Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1494936
42 PCB007 MAGAZINE I MARCH 2023 I was pleased to see that President Biden mentioned the CHIPS Act during the State of the Union Address this year. at bill suc- ceeded because lawmakers saw semiconduc- tor manufacturing as a pressing national level issue. e CHIPS Act is a great first step in restoring one aspect of high-tech American manufacturing. What is missing from the dia- logue in Washington is the rest of the micro- electronics ecosystem. As printed circuit board suppliers and man- ufacturers know, our American PCB indus- try once claimed 2,200 companies and 30% of the world's supply. When the semiconduc- tor industry's share of chip production fell to 13% of the world's supply, alarm bells went off inside the beltway; the result was the CHIPS Act. Finishing the Job the CHIPS Act Started Now that the U.S. can only claim 4% of the world's semiconductor supply, those same alarm bells should be sounding. Our challenge is to educate members of Congress and poli- cymakers on the role PCBs play in electronics manufacturing. Few people outside the indus- try understand that semiconductors don't go straight into the electronics we all depend on. Every single chip—no matter how advanced— must be mated with a PCB before it's inte- grated into a telecommunications hub, elec- trical transformer, air traffic control system, or any other piece of critical infrastructure or consumer electronics. PCBAA is educating members of Congress and their staffs on the critical stage we find ourselves in. We can't let them think that the CHIPS Act is a "one and done" effort that American Made Advocacy by Travis Kelly, PCBAA