Happy New Year! ¡Feliz Año Nuevo! Bonne Année! Frohes Neues Jahr! 明けましておめでとう! And if you understood more than one of those, congratulations!
Here’s to another year of the greatest power coverage since J. J. Thomson first discovered the electron. 22 Years of Power Systems Design, and I’ve been here for nearly half that time!
Looking ahead, 2026 has the normal collection of trade shows – The Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Mobile World Congress (MWC), the Applied Power Electronics Conference (APEC), The Battery Show & EV Tech Expo, and umpteen more.
But this year will also see the biennial superstar, electronica, and the PSD crew will be there in Munich.
And speaking of Germany, Deutschland has taken a fiscal beating from the one-two punch of U.S. tariffs and Chinese competition, though Germany has seen modest growth in 2025, with the good times rolling into 2026. Electronica could be the shot in the arm that Europe’s largest economy so desperately needs.
Artificial Intelligence is growing at an exponential rate, possibly towards the fabled “singularity,” upon which its development and capabilities are far beyond human control and comprehension.
In recent months, we’ve discussed AI Testing and the U.S. Army, AI for Disaster Response, using AI to counter malicious AI, and the ongoing generative AI shenanigans. Have we reached the point where every single piece of online media – pictures, music, and video – is slightly dubious? Give it time….
In the last couple months, researchers developed something called the Multi-Task Trajectory Transfer (MT3), which utilized AI to teach a robot 1000 distinct everyday tasks in under 24 hours, the implications of which are enormous. We’re rapidly approaching the “theoretical” part of “AI can theoretically think and react faster and more efficiently than humans.”
My Scottish colleague, Ally Winning, covered AI in a recent column, “Bringing Power Directly to the AI Processor,” where Empower Semiconductor talks to PSD about a new vertical solution for powering today’s AI processors.
Meanwhile, our distinguished cadre of contributors discussed AI in our May issue and tangentially throughout the year with gems like “Rethinking Power for AI Processors,” “Current Multipliers: The Obvious Choice for Powering AI Processors,” “Harnessing AI for Safer, Faster Thermal Runaway Testing,” and “The Future of Powering AI.”
In 2026, we’ll have the same AI calendar topic in May, but I can’t imagine it won’t show up in some way, shape, or form throughout the year. In this very issue, Silicon Labs notes how “AI has become integral to a growing number of increasingly sophisticated edge IoT devices.”
Enjoy the January issue and here’s to another great year of power!
Best Regards,
Jason Lomberg
North American Editor, PSD
