PCB Chat 150: Wally Rhines on the Latest ECAD Market Data

About this episode

Wally Rhines discusses the latest trends and data in the ECAD market, including sales and employment growth.

Wally Rhines the spokesperson for the ESD Alliance, part of Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International. He joins Mike Buetow each quarter to share details from the latest ESD Alliance report on sales of computer-aided engineering tools, semiconductor tools, PCB design software, related IP and services, and employment. We discuss: The latest PCB/MCB design tool market data The 19-quarter streak of year-over-year gains (can it continue?) The massive spike in Asia sales The remarkable resilience of the Americas in maintaining ECAD market share The employment growth -- will everyone eventually work in ECAD?

People in this episode

Host: Mike Buetow

Guest: Wally Rhines

Topics covered

• ECAD market data
• PCB design tools
• semiconductor tools
• employment in ECAD

Keywords

• ESD Alliance
• sales report
• market share
• Asia sales
• Americas resilience

Mentioned in this episode

Products: computer-aided engineering tools, PCB design software

Places: Asia, Americas

More episodes of PCB Chat

• PCB Chat 157: Tomachie's CJ Clark Discusses AI-driven Schematic and Test Analysis · June 1, 2026 · 26 min
• RM 193: Why Post-Reflow Cleaning Is Becoming Mainstream Again · May 29, 2026 · 13 min
• RM 192: Why PCB Revision Errors Are a Hidden Reliability Risk · May 29, 2026 · 39 min
• RM 191: Why Maintenance Is Finally Getting a Seat at the Table · May 28, 2026 · 1h 0m
• PCB Chat 156: Lauren Waslick and Kristen Aguiar of Newgrange Design · May 27, 2026 · 15 min
• RM 189: Predict, Prevent, Produce: RoviSys' Bryan DeBois on Manufacturing's Al Future · April 24, 2026 · 59 min