Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1116895
104 PCB007 MAGAZINE I MAY 2019 design and integrate things into their vehicles that they never have had to do before, so there are lots of new designs, chips, and compo- nents going into their electronics. And the ex- pectation is that these electronics are going to last a very long time. Right now, most of the commercial market has been geared toward the things that don't last a long time, such as cellphones and cameras where if they fail, it's not as critical, unlike if something in a vehicle would fail, life is at risk. Overall, there's a lot of effort around auto- motive as well as the transportation market in general, which is where we see our biggest growth. China is opening up its internal air- plane market and creating their own airplanes for both commercial and cargo use and trying to export those. The same thing is happen- ing with trains and subways. China has train cars and subways in 100 countries around the world, and they have several active builds of trains around the world right now and are bid- ding for a bunch of others. China is looking to be an international supplier of public transport and a leading supplier of electric buses and ve- hicles in general around the world. Matties: Is there also a space race going on in China? Neves: It's interesting. The government side of the electronics industry is a totally closed mar- ket, and they have their own supply chains. China is doing something similar to what the U.S. used to be back in the old days when military contractors like Rockwell, Honeywell, Lockheed Martin, etc., would have the entire supply chain as their own. We don't see any- thing coming from the space, aerospace, and military sides of the market; that's entirely their own industry. People attend trade shows seminars from those segments, but not as of- ten. They don't participate in the commercial side of things as much. Matties: You've been living in China for many years now. Neves: I've been living there full-time for about 15 years, but I started coming in the early '90s almost every year, so it has been interesting watching the differences between China from then to now. Matties: You mentioned automotive, and look- ing at the sheer number of cars on the road compared to just eight or nine years ago is quite incredible. Neves: Yes. I gave a paper on that at IPC APEX EXPO 2019 with a whole bunch of numbers as far as the number of cars that are being sold in China and that are on the road. It dwarfs any- thing that's happening anywhere else in the world. China struggles to keep up with the in- frastructure. Being a foreigner, you have to go through registration, insurance, and all of the things you take for granted. I've watched that whole process become a lot more streamlined and successful. China monitors emission to make sure that cars are not spewing too much junk into the air, and the Chinese people want to get ahead with good quality of life. Over- all, China has gone through many progressions and stages lately. Matties: How has that changed in the type of testing or work that's coming through your facility? Neves: If I go back to the early days, the one thing that we brought to the market from our U.S. business was integrity—people relied on us to always give them an unbiased opinion of what we were testing. In the early market, China was Overall, there's a lot of effort around automotive as well as the transportation market in general, which is where we see our biggest growth.