March 11, 2026

Apple Makes About 25% of iPhones in India After China Pivot Apple Inc increased iPhone production in India by about 53 percent last year to 55 million units, raising the country's share to roughly a quarter of global output as the company shifts manufacturing away from China to mitigate tariffs and diversify its supply chain. Taipei Times

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Consumer Tablet Shipments Grow 19.7% in 2025, While Delays in Manifesto Deals Weigh on Overall Market India's tablet market shipped 4.49M units in 2025, dropping 21.7% YoY as a 55% plunge in commercial demand and a 34.6% slide in slate tablets offset strong consumer buying. Detachable tablets grew 20%, and shipments rebounded 11.3% in 4Q 2025. IDC

High Reliability Lead-Free Solder Paste with Rosin and Anti-Crack Resin As electronics are increasingly used in automotive and other high reliability applications, ensuring durability is critical. This paper explores a 'crack-free' flux paste designed to inhibit cracking in harsh environments while meeting stringent surface insulation resistance and ... Technical Paper

Laptops could soon cost 40% more, and you already know why Rising memory and CPU costs driven by AI demand could push mainstream laptop prices up to 40%, warns TrendForce. As chipmakers prioritize AI data centers, supply chain strain and component price hikes may force PC manufacturers to pass higher costs to consumers. TechSpot

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Elon Musk's xAI wins permit to build power plant in Mississippi despite pollution concerns Mississippi regulators approved xAI's plan to build a 41-turbine natural gas power plant in Southaven to support nearby AI data centers. Civil rights and environmental groups, including NAACP, condemned the decision and plan legal action over pollution and permitting concerns. CNBC

Challenges Reliably Soldering Large Ground Pad on LGAs We are experiencing difficulties reliably soldering large ground pad on land grid array packages using a single large window as a stencil. Should we use all four windows? Board Talk

Technical Papers ■ Scaling SMT Traceability ■ The Drawbacks of Internal Recycling Systems for Solder Dross ■ Engineering ESD-Safe PCB Assembly for High-Reliability IoT and Industrial Electronics ■ The Analysis of Variance: Drawing Conclusions from Data That Are Correct, Unambiguous, and Defensible ■ PCB Rework Evolves, With X-ray a Constant Support ■ How pH Cleaning Agents Affect Production Performance ■ A Universal AI-Powered Segmentation Model for PCBA & Semiconductor ■ RAIG Minimizes Corrosion, Allows Higher Gold on ENEPIG ■ High Reliability Lead-Free Solder Paste with Rosin and Anti-Crack Resin ■ Understanding Solder Dross: Causes and Control Strategies MORE TECHNICAL PAPERS

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Beyond Bandwidth: The Industry is Striving for Custom Memory (Part 1) AI systems are outgrowing standard memory such as HBM and DDR. Chipmakers and hyperscalers are designing custom memory architectures that boost bandwidth, cut latency, and enable near-memory compute while still tapping memory ecosystems. EE Times

AI Data Centers Are Chugging Our Water at an Alarming Rate A new study led by Shaolei Ren at University of California, Riverside warns that AI data centers consume massive amounts of water for cooling. Continuous operations and evaporative cooling systems can require over one million gallons daily, straining local water supplies & communities. Entrepreneur

The Sir Reliability of Fine Pitch QFN Components Under Harsh Condition A variety of dummy QFNs are assembled on PCBs whose surface finish is OSP by reflow in air, they are tested under 5V bias voltage and 85, 85%RH condition. Technical Paper

Sponsor Tech Paper - Keys to Component Lead Tinning Success This paper examines the challenges and best practices of component tinning, with a focus on temperature control, flux selection, and soldering techniques. Circuit Technology Center

Manufacturing Expanded in February Amid Surging Prices U.S. manufacturing expanded for a second month in February, with the Institute for Supply Management reporting a PMI of 52.4. Rising steel and aluminum costs, tariffs & Middle East disruptions threaten supply chains despite solid orders & growing backlogs supporting production. EE Times

How the Iran war and rising energy prices are threatening semiconductor demand Analysts warn a prolonged U.S.–Israel conflict with Iran could disrupt semiconductor supply chains by limiting Middle East supplies of key materials like helium and bromine. Rising energy costs and supply risks may also weaken AI-driven chip demand and pressure chipmakers' stocks. CNBC

Healthcare Gaps That Only Technology Can Fill Digital Health is comprised of wearable, implantable technology, web and email, mobile technology, software, social networking, data management and analytics. Technical Paper

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Intel Demos Chip to Compute With Encrypted Data Intel unveiled its Heracles accelerator for fully homomorphic encryption at the IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference, claiming up to 5,000-fold speed gains over CPUs and signaling a major step toward practical encrypted computing for cloud and AI workloads. IEEE Spectrum

One in four CEOs say AI is a bubble but will continue investing A KPMG survey finds many CEOs fear an AI bubble, yet nearly 80% still plan major investments this year. Companies are funding worker training, innovation and cybersecurity, while most leaders say generative AI’s long-term impact remains underestimated despite short-term hype. TechSpot

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Iran conflict threatens Gulf data center boom as attacks mount Escalating tensions involving Iran are starting to disrupt the global AI sector, as drone strikes on Amazon Web Services facilities expose risks to Gulf-backed data center projects, raising concerns about the security and resilience of billions in planned regional AI infrastructure investments. Digitimes

A Case Study of Nickel Dendritic Growth on Printed Circuit Boards This paper is a case study of nickel dendritic growth under moisture condensation condition on freshly produced circuit boards contaminated with sulfuric acid etchant. Technical Paper

China exports sharply beat expectations as trade surplus in the first two months surges to highest on record China's trade surplus hit a record $213.6 billion in January–February as exports jumped 21.8% and imports rose 19.8%, far exceeding forecasts. Strong trade with the EU and ASEAN offset a sharp decline in U.S. trade despite ongoing tariff tensions. CNBC

Apple's smart home ambitions stalled by Siri AI delays Apple has delayed its deeper push into the smart home market as it works to complete a major AI upgrade for Siri. The setback postpones launches of a smart home display, refreshed HomePod speakers, and a new Apple TV 4K. Digitimes

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Seagate is now shipping HAMR disk drives holding up to 44TB of data Seagate has launched its next-generation Mozaic 4+ HAMR drives, offering up to 44TB and optimized for AI workloads. The drives boost efficiency, cut energy use, and target hyperscale and enterprise data centers, pushing storage density and reliability forward. TechSpot