Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1415897
my quantities and volumes may feel like high volume to me, but they're not high volume rel- ative to consumer electronics. So, where do I find those partners that are going to package my components and then be able to take those packaged components into the board level, module assembly, or even a sub-system or into full box build? Today, that's deeply fragmented with insufficient capacity. If I'm that same chip designer, I'm going to look for a boutique SMT packaging house, then I'm going to look for a boutique integra- tion house. I have to manage a disparate sup- ply chain because the capability to do verti- cally integrated custom manufacturing solu- tions is rare. Where it does exist right here in the U.S., and has existed for a long time, is with specialty companies. ey're not multi-mar- ket generalists where they're offering their ca- pability to defense customers, space custom- ers, etc. ere are really good defense shops that focus on electronic warfare that can do all those things, but they stay in the electronics warfare segment. ere are good space shops. Same story there. If it's not going into a pay- load, they're not doing it. e next level of problem-solving is most of those companies are "IP inflexible." If they don't get some design content, they're not go- ing to play. at is a very traditional way of thinking about our U.S. supply chain—you've got the government, or the prime or the ma- jor contractor, maybe a medical, defense, or space company. ey oen work with a Tier 2 who has some design content in the systems, and then work with various manufacturing service partners who have no design content. What happens when that needs to collapse a step because the design authority is at the top and not in the middle? at creates this new