Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

American Made Advocacy: Changing Leadership and Three Years of Advocacy in D.C.

This month, my term as chair of PCBAA ended, and I turned over those responsibilities to Shane Whiteside, CEO of Summit Interconnect. It has been my honor to serve as chair. From the beginning, when we had only five founding members, to more than 60 today, we have representation from companies and individuals in manufacturing, assembly, and materials. I look forward to working with Shane in his new role and know that PCBAA will benefit from his many years of leadership experience.

Becoming Known in Washington
Creating and launching an organization has been exciting and challenging. Because of our supportive members and talented staff, we are fighting our way into the conversation in the halls of Congress, in the think tank community, and in the news media that follows the intersection of politics and technology. However, much work remains to be done.

The environment we find ourselves in is dominated by the semiconductor industry. This is both a benefit and a liability. The benefit is that as a result of the lobbying the semiconductor industry did, the CHIPS Act was passed and put a spotlight on microelectronics. The liability has been that chips absorbed most of that spotlight and, importantly, the funding. This is frustrating because we all know that “chips don’t float.” To fully support the broader microelectronics position of the United States, we need to have more domestic manufacturing of the entire stack, not just chips.

What Our Industry Needs
We are lobbying to be part of any future CHIPS 2.0 bill and continuing to secure co-sponsors for the Protecting Circuit Boards and Substrates Act (HR 3249). Fighting our way through the clutter and noise in Washington requires sustained, focused communication with key Members of Congress and committees or jurisdiction. Succeeding in getting both pieces of legislation would provide the robust public and private funding needed to increase domestic production of PCBs and substrates. Every company in our industry should contact their elected representatives and ask them to co-sponsor HR 3249. Passing this legislation would benefit from, albeit at a more modest level, the public investment and private investment that the CHIPS Act generated. Getting legislation passed is a long process. Remember, it took four years to pass the CHIPS Act with the advantage of the backing of huge companies and trade organizations.

Fix the Supply Chain for the Entire Technology Stack
The dynamic that many policymakers and legislators don’t understand is that no matter how many chips America makes, we won’t reduce the supply chain vulnerabilities without addressing the primary ecosystem, which includes chips, substrates, and PCBs, the latter two items made almost entirely in Asia. There is an unfortunate thought process that the CHIPS Act was a “one and done.” As we talk to policymakers, influencers, and legislators, we must remind them that we need to support the entire technology stack to begin to level the playing field and reduce supply chain vulnerabilities.

Correcting the Imbalance in the Supply Chain
The reality is that we will never make 100% of the world's supply of PCBs and substrates. There will always be a global supply chain. But we cannot remain so badly out of balance. To let this continue increases our risk of the kind of disruptions we saw during the pandemic and are seeing today in conflict zones, shipping choke points, and unpredictable but highly probable severe natural disasters. We’ve had multiple wake up calls and should not wait until the next disruption to take action.

Again, I wish Shane Whiteside every success as the new chair of PCBAA and will continue to support the organization as a member of the board and through our Isola Group membership. PCBAA is making a difference in Washington, and I am proud to be a part of it. I encourage our members to invite others to join us in this important work.

This column originally appeared in the June 2024 issue of PCB007 Magazine.