilities he listed, one that he described in detail was Mirai “botnet” malware, which identifies vulnerable IoT devices using a table of common factory default usernames and passwords. Infected devices continue to function normally, and form part of a “botnet army” of devices capable of connecting to an internet address. Each device reaches out to a central server that directs the attack.

Morgan identified port scanning as one of the most popular techniques hackers use to discover vulnerabilities and exploit services to break into systems.

Why should we be concerned? He referred to the Israel–Hamas conflict in 2023, where cyber operations focused on disruption and influence, and to the CrowdStrike 2024 Global Threat Report, which unveiled an alarming rise in covert activity. During the pager attacks on Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon in 2024, thousands of pagers and hand-held radios exploded almost simutaneously. The pagers received messages that appeared to be coming from Hezbollah's leadership before detonating. The messages instead appeared to trigger the devices.

Morgan ended his opening presentation by describing a commercially available gadget called a Flipper Zero, a portable multi-functional device that could interact with various types of access control systems, radio protocols, RFID, near-field communication and infrared signals The device was able to read, copy, and emulate RFID and NFC tags and radio remotes. A useful multi-tool for a geek, but a potentially dangerous hacking device in the wrong hands!

Julie Mouzon, head of research and development at Circuit Foil in Luxempourg, extended her welcome on behalf of the company, which was supporting the conference by hosting a guided tour of its factory. She gave a brief introduction to Circuit Foil, unique in that, since 2014, it is the last remaining foil manufacturer in Europe. It services a worldwide market and is recognised for innovation, R&D investment, disruptive technology, national and international collaborations and its talented people.

The keynote presentations were introduced and moderated by EIPC Technical Director Tarja Rapala-Virtanen. The theme was business outlook and new opportunities. As ever, the proceedings began with Custer Consulting Group’s business outlook on the global electronics industry, with emphasis on Europe. This was delivered by Alun Morgan on behalf of Jon Custer. In addition to the expected abundance of statistical and management data, Custer made the following observations regarding current geopolitical concerns:

“The global electronics and semiconductor manufacturing sector, highly integrated for efficiency, faces risks from protectionist policies under the incoming Trump administration. U.S.-China tech decoupling is intensifying, with bipartisan support for cutting off Chinese access to advanced chipmaking. While tariffs on Chinese goods, including semiconductors, are set to rise, non-semiconductor electronics like consumer goods will be hit hardest. Despite these challenges, U.S. fiscal loosening, including the continuation of tax cuts and R&D provisions, will likely boost investment. The CHIPS Act, supporting U.S. semiconductor production, remains a key factor, but its potential repeal poses a risk to future production growth.

“China's retaliation to higher tariffs could disrupt the global electronics supply chain, especially through embargoes on critical minerals like gallium and germanium, vital for chipmaking. While the incremental impact of these measures may be manageable, China's restrictions, including extending embargoes to third countries, could further strain production in the U.S. The increasing internal-focused policies from both the U.S. and China are deepening supply chain divides, creating risks for U.S. allies in Asia. If these economies face tariffs, it would significantly impact global electronics sector output, heightening uncertainty in the industry.

“Trump has criticized Taiwan for "stealing" the U.S. semiconductor industry, which could lead to tariffs on Taiwanese companies like TSMC, even if they are pro-U.S. Taiwan produces 90% of global advanced chips, and higher tariffs would harm both Taiwan and the global market, including the U.S. Protectionist measures might benefit U.S. chip manufacturers like Intel and GlobalFoundries but would disrupt the sector. Companies like Nvidia, AMD, Qualcomm, and Apple may need to relocate manufacturing outside China, increasing costs and hurting profitability due to higher tariffs and production costs in alternative locations. A global trade war could exacerbate these issues.”

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