Springing into a Stronger Market and a Successful APEC

­As we turn the page on 1Q 2023, the industrial market stands at a crossroads.

We’re now more than three years removed from the height of the pandemic, when the entire globe – with some exceptions – shut down. Our own industry was collectively deemed an essential business, so we’ve mostly dodged the direct economic fallout from COVID-19.

But nothing exists in a vacuum, and various parts of the supply chain were definitely impacted by the pandemic – including, and especially, the worldwide chip shortage. We’re mostly back to normal, but inflation has definitely hampered growth, as of late, though almost paradoxically, confidence is at an all-time high (at least if polls are to be believed).

A good example of that confidence is last month’s successful Applied Power and Electronics Confidence, which took over Orlando with all manner of power supplies, dc-dc converters, motor drives, uninterruptable power supplies, inverters, and of course, wide band-gap semiconductors.

If you haven’t been to APEC lately (this was my first visit, personally, since before the pandemic), it’s a heartwarming celebration of the power electronics business, with the Orange County Convention Center packed to the brim with OEMs, marketers, engineers, publishers, and a lot more.

You’d swear nothing had happened, like we were back in 2019.

Meanwhile, as we put APEC (and winter) in the rear-view mirror, we turn our attention towards the April issue (and the warm embrace of spring). And I’d like to highlight an article which touches on area that experienced some of the worst of the pandemic – aerospace.

While COVID-19 was raging, the last place anyone wanted to be was inside a sealed metal tube with hundreds of (potentially) sick people, so huge parts of aviation just stopped.

But as Neil Moore from Harwin points out in “Finding the right interconnects for eVTOL aircraft applications,” “Business is returning to normal for the aerospace industry, and manufacturers can start investing in future aircraft development.”

And one area of substantial interest is electrically powered vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft – mainly because of the fascination with urban air mobility (UAM).

UAM amounts to using eVTOL aircraft – including and especially air taxis – to provide efficient transportation in urban environments. This concept has attracted a huge amount of investment dollars, and some analysts feel the eVTOL market could reach $23.2 billion in annual revenues by 2028.

And as Neil Moore points out, one of the biggest considerations for designers of these eVTOL aircraft is the proper interconnects.

Enjoy the April issue!

Best Regards,

Jason Lomberg

North American Editor, PSD