The Pentagon’s announcement on Tuesday that CMMC certification is being immediately suspended is the big news of the week. We’ve been covering the CMMC journey since the beginning, and we’ll stick with the story for the duration. If you’ve followed my list of must-reads, you know that I’m always interested in semiconductor news, and this week had a few good ones. I’ll mention them here, and urge you to read the entire stories: Apple adds to the recent Intel fab agreement by adding to its U.S.-based design and manufacturing agreement with Broadcom; Micron is investing $3 billion to the U.S. semiconductor ecosystem; and Intel announces a 5 billion euro investment in European infrastructure.

I love this time of year. Aside from summer, I appreciate the natural pause from the busyness of trade shows, conferences, airport delays, and back-to-back Teams meetings. Colleagues become a bit harder to reach as family vacations are prioritized, and we take focus off work for a little while. But no matter the season, the accelerated pace of technological advancement doesn’t actually slow down. In this issue, we use this pause to look inward and forward.

Why Principal Mineral Bought Isola: The Vision Behind the Acquisition

An Update on the Printed Circuit Board and Substrates Act

Power Delivery, AI Infrastructure, and Materials Innovation: What’s Ahead in the Next Issue of Advanced Electronics Packaging Digest