Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1460418
70 PCB007 MAGAZINE I MARCH 2022 behalf of the printed circuit board industry, the printed circuit board assemblers, and the crit- ical material suppliers. From TTM's perspec- tive, we are unable to produce bare printed circuit boards without certain chemicals and critical materials. So, we consider the critical material suppliers to be imperative in our jour- ney. We discovered that most of the attention in Washington, D.C., was being spent discuss- ing onshoring or reshoring of the semiconduc- tor industry and the chip manufacturers. We started to tell our part of the microelectron- ics ecosystem story and how printed circuit boards are part of an ecosystem and not just about chips. We found that members and staff on the Hill, the White House National Security staff, Department of Commerce, and Depart- ment of Defense staff that we briefed were unaware of a larger electronics ecosystem. We created a three-word phrase that helped place us in the ecosystem, tied to the semicon- ductor industry: "Chips don't float." ey have a home; they have a foundation. As important as semiconductors are, if the chip is the brain, the board is the body. If we as a country don't address the ecosystem story—and we'll get into some statistics of why we're doing this for our industry—then this is a "to do" about nothing. What happens if we build all the semiconductor chips in America, but we are fully 90% reliant on Asian and European firms that deliver boards? You can see some of the problems associ- ated with supply chain that define risk and that define national security implications. is three-word phrase has begun to resonate in a microelectronics ecosystem story, whereby people are now saying printed circuit boards are imperative in this overall journey. We are proud of that. Johnson: Tell me about the three pillars of PCBAA. Marsh: ey are the mission statement for the association. First is promoting domestic pro- duction of PCBs flat out, as well as assemblers and critical materials suppliers. e second pillar is enhanced domestic supply chain secu- rity and resiliency. As I said earlier, our depen- dency on foreign supply chains was realized during the early COVID months. e third pillar is creating initiatives for fair market conditions. Our industry in America competes against other companies in America. But as an industry, we are competing against other countries. ere are many foreign subsi- dies being plowed into Asia because they want to be the global monopoly for all electron- ics. So, advocating for fair market conditions means we're looking for demand for signal dis- sipation by the government to be able to com- pete internationally. Why do I say that? First, section 224 of the fiscal year 2021 National Defense Authorization Act added printed circuit boards to the defini- tion of microelectronics. Now we have a seat at the table within the Department of Defense. We are defined as part of microelectronics. Johnson: Fully recognized. Will Marsh