Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1069358
JANUARY 2019 I PCB007 MAGAZINE 65 versus electrics, which is generating a lot of trouble inside the industry. We're having a slowdown in the automotive industry in the last quarter, which is driven by the uncertainty of the direction of the automotive producers versus the environmental protection in each country. Every country is taking a different approach to this. Sweden is saying that they will not allow more diesel cars there in 2020. Germany is taking another direction. Japan is taking the complete opposite direction to all the rest of the world. We have the big impact of the Volkswagen group a couple of years ago with all the issues that they had with the emissions around the world. This problem of contamination and the environmental protection around the world is challenging the industry. Many people are focused on the electric car, but those vehicles are not ready today to be launched massively to the industry because the infrastructure how to charge the batteries is not set in large cities, so you cannot say that everybody will swap from a gasoline or diesel car into an electric car right away. It will take a lot of years to develop and build infrastructure in these cities. It's a complex situation in the automotive industry, so we will see what will happen in the next three to six months, but I don't think it will be easy. Johnson: It's surprising to think about being able to look three or six months out and see changes in the automotive industry; that's not normally the kind of industry that moves quickly, and yet, it seems to be doing exactly that. Even Volkswagen recently announced that they would stop producing gasoline engine cars. Benmayor: Yes, we are hearing a lot of rumors in the industry about what they are going to do on that. Many rumors come from the political scene that they are going to increase diesel price, and other cities or countries say that they will not allow diesel inside the cities, etc. It looks like the new motors for the diesel cars are not fulfilling the regulation of the emissions, so they cannot launch any of these new platforms. However, nobody really knows what's going to happen. There is a huge amount of stock that is not being sold, so if you are an end user and need to buy a car today, nobody knows what you should buy, which stops the sales of cars around the world. Everything is a big mess today. Johnson: And that just trickles down through the BOM to Aismalibar and substrates. That kind of uncertainty and R&D goes into the different automotive manufacturers to try to answer that question, come up with a solution, and keep selling products. I'm sure you're very involved in a lot of conversations at that level. Benmayor: Technology is always walking on one path, and the market is walking on another. Engineering departments will continue to develop and improve technology. In parallel, you will have political issues, sales, volumes, and mass production in big factories. What are they going to do in the next couple of months? The uncertainty cannot last forever, and somebody will need to make a decision. We are talking about the biggest industry in Europe; it's not a small player in the game—it's a huge player in the game not only in terms of the car manufacturers but also the infrastructure surrounding the automotive industries (tier one, two, and three). It's a huge industry for the European economy, so the government will need to let us know what we should do to fulfill our regulations. Johnson: Eduardo, is there anything that I have neglected to ask that you want to make sure we talk about? Benmayor: I think we've covered a lot, but I'd also like to cover the new materials that we are launching right now. Johnson: Let's talk about those! Benmayor: We are working with producers of electronics that have nothing to do with the LEDs. Based on the thermal dissipation, they can be used on many other boards such as in computer microprocessors that work at high