Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1484263
NOVEMBER 2022 I PCB007 MAGAZINE 25 include related industries needed for chip pro- duction. As an example, you have a chip, you need to have the capability to assemble it, and you need a PCB to carry it, right? You can't just have a chip and not be able to use it. Matties: Right. e investment will spill into the bare board fabrication and assembly? Pedersen: Yes. I don't have proof this will hap- pen, but how can they do without it? I think the same with the U.S. CHIPS Act. You have a plan for five years. In Europe, we are slower. It's actually said that it shall be within 10 years, and that gives a little perspective of how many years we are behind. Matties: So, if a fabricator decides to make that investment today, then the work would come in and there would be an ROI in play in pretty short order? Pedersen: If I had the capability today, I would be able to fill a high-mix, low-volume factory quite fast. It's not necessarily just because there are a lot of customers coming, but there are those who have quite a big need. For example, we have requests from Ger- many, Denmark, and Sweden to give them DFM guidelines to design to this level. We tell them it will be soon, but we don't have it yet. If we use the parameters from the big companies, then we won't necessarily be able to use that for the smaller companies that are growing. We have companies in China that are investing in UHDI. I placed samples with them, and they Johnson: is is interesting, in that it seems that we're making moves here—IPC 2226, and the advanced packaging work that's about to hap- pen—this is strategically important for IPC. Pedersen: Yes. Customers are saying, "Tell us when you have the capability, and we will design accordingly." ere are not that many factories that can do, as an example, the high- mix, low-volume (HMLV) needed when you are in the early design stage, which means they don't have access to the existing manufactur- ing facilities. In China, there are a lot of invest- ments in this HMLV segment. But we also see a growing need in the automotive industry, which will end up in high volume. Barry Matties: How fast is this market moving? What's the demand increase year over year for ultra HDI? Pedersen: It's very hard to say, but my per- sonal impression is whenever we have a capa- bility, that capability will be filled to capacity some months aer availability. It takes time for design, but it's what I think will happen because we have too many customers now ask- ing, "When can you have capability, and when can we use these components? Because we can't use them today." Johnson: is is the situation that a CTO dreams about. Matties: Are the circuit board designers ready for ultra HDI? Pedersen: Yes, but they need the parameters. As an example, in the IPC European standards Steering Committee, Alison James from IPC Europe gave a presentation of how the Euro- pean Chips Act works toward related industry, not necessarily chips. If Europe will be invest- ing in chips, they need carriers and boards with a resolution that can carry these things. What I've heard is that the European Chips Act will If I had the capability today, I would be able to fill a high-mix, low-volume factory quite fast.