I was pleased to see that President Biden mentioned the CHIPS Act during the State of the Union Address this year. That bill succeeded because lawmakers saw semiconductor manufacturing as a pressing national level issue. The CHIPS Act is a great first step in restoring one aspect of high-tech American manufacturing. What is missing from the dialogue in Washington is the rest of the microelectronics ecosystem.
As printed circuit board suppliers and manufacturers know, our American PCB industry once claimed 2,200 companies and 30% of the world’s supply. When the semiconductor industry’s share of chip production fell to 13% of the world’s supply, alarm bells went off inside the beltway; the result was the CHIPS Act.
Now that the U.S. can only claim 4% of the world’s semiconductor supply, those same alarm bells should be sounding. Our challenge is to educate members of Congress and policymakers on the role PCBs play in electronics manufacturing. Few people outside the industry understand that semiconductors don’t go straight into the electronics we all depend on. Every single chip—no matter how advanced—must be mated with a PCB before it’s integrated into a telecommunications hub, electrical transformer, air traffic control system, or any other piece of critical infrastructure or consumer electronics.
PCBAA is educating members of Congress and their staffs on the critical stage we find ourselves in. We can’t let them think that the CHIPS Act is a “one and done” effort that needs no companion. In reality, the CHIPS Act doesn’t solve supply chain problems because it doesn’t adequately address the rest of the ecosystem. Few officials we speak to have any idea that we don’t have the adjacent manufacturing capacity to create the entire technology stack. They don’t know that we will be sending the chips made in the new fabs back to Asia for packaging.
In this session of Congress, we will see new legislation introduced that would revitalize American PCB manufacturing by funding R&D and workforce development, as well as creating incentives to buy American-made PCBs. Congress needs to act this year to set this recovery in motion and finish the job the CHIPs Act started. This is not an overnight fight. It took us decades to get to where we are today, and it will take years to bring a meaningful amount of manufacturing back to the U.S.
To be successful we need your help. By joining PCBAA, you are expanding your influence over the future of the industry and giving us more power in Washington. Many voices matter. Join us, then contact your elected representatives and let them know how important this industry is to American high-tech manufacturing.
This column originally appeared in the March 2023 issue of PCB007 Magazine.
UPDATE 3/27/23: PCBAA Applauds Presidential Action to Invest in Critical American Microelectronics
03-28-2023
I was pleased to see that President Biden mentioned the CHIPS Act during the State of the Union Address this year. That bill succeeded because lawmakers saw semiconductor manufacturing as a pressing national level issue. The CHIPS Act is a great first step in restoring one aspect of high-tech American manufacturing. What is missing from the dialogue in Washington is the rest of the microelectronics ecosystem.
View Story03-08-2023
Recently, hundreds of thousands gathered in Las Vegas for the annual Consumer Electronics Show, where amazing new tech was rolled out—everything from razor-thin TVs to smart robots that clean your home. As an executive in the materials science space, I was struck not just by the pace of innovation, but also by the incredibly complex supply chains that were necessary to bring those products from the drawing board to reality.
View Story01-10-2023
Woven into almost every economic story these days is “reshoring,” a word most Americans had never heard just 18 months ago. For decades, market pressures and foreign subsidies drove manufacturing of everything from socks to semiconductors overseas. Policymakers and economists called this “offshoring.” This shift was the natural consequence of an increasingly interconnected world, new trade agreements, and a period of unprecedented global peace and security. Consumers reaped the benefits of offshoring in the form of inexpensive goods. But, as the COVID-19 pandemic made clear, we paid a price for sending the production of critical technologies overseas.
View Story12-02-2022
Regardless of what emerges from the 2022 mid-term elections, we know that on Jan. 3, 2023, the 118th Congress will be seated and begin their work. The ongoing effort to build secure and resilient supply chains will be front and center on their agenda. On the heels of everything that has been done to invest in semiconductor reshoring, some might ask why further action is needed.
View Story11-07-2022
Now that the much-heralded CHIPS and Science Act has been signed into law, the work to secure the entire microelectronics ecosystem must begin. We have a long way to go in restoring balance and resilience in our critical supply chains. Over the past 20 years we have let the manufacturing and the know-how that goes with it migrate overseas. U.S. dependance on foreign suppliers won’t be reversed overnight, even by building semiconductor fabrication plants here.
View Story05-17-2022
It’s been more than 800 days since the global COVID-19 pandemic upended the supply chains of almost every industry. Whether it’s a shortage of commercial and consumer electronics or automobiles, businesses and their customers are bearing the brunt of what decades of offshoring and billions in foreign manufacturing subsidies have caused. One sector that sometimes escapes the attention of everyday Americans is aerospace and defense, where high-tech platforms and equipment are essential to mission success.
View Story03-22-2022
Like many of you, I’ve spent the last few years grappling with the challenges posed by a global pandemic. Whether it’s staffing a production line or obtaining key materials, PCB manufacturers and their suppliers have had to adapt quickly to a radically changed environment. We’re more than 700 days into this new world, but as an industry, we cannot allow our day-to-day focus on operations to distract us from what is happening in Washington and what it means to the microelectronics ecosystem.
View Story01-24-2022
I-Connect007 welcomes new columnist Travis Kelly, president of Isola Group and now chairman of the newly formed Printed Circuit Board Association of America (PCBAA). This organization was formed to address to the U.S. Congress the critical supply chain issues facing the printed circuit board and semiconductor industries. It has three major objectives: To support domestic production of PCBs, enhance domestic supply chain security, and advocate for initiatives that create fair market conditions. Kelly is currently leading PCBAA, comprised of several domestic PCB fabricators with a vested interest in lobbying Congress on these important issues.
View Story
