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LONDON: Global wearable band shipments fell 2% year over year in 2Q26, but the headline decline masks a growing divide in consumer demand according to the latest estimates from Omdia. Smartwatch shipments grew 6% on the strength of advanced sports models, while new screenless basic bands gained momentum as consumers increasingly gravitated towards either minimalist devices or more sophisticated sports watches.

Altus Group, a leading distributor of capital equipment for electronics manufacturing in the UK and Ireland, has confirmed that EMPEL Systems will host Factory of the Future 2026, taking place from 22–24 September at the company’s manufacturing facility in Milton Keynes. Factory of the Future is Altus Group’s flagship electronics manufacturing event, bringing together leading technology suppliers, advanced production solutions and industry experts.

By Dr. Pushkar P. Apte, SEMI.org The headlines are dominated by the unprecedented growth in data centers and their rising energy consumption, along with the skyrocketing user cost of AI for inference at scale. Perhaps less obvious is the direct connection between the two – reducing energy consumption reduces AI cost. This is because both require smart use of AI system capability at maximum efficiency, which is often not the case today.

LATAM smartphone shipments declined 10% YoY in Q2 2026, reflecting the memory shortage and pullback that followed vendors’ inventory buildup in Q1 ahead of anticipated price adjustments. Samsung strengthened its regional leadership, growing 6% YoY. The brand regained the number one position in Colombia, Peru, and Ecuador by flooding the markets with inventory and aggressive promotions. Apple grew 5% YoY in Q2 2026, supported by sustained demand for the premium product.

Engineering Innovations Driving Global Data Center Efficiency and Sustainability Data center engineering is focused on one thing: AI workloads. Here’s a summary of how different regions are innovating around power architecture and cooling to build AI better.

SMTA introduces a new Academic Institution Membership as part of their continued commitment to workforce development and the future of the electronics manufacturing industry, available September 1. Building stronger connections between industry and academic institutions is critical to developing the next generation of talent.

WASHINGTON—The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation announced selections totaling $162 million for nine projects that will recover critical minerals, materials, and other valuable byproducts from industrial feedstocks. The nine projects will support the recovery of a range of critical materials—including scandium, copper, antimony, and rare earth elements—at bench- and pilot-scale sites.

European smartphone shipments declined by 10% YoY in Q2 2026 to reach 35 million units, the region’s lowest total for a second quarter since Q2 2023. Component cost hikes resulted in higher final device prices and scaling back of promotions as manufacturers looked to protect margins, while a challenging macro climate weakened consumer demand compared to the same period last year.

The global PCB supply chain has entered a new phase, with more constraints, since our last update. What began as isolated shortages affecting advanced, high-frequency laminates has evolved into a broader structural shift impacting the availability of standard FR-4, thicker copper-clad laminates (CCL), and conventional PCB materials. SOURCE: Confidee This is no longer simply a supply chain disruption. It is the result of profound changes occurring simultaneously across the electronics ecosystem.

SUNNYVALE, Calif. — Cerebras Systems (NASDAQ: CBRS) introduced the Cerebras CS-4, the fastest AI accelerator in the industry. The CS-4 is a rack-scale solution built from three new Wafer Scale Engines and revolutionary rack and system designs. The CS-4 is the first member of the next-generation Cerebras Nexus rack-scale platform architecture. It is up to twice as fast as the CS-3, bringing the CS-4s advantage in tokens-per-second-per-user over GPUs to up to 30x more.