PCBAA Issues Statement On CHIPS Act Funding

 The Printed Circuit Board Association of America supports the CHIPS Act funding of $400 million for a greenfield American advanced packaging operation.

The investment in advanced packaging is important because there is currently scant domestic capacity. This is also the case for PCBs and substrates: manufacturing has been offshored to Asia over the past 20 years.

We now make less than 1 percent of the world’s supply of substrates and 4 percent of the PCBs and depend on Asian sources at the end of a long and vulnerable supply chain.

While this government investment in advanced packaging capacity is a step forward, without similar help for domestic producers of printed circuit boards and substrates, we will continue to rely on Asia. Asian-made substrates and printed circuit boards will be packaged at the new American facility after travelling across the world. .

Further urgent action is required to support American PCB and substrate manufacturing. Congress needs to pass H.R. 3249, the Protecting Circuit Boards and Substrates (PCBS) Act which would provide $3 billion for facilities, workforce development, equipment and a 25 percent tax incentive for companies buying American-made PCBs.

Quote from David Schild, executive director, PCBAA

“The CHIPS Act was an important step for American microelectronics manufacturing, but it missed two thirds of the technology stack. Chips don’t float: they need a substrate and a printed circuit board to function, and we make a tiny fraction of the world’s supply in the U.S. This has to change, or we cannot create the resilient and secure supply chain the CHIPS Act promised. Until the government  invests in the total stack, we remain dependent on Asian sources at the end of  a long and vulnerable supply chain.”