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American Made Advocacy: PCBAA’s Fifth Annual Meeting—Growing Membership and Valuable Relationships

The Printed Circuit Board Association of America recently celebrated its fifth anniversary. We began with five member companies that banded together to influence legislation favorable to our industry. Today, we have 90 members across the entire ecosystem: OEMs, fabricators, assemblers, materials providers, testing companies, and applied AI startups. Our membership ranges from companies with long histories to ventures just embarking on their PCB journeys.

Our growing association has raised the profile of the PCB industry where our members live and work, as well as in Washington, D.C. Members have hosted legislators in their home districts, and PCBAA representatives have frequent direct engagements on Capitol Hill. Our annual meeting last month included a day on Capitol Hill, giving executives a chance to meet with Members of Congress and staff to tell their personal stories and to ask for support for our two PCB bills: HR3597 and S4569.

This face-to-face contact is important. Many legislators and staff still don’t understand where PCBs fit in the technology stack. Our Hill meetings raised awareness of the need for trusted and secure PCBs to support national security and critical infrastructure. These meetings also generated additional sponsors for our bills.

We also heard from other branches of the federal government. We were encouraged by remarks from the PCB Executive Agent Office outlining what is being done to improve requirements and processes, and how they can work with us to achieve the most productive outcomes. We will engage more fully in the second half of the year as Defense budget decisions are made.

A senior Department of Commerce official gave remarks that clearly showed his depth of knowledge and understanding of both the issues facing our industry and what is being done to help us reshore and restore manufacturing in the U.S. We’re proud of the strong relationship we have developed with the Department of Commerce, and we are excited about the current and emerging financial programs available for companies needing help to scale up operations, buy expensive specialty equipment, and invest in other capital expenses.

On the customer side, we hosted an OEM supply chain panel comprised of representatives from SpaceX, Lockheed Martin, and Raytheon. The biggest companies in the world depend on trusted and secure PCBs and were unanimous that communication is important up and down the supply chain. Hearing this from our major customers reinforced the need to reshore and restore domestic PCB capacity.

Compelling storytelling has been a hallmark of PCBAA’s first five years. We were proud to share a recent 15-minute CNBC story,¹ which was orchestrated by our team and provided a clear explanation of our industry and the challenges we face. PCBAA and the Alliance for American Manufacturing jointly produced a 20-minute documentary film, “The New Frontier,”² which was also shown. After so many years of being invisible to the media, it’s gratifying to have this level of national exposure.

Our annual meeting grows every year because relationships matter, and PCBAA brings people together to make a real impact in Washington. If you are ready to be part of our “Educate, Advocate, and Legislate” mission and join us in Washington next year, please contact me today.

References

1. “Hidden beneath AI chips, Chinese-made circuit boards raise national security concerns in U.S.,” by Katie Tarasov, CNBC, June 3, 2026.
2. “The New Frontier: Inside the Comeback Factories Securing America’s Tech Future,” a documentary produced by the Alliance for American Manufacturing and Printed Circuit Board Association of America, youtube.com.

This column originally appeared in the July 2026 issue of I-Connect007 Magazine.