Entertainment was one of the first areas to benefit, with radio (and later television) both being heavily dependent on the arrival of electronic components. Although the telephone was invented before electronics were properly developed, modern telephone systems, mobile phone networks, and the computer networks at the heart of the Internet all benefit from sophisticated digital electronics .

What is the electronics

Try to think of something you do that doesn’t involve electronics and you might struggle. Your car’s engine probably contains electronic circuits, and what about the GPS satellite navigation device that tells you where to go? Even your steering wheel airbag is triggered by an electronic circuit that senses when you need extra protection.

Electronic equipment saves our lives in many other ways too. Hospitals are full of all kinds of electronic gadgets. You can find heart rate monitors and complex ultrasound and brain scanners. It is also possible to find X-ray machines. Hearing aids were among the first gadgets to benefit from the development of tiny transistors in the middle of the 20th century. Smaller and smaller integrated circuits have allowed hearing aids to become smaller and more powerful.

• Electronic circuits and printed circuits

The key to an electronic device is not just the components it contains, but how they are arranged in circuits. The simplest possible circuit is a continuous loop connecting two components. Analog electronic devices tend to have much simpler circuitry than digital devices. A basic transistor radio may have a few dozen different components.

It may also have a circuit board probably no bigger than the cover of a paperback book. But in something like a computer, which uses digital technology, the circuitry is much denser and more complex. They typically include hundreds, thousands, or even millions of distinct pathways. Generally speaking, the more complex the circuit, the more complex the operations it can perform.

• A more systematic way to organize components

If you’ve experienced simple electronic components, you’ll know that the easiest way to build a circuit is to simply connect components with short lengths of copper wire. But the more components you have to connect, the more difficult it becomes. This is why electronic designers usually opt for a more systematic way of arranging components on a printed circuit board. A basic circuit board is simply a rectangle of plastic with copper connection rails on one side and many holes drilled through it. You can easily connect components together by passing them through the holes. Or using copper to link them together.

• A chemically printed circuit on a plastic board

The electronic equipment you buy in stores takes this idea one step further. It actually uses circuit boards made automatically in factories. The exact circuit layout is chemically printed onto a plastic board, with all copper traces created automatically during the manufacturing process. The components are then simply pushed through pre-drilled holes. A kind of electrically conductive adhesive known as solder then secures them in place. A circuit made in this way is known as a printed circuit board (PCB).

• The current state of the electronics industry

Economies are thriving all over the world today. The ten largest electronics companies in the world are therefore contributing to this spectacular growth by manufacturing, exporting, importing and selling consumer electronics products. Apart from consumer electronics, the electronics industry is also divided into electric utilities and general electronics.

• What is the value of the electronics industry?

The global electronic components market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 5.6% through 2024. At the forefront of an evolving electronics market are companies like Apple, which innovates with its iPhones. We can also mention Samsung with its Samsung Galaxy devices.

In this group, we can also include the main manufacturer of semiconductors for the global electronics market: Foxconn, from Taiwan. The company is changing the rules and disrupting the market with its electronic contract manufacturing services.