Find partners
Biz & Tech Podcasts — Collaboration Platform
Menu
Submit Podcast
EP&T Podcast

EP&T Podcast

Hosted by EP&T Magazine

BusinessInvestingManagementArts
WebsiteRSS feed

Episodes

16

Latest episode

Jul 2026

Language

EN

About the show

Electronic Products and Technology is your Canada’s definitive leader serving the electronics OEM and MRO markets.

Listen to episodes

16 recent
July 30, 202622 min

No Chips. No Sovereignty. Why Canada's AI future depends on building a stronger semiconductor strategy

Artificial intelligence may be driving Canada's technology agenda, but according to the Canada Semiconductor Council, true AI sovereignty begins long before software—it starts with semiconductors. In this episode of the EP&T Podcast, Editor Stephen Law sits down with Paul Slaby, Managing Director of the Canada Semiconductor Council, to discuss why chip design, photonics, advanced packaging and semiconductor talent must become a formal pillar of the federal government's AI for All strategy. Discover where Canada has a genuine competitive advantage, what is at stake if the country continues to rely on foreign-made chips, and why the decisions made today could shape Canada's technology leadership, economic resilience and national security for decades to come.Guest Bio:Paul Slaby is Managing Director of the Canada Semiconductor Council (CSC), the national industry organization representing Canada's semiconductor ecosystem. A veteran of the semiconductor industry for more than three decades, he has held leadership roles spanning semiconductor research, chip design, telecommunications, artificial intelligence, and technology commercialization. His career includes a decade in semiconductor R&D at Nortel Semiconductor and Bell-Northern Research, followed by the founding and leadership of several successful technology companies. Today, Slaby leads the CSC's efforts to advance a national semiconductor strategy, working with industry, academia and government to strengthen Canada's global competitiveness in chip design, manufacturing, advanced packaging and semiconductor talent development. He holds a Master's degree in Applied Physics and a Ph.D. in Microelectronics.

July 16, 202623 min

AI is reshaping supplier expectations for the semiconductor industry

Semiconductors are three times more likely to switch suppliers because of supply instability than product performance issues. Manufacturers are placing increasing emphasis on supply reliability, technical support responsiveness and delivery predictability as chip complexity continues to grow, reports Chris Ambrosio, executive director of market analysis consulting at TechInsights. As demand accelerates for advanced packaging, HBM, chiplets and next-generation manufacturing technologies, suppliers face growing pressure to: Provide deeper technical support as products become more complex Collaborate more closely with customers throughout development Navigate supply constraints and sourcing uncertainty Deliver greater transparency around capacity and lead times The result is a shift away from competing solely on product performance toward building stronger, more collaborative customer relationships. Ambrosio discusses why supply reliability is becoming a competitive differentiator, how AI and advanced packaging are changing expectations for supplier support, and the manufacturing and supply chain challenges likely to shape the industry in the years ahead.

July 7, 202622 min

Why Today’s AI Might Be Getting the Real World Wrong

For this podcast episode, EP&T sits down with Abby Rampal, founder and CEO of solid-state AI in Toronto. He will share his thoughts on why artificial intelligence alone may not be enough for engineering the physical world. Rampal will introduce Physics Enhanced Digital Twins (PeDT)—a next-generation approach that embeds the laws of physics directly into AI models.This isn’t incremental improvement—it’s a fundamental shift. By grounding AI in physical reality, engineers can:Build systems that are not just intelligent—but trustworthy Eliminate costly design errors before they happen Unlock new levels of optimization in semiconductor and hardware design This would enable more reliable semiconductor and hardware design, while helping engineers avoid costly mistakes before they occur.

June 2, 202616 min

Sensors at the Edge: Enabling Smarter Systems Through AI

Sensors are becoming the backbone of today’s intelligent electronic systems — enabling everything from wearable health monitoring and industrial automation to smarter consumer and IoT devices. But as sensing technologies become more advanced, developers are also facing growing challenges around AI training, data collection, and system integration at the edge.For this podcast episode, we speak with Abbas Ataya, senior director of software and systems at TDK U.S.A. Corporation. He will share some information on the company’s new SensorGPT platform, which is helping accelerate the development of next-generation AI-powered sensing applications.Guest BioAbbas Ataya is Senior Director of AI, Systems, and Software at TDK USA Corporation, driving the vision and development of next-generation intelligent platforms powered by advanced sensing, Edge AI and computing, and scalable systems. With 14 years of experience, a PhD in Machine Learning, multiple patents, and several awards, he brings a rare ability to bridge deep technical expertise with real-world impact: from resource-constrained edge devices to large-scale connected systems.

April 2, 202631 min

Leveraging quantum computing for industrially relevant materials design and apply them to commercial problems

EP&T’s guest for this podcast is Dr. Scott Genin, Vice President of Materials Discovery at OTI Lumionics, which is a Toronto-based developer of advanced materials and manufacturing processes for OLED displays and lighting. The company specializes in creating materials for under-display cameras and sensors.Genin provides insights - in practical terms, what his team has achieved with the Iterative Qubit Coupled Cluster – otherwise known as the iQCC algorithm, and why does this milestone matter to the electronics industry right now? Genin’s team reports a 90x performance improvement over established methods like DMRG. Listen now, as he shares what specifically enabled that milestone leap.

March 10, 202613 min

Robotics move toward a software-defined future

As AI-driven robots move from labs to the real world, trust is essential and failure is not an option. Building robotics systems that are safe, deterministic and secure enough for real-world deployment has become the defining hurdle for robotics. EP&T sits down with Winston Leung, senior strategic alliances manager at QNX Software Systems (a division of BlackBerry Ltd.) to discuss robotics move towards a software-defined future.

April 15, 202430 min

The quantum roadmap: A conversation with CMC and SemiQon

Podcast Guests: Udson Mendes, Team leader in quantum technologies at CMC Microsystems in Sherbrooke QC.Janne Lehtinen, chief scientific officer and co-founder of SemiQon Technologies in Finland.In an agreement to advance silicon-based quantum processor technology, SemiQon has collaborated with CMC this spring. Under the terms of the deal, SemiQon will supply CMC with prototypes of its semiconductor-based quantum processor chips for research purposes. CMC scientists are collaborating with SemiQon to accelerate the development of processors for more powerful quantum computers suitable for the next generation of quantum computing.Our podcast conversation touches on many facets of quantum computing in Canada and globally, including roadmaps, research, applications and more.What is CMC MicrosystemsCMC Microsystems is a not-for-profit organization that accelerates research and innovation in advanced technologies including microelectronics, photonics, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and quantum software and hardware. Founded in 1984, CMC lowers the cost and complexity of technology adoption by creating and sharing platform technologies including access to state-of-the-art design, manufacturing and testing capabilities. CMC enables research, development, and the training of highly qualified personnel (HQP) for an international network of over 10,000 researchers and more than 1,200 companies developing innovations in advanced technologies.What is SemiQon TechnologiesA manufacturer of silicon-based quantum processors for the million-qubit era, the Finnish-based firm is on a mission to fully realize the promise of quantum computing by delivering scalability through powerful, resilient and cost-effective silicon-based quantum processors and close the gap between today’s reality and future possibilities. SemiQon is a spin-off from VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and started operations in 2023 based on $1.9M Euro pre-seed funding.

March 18, 202424 min

Putting the AI into Chip Processing

In this podcast episode, Chris provides some insights to this Toronto-based artificial intelligence semiconductor start-up. The firm is currently developing a powerful new AI chip that eliminates the data movement bottleneck that costs energy and performance in traditional architectures. While elaborating on the real-world applications of Untether AI's technology, Chris explains how his firm’s energy-efficient chip design translates into tangible benefits for designers. He also touches on the role Untether plays in shaping the future of AI-driven electronic devices, and how he anticipates the industry evolving in the coming years.Chris Walker is an innovative and growth-driven semiconductor executive, having led major initiatives and business units throughout his 30-year career at Intel Corp. His expertise extends across operations, finance, business development/M&A, product, and marketing leadership. Recently, he has been a senior advisor with Cerberus Capital, supporting investments in technology fund and management consulting.What is Untether AI?Untether AI, a Toronto-based semiconductor firm that specializes in developing high-performance AI processors for various applications, particularly focused on deep learning and neural network tasks.These processors deliver exceptional performance while minimizing power consumption, making them suitable for deployment in edge computing devices, data centers and other AI-driven systems. Untether AI's technology often involves innovative approaches to parallel processing and memory management, enabling efficient execution of complex AI algorithms. Overall, the start-up firm aims to push the boundaries of AI hardware acceleration, facilitating faster and more energy-efficient computation for a wide range of applications.

May 2, 202327 min

Data Innovation & Software Engineering

Podcast Guest: Qaiser Habib, director of engineering and Toronto site lead at Snowflake.In this podcast episode, Habib shares his thoughts on why Toronto is poised to be a central hub for data innovation, along with emerging application trends that Canadian businesses can expect to see. He also touches on how Canadian businesses can benefit from embracing the data economy.From a software engineering perspective, Habib speaks about the role of engineering in Canada and how it will evolve over the next five years, as well as strategies to build and scale high-performing engineering teams. He adds depth to why engineers in such high demand and how Canadian companies can adopt ‘intentional hiring’ strategies to grow and scale high-performing engineering teams.In the event that you may be curious about Snowflake, Habib talks about the firm’s engineering presence in Canada.Qaiser Habib serves as the director of engineering and Toronto site lead at Snowflake. Habib is a veteran engineering leader and a well-recognized expert in the Canadian market, currently focused on building and leading the Canadian engineering presence for Snowflake.Habib has recognized the city’s capabilities to drive data innovation — and informs me that the hub’s lead initiative includes a first-of-its-kind Native Application (Apps) Framework, empowering developers to build, monetize and deploy applications in the Data Cloud, which will enable a new breed of data-intensive apps and a Marketplace set to revolutionize software development as we know it. Prior to Snowflake, Habib created and led DoorDash's International Expansion organization and built the Toronto Engineering office. In addition, Habib worked at Amazon for nearly five years where he continued building and leading a large organization responsible for launching Amazon's world-class Labor Planning product. He has also founded various start-ups throughout his tenure. Habib is a champion for community engagement, and is committed to cultivating the leaders of tomorrow through university relations and hands-on mentorship. He is also a strong advocate for diversity and prioritizing bringing diverse talent into Canada, initiating the creation of priority immigration programs within the organizations he has supported.What is Snowflake?Snowflake enables every organization to mobilize their data with Snowflake’s Data Cloud. Customers use the Data Cloud to unite siloed data, discover and securely share data, and execute diverse analytic workloads. Wherever data or users live, Snowflake delivers a single data experience that spans multiple clouds and geographies. snowflake.com

March 13, 202318 min

Development support in microsystems and nanotechnologies CMC Microsystems details current projects and initiatives

Founded in 1984, CMC Microsystems Corp. is a not-for-profit organization that operates by helping researchers and industry across Canada’s National Design Network. The group’s work involves lending assistance in the development of innovations in microsystems and nanotechnologies.In conversation with EP&T Editor Stephen Law, Gord Harling touches on a number of projects and initiatives currently underway at CMC. Those include: An IoT device design using Bluetooth and accelerometer, temp sensor, etc. for free on CMC’s GitHub repository. So far it has been used to create a backpack for an untethered rat and can monitor its brain chemistry. CMC has a 32bit RISC-V core design available for free on GitHub and it is going into fabrication so that demo boards will be available soon. CMC is also working on a 64-bit core with a 64 bit vector scalar processor. CMC has facilitated 29 projects in quantum coding over the past three years, mainly for academics, but also for start-ups. The group has also been running CMC Basecamp training for people to design their own superconducting devices and quantum photonics.  www.cmc.ca/basecamp CMC also has a broad offering in high performance computing from an 8 PetaFLOP AI training system, a 2 PetaFLOP inference system from Untether AI, a 42 TeraFLOP compute cluster, FPGA cluster and other hardware coming. All of this is available to academic researchers for $1,000 per year (with no usage fees) or to start-ups for $2,000 per year under our VIE program.

Is this your show?

Claim this listing to keep it up to date, reach guests who want to pitch you, and manage bookings with Guestify.

Claim this listing

More Business podcasts

One moment, please...

BusinessInvesting

One moment, please...

Business

Shipping Master Series

Investing

Swallow Your Pride Podcast

BusinessCareersInterviews guests

One moment, please...

Business

One moment, please...

Business