AI in the engineer’s seat: Speeding up PCB design without giving up control
In this episode of the Printed Circuit Podcast, host Steph Chavez sits down with Antonio Becerra Esteban, Head of Customer Success at Celus, to explore how AI is reshaping the front end of PCB development.
With Siemens and Celus announcing a new integration, this conversation dives deep into how automation and artificial intelligence can eliminate busy work, enhance accuracy, and accelerate the path from concept to schematic.
From master’s thesis to mission: solving the hardware bottleneck
Celus was born out of frustration. As Esteban recalled, co-founder Tobias Paul was completing his master’s thesis and discovered how inefficient PCB design could be. While software had already embraced code-free tools and automation, hardware engineers were still stuck manually sifting through data sheets, filtering components, and patching together symbols and footprints.
“If you have a set of requirements for your PCB, good luck,” Esteban said. “You have to dig through Mouser, DigiKey, or ask the elders at your company.”
Celus aims to change that. By capturing requirements in a block diagram and applying AI to suggest circuit-level solutions, Celus helps engineers generate PCB schematics and symbols quickly, all without starting from scratch.
Why small PCB teams feel the pain most
One key driver behind Celus’ growth is the widening knowledge gap in hardware design. “A lot of engineers are retiring, and newer ones are going to software,” Esteban explained. “It’s getting harder to find people who know how to build hardware.”
This hits small businesses especially hard. While enterprise teams might have ten or twenty developers, many startups have just one or two. If one leaves, 50% of the company’s design capacity disappears.
“They can maybe output one or two boards a year,” he said. “You start with the research, burn through months of component selection, and then maybe your part is obsolete. Back to square one.”
This is where AI-driven design can provide relief — accelerating decisions, reducing risk, and helping small teams do more with less.
AI is not a threat. It’s a teammate.
As Chavez noted, many engineers are wary of AI. But Esteban sees it differently: “AI won’t replace the engineer. It’ll help you solve problems, not solve them for you.”
Rather than trusting AI to build an entire board unsupervised, Celus users review and validate recommendations. This preserves engineering judgment while removing grunt work.
“You wouldn’t want to tell your boss, ‘the AI did it,’ if something fails,” Esteban laughed. “But if AI can help you get answers in a day instead of six months, that’s huge.”
Mundane tasks, automated insight with AI
The biggest win from AI? Saving engineers from repetitive tasks.
From requirement gathering to schematic generation, Celus’ platform lets users describe what they need in natural language and get back possible circuit implementations.
With Kubot, the platform’s AI assistant, engineers can request a DC-DC converter, a wireless module, or any other function, and Kubot will suggest validated building blocks.
Each “Kubo” is like a digital data sheet, containing the application, schematic, interface, and even BOM data. Users can trace suggestions back to original sources, accelerating evaluation and avoiding bad fits.
“You’re no longer reading 40 data sheets to find one viable part,” Esteban said. “You’re reading one — the right one.”
AI accelerates onboarding and boosts ROI
For Chavez, one of the most exciting implications of AI is faster onboarding.
“How do you get a young engineer to become an ROI instantly?” she asked. “With AI, they can ramp faster and design faster.”
Esteban agreed. “You won’t fully replace 30 years of experience. But you can help a junior engineer reach productive output much sooner.”
Celus doesn’t just reduce workload, it helps scale talent. What makes the Celus and Siemens partnership powerful is how it compresses the full front-end cycle.
“Siemens tools are top-tier for layout and routing,” Esteban said. “Now we help engineers get to the schematic faster, with validated content ready for design.”
Using Celus with Siemens Connect, engineers can move from requirement capture to schematic generation in hours. Once validated, the schematic transfers into Siemens EDA tools for layout—removing multiple manual steps and potential errors.
“We’re talking about getting from idea to prototype in a day,” he emphasized.
Democratizing advanced PCB design
This integration is especially important for small and mid-sized businesses. As Chavez noted, “If you’re okay being second or third to market, you can stay status quo. But those who want to lead? They need this.”
Esteban agreed. “Advanced tools are no longer a luxury. They’re critical for survival. If you don’t adopt these tools, you risk getting stuck in the past.”
Celus and Siemens want to remove that barrier, giving smaller teams the power to produce high-quality designs without massive budgets or dedicated research departments.
Looking ahead: creativity unchained
What does Esteban look forward to most in the 2025 rollout?
“I can’t wait to see engineers using this in the wild,” he said. “To see real boards built from this integration — fast, accurate, and innovative. That’s what it’s all about.”
The goal isn’t to eliminate the engineer’s role, but to let them focus on what drew them to this field in the first place.
“Nobody got into this because they love reading data sheets,” he joked. “We do this because we love solving problems. AI just helps us do it faster.”
For engineers ready to test it themselves, Celus will be demoing the integration at Electronica, or you can learn more at celus.io.
Learn more expert advice on Celus and Siemens and listen to the Printed Circuit Podcast.
