Good News for U.S. National Security

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In case you missed it, President Joe Biden recently issued a presidential determination that prioritizes the domestic development of printed circuit boards (PCBs) under the Defense Production Act (DPA).

Translation: It is now a tenet of U.S. policy that manufacturing more of the building blocks of modern electronics in the United States is essential to America’s economic and national security.

Most people take our modern electronic wonders—from smartphones to medical monitors to air traffic control—for granted. We don’t think about where these products come from, or what goes into making them.

But the supply chain crisis spawned by the COVID pandemic was a wake-up call. Suddenly, leaders of business and government realized we didn’t have enough domestic capacity to supply all the semiconductor chips needed to power our economy. 

That is why Congress last year enacted, and President Biden signed, the CHIPS and Science Act, which authorized the funding to implement the CHIPS Act of 2021 and expand U.S. output of semiconductor chips. 

Now, leaders of business and government are beginning to realize that merely producing more chips is not enough. Semiconductors are modern wonders, but they are useless without PCBs and the rest of the electronics package. No one buys just chips; they buy components and systems that contain chips. Unfortunately, the United States is even more dependent on overseas suppliers for these components than they are for semiconductor chips. 

Luckily, the Biden administration seems to get it, and there are signs of hope in Congress as well.

For example, in launching the first round of funding under the CHIPS for America program, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo announced the U.S. will develop multiple high-volume “advanced packaging” facilities and become a global leader in chip packaging technologies.

The week before that, Raimondo confirmed that some of the CHIPS Act funding will go to “smaller firms,” including “circuit board companies.”

Several weeks earlier, the administration’s year-long assessment of the ICT supply chain highlighted the importance of PCB fabrication and assembly and recommended that the Defense Production Act be used to bolster the strength of U.S. PCB manufacturers.

Most recently, Reps. Blake Moore (R-UT) and Anna Eshoo (D-CA) reintroduced the Protecting Circuit Boards and Substrates Act, which would incentivize purchases of domestically produced PCBs and spur industry investments in factories, equipment, workforce training, and research and development.

Thus, the U.S. government appears to be on the right track on this issue, although now we need leaders in Congress and the Executive Branch to ensure the follow-through.

For long-term sustainable change that boosts the United States’ economic and national security, a significant chunk of CHIPS Act funding should be earmarked for the advanced packaging and PCB segments of the electronics supply chain.

The funding and leadership for a “silicon-to-systems” approach must not fall victim to partisan political battles in Washington.

This article appeared in the Summer 2023 issue of IPC Community magazine.