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THE BAJA POST
NEWSROOM
SOURCE: PR NEWSMEDIA
Engineers are looking at the opportunity for Artificial Intelligence (AI) in product development with cautious optimism as many are still assessing in which areas of their work AI will have the greatest impact. This is according to Avnet’s (Nasdaq: AVT ) fourth annual Avnet Insights survey, which has been keeping a pulse on how engineers are responding to the market – and looking ahead – since 2021.
According to the study, engineers are beginning to feel more optimistic overall – 75% of engineers believe market conditions for their design products are improving. Furthermore, half (49%) anticipate that economic and market conditions in the next year will facilitate their product design and development work. In terms of regional optimism, engineers in Mexico expressed the highest level of optimism (87%), followed by China (85%). While Japanese engineers also expressed optimism, their level (49%) was notably lower than their global counterparts.
Avnet Insights is an annual survey of engineers. The online survey gathered insights from 1,204 engineering professionals worldwide, including the United States, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Germany, China, and Japan, between October 31 and November 15, 2024. APAC respondents comprised 34% of the total surveyed engineers.
AI technology is poised to have an impact… everywhere.
Avnet Insights focused on a key technology that may be impacting the year to come – AI. The survey revealed that AI is rapidly transforming product design, with 42% of engineers globally already integrating it. Chinese engineers are leading the charge, with nearly two-thirds (66%) embracing AI in their designs, significantly ahead of the US at 46.5%.
Avnet asked engineers where emerging AI technology may have the biggest impact among 14 areas, from AI-driven simulation and testing to hardware design tools and software code generation. Respondents could not identify a single leading area of opportunity – indicating that, in fact, the opportunity may lay across the board.
«The breadth of AI’s potential impact across all aspects of product development is truly remarkable,» stated Tan Aik Hoon, Regional President of Avnet, South Asia & Korea. «Our survey results clearly demonstrate this, with engineers identifying a wide range of areas where AI can significantly improve their work, from accelerating design cycles and enhancing product performance to creating entirely new possibilities.»
Looking specifically at product development, nearly all (96%) engineers agree that AI will be somewhat-to-extremely likely to impact key product development functions, including: increasing automation of design tasks, enabling more personalized and customized designs, improving predictive capabilities for market needs, and reducing the overall time for product development cycles.
