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32 PCB007 MAGAZINE I MARCH 2022 supply chain has 1-2% of the advanced pack- aging economy needed to put these products together to power our technology. And these supply chains are oen the most vulnerable to global shocks and disruption." 1 PCB manufacturing and assembly was not included in USICA. To bring government attention to this omission, the Printed Circuit Board Association of America (PCBAA) was established in 2021 by a consortium of major PCB manufacturers and their suppliers, who understood the need for greater support from their government to protect against unfair for- eign competition. PCBAA's goal is to level the playing field with overseas suppliers that are frequently subsi- dized by their governments, and oen do not have to comply with the environmental con- straints that are imposed on U.S. manufactur- ers. For the sake of national security and stabil- ity, the domestic PCB industry needs the sup- port required to expand its share of the world PCB market far beyond the current 4% of the total production. e author supports this effort. PCB manu- facturing and assembly in the U.S. needs a con- certed effort to propel the industry forward and regain market share. Government agen- cies must also support the industry by fund- ing innovative research that will incentivize domestic suppliers and attract OEMs back to the local market. PCB007 References 1. "Meredith LaBeau: How Congress Can Support American Electronics Manufacturing," Calumet Elec- tronics Corporation, Oct. 15, 2021. George Milad is the national accounts manager for technology at Uyemura. To read past columns or contact Milad, click here. receives pay increases, learns new skills, and is given more responsibility is less likely to seek employment elsewhere. Of course, the biggest incentive to stay with a company is the belief by the worker that he is a member of a winning team, trusted by man- agement to make decisions that will keep the company moving forward. For the industry to thrive, it must be able to contend with global competition. To support the electronics industry and level the play- ing field against foreign competitors, the Sen- ate passed e United States Innovation and Competition Act (USICA) in June 2021. e bill provides billions of dollars to improve the domestic capacity to produce semiconductors. is bill is welcome by the electronics indus- try as an incentive to produce semiconductors. However, the bill limits funding to a small sec- tor of the industry and fails to address other related links in the supply chain that are criti- cal to America's competitiveness. According to Meredith Labeau, chief tech- nology officer at Calumet Electronics, "Semi- conductors don't work alone; they are only one piece of the electronics DNA. e elec- tronics value chain is complicated. To build advancing technologies, the system requires a wide array of moving parts: semiconduc- tors, yes, but also organic/ceramic interpos- ers, assembled printed circuit board and more. All these different components are critical for chips to actually do anything. And America is woefully trailing in the global competition to produce these critical products. e domestic For the industry to thrive, it must be able to contend with global competition.