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The U.S. Partnership for Assured Electronics (USPAE) was launched as a nonprofit subsidiary of IPC in 2020 specifically to manage the DoD relationship and access to funding and to develop a cooperative facility to develop ultra HDI capabilities in the U.S., not only for the defense sector but for the whole of the U.S. electronics industry.
Though a multifaceted initiative, its primary objective is to bring very high-tech manufacturing capability to the U.S. to lessen reliance on foreign sources for critical parts of our supply chain. It carries a great hope that we will never allow ourselves to fall behind technologically as we have over the past three decades and, moreover, that we will, once again, become global technology leaders in this space.
Marcy LaRont: Joe, would you explain the Printed Circuit Board Market Catalyst (PCBMC)?
Joe O’Neil: Formerly referred to as NewCo, the proposed Printed Circuit Board Market Catalyst is a unique public-private partnership (PPP) that will be designed to deliver five core benefits to the U.S. industry and government.
The first core benefit is to quickly bring ultra high density interconnect (UHDI) capability to any U.S. PCB manufacturer as a subcontracted service. Second, PCBMC will catalyze commercial and government demand for domestic UHDI PCBs. Third, this PPP will transfer all the knowledge and expertise to operate a UHDI manufacturing facility to any U.S. PCB domestic manufacturer. The fourth core benefit provides education and workforce development. The PCBMC will be growing and upskilling the current workforce while attracting new workers into the industry. Finally, we will be delivering leapfrog technologies through R&D efforts to help U.S. PCB manufacturers become and stay more competitive globally.
LaRont: That is a big initiative with important goals. How did this project come about?
O’Neil: This project has been developed by industry, for industry. USPAE began holding industry workshops with government input in late 2022 and early 2023 to better understand the challenges and start devising a solution. In the fall of 2023, the Department of Defense provided funding to USPAE to conduct qualitative and quantitative research documenting those needs and formally propose solutions for the PCBMC. We've got a great team.
LaRont: Using the PPP business model, how will this facility bring UHDI capabilities to PCB manufacturers?
O’Neil: With a mix of both government and private funding, our vision has been that the proposed manufacturing facility will be rapidly stood up utilizing modified semi-additive process (mSAP) technology. Once the facility is operational, the PCBMC will begin providing UHDI subcontracting services to the U.S. PCB fabrication base.
To read the rest of this article, which appeared in the April 2024 issue of PCB007 Magazine, click here.
