Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1460418
MARCH 2022 I PCB007 MAGAZINE 71 Marsh: at's important because of the fol- lowing two statistics. First, the domestic PCB industry is literally still contracting over the past 20 years. We have gone from over 2,500 PCB/PCBA domestic companies to less than 145 in 20 years. Second, 20 years ago the U.S. controlled 26% of the global market share for printed circuit boards. Today that market share number is 4%. While I don't know the statistics for semiconductors that are produced over- seas. I believe it's in the range of 70–80%. You can see the trendline that our domestic indus- try has followed over the past 20 years. Johnson: I saw recently that the U.S. market share for semiconductor production is 13%. at lines up with your overseas number. Marsh: In the U.S., that's correct. I participated in the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), Washington, D.C., virtual client, and the fact sheets they provided were fascinating, astonishing, and scary. When we provided the information in brief- ings to the Departments of Defense and Com- merce, which recognize "145 companies" by their industry surveys, it was widely accepted that this is not a secure nor resilient sup- ply chain for national security purposes. For Department of Defense purposes, to depend on U.S. companies to provide products for U.S. ITAR-qualified capabilities weapon systems, this industry must at least be acknowledged as a potential problem. Our job has been to get everyone to acknowledge the problem, and we do that through three ways: educate, advocate, and legislate. Johnson: at must be concerning to the DoD. Marsh: When we talk about the companies declining, we put it in the context of global market share declining. at ties in Depart- ment of Defense from a national security and an economic security standpoint. e last administration and the current administration have both acknowledged that microelectron- ics, as an ecosystem, is considered one of the top six technology pillars that the Department of Defense must protect. Not only do we now have a seat as defined by section 224 microelec- tronics, but we are also talking about an eco- system issue at the highest level for national security purposes. at's a good thing. Secretary Heidi Shyu runs the research and engineering division as undersecretary of defense for R&E. She's now putting the dol- lars and the policies in place to acknowledge there's a problem, not only with our industry, but shoring up the supply chain domestically, so that she has supply for the things that the Pentagon needs to buy. at's a pretty impor- tant position to have. e final point before we dive into each pil- lar is that the Department of Defense is also in the process of qualifying printed circuit boards under the Defense Production Act (DPA) Title III. You must have a presiden- tial determination to be on a list, to qualify for emergency use of funds for particular technologies or capabilities. For example, the hypersonics industrial base is right above printed circuit boards; both are being added or qualified. What that also says to the industry is that Defense and Commerce recognize that there's a trend going down and want us to be on the presidential determination (DPA) list. As we saw under COVID, Trump invoked DPA titles. You must have a presidential determination to be on a list, to qualify for emergency use of funds for particular technologies or capabilities.