a16z podcast: Diode pairs AI PCB design with Brooklyn factory to revive US hardware manufacturing
MattPerault · x · 2026-10-26
The a16z AI Policy Brief podcast hosts Diode cofounder and CEO Davide Asnaghi on turning AI progress into a US manufacturing advantage.
Key points
- PCBs sit inside nearly every electronic product but remain a design/testing/manufacturing bottleneck; US hardware innovation depends heavily on Asian capacity.
- Diode combines AI-powered circuit board design with its own Brooklyn factory — engineers write code and run the production line under one roof — shortening development cycles and improving quality.
- Asnaghi (ex-Apple, medical devices) sees AI as a generational opportunity for American manufacturing; founders making $10M equipment investments need durable, bipartisan policy certainty.
- Automation is framed as empowering workers to oversee more production and exercise greater judgment, not replacing them.
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