Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1506834
30 SMT007 MAGAZINE I SEPTEMBER 2023 of vulnerability in the microelectronics sup- ply chain. Chips sit on printed circuit boards (PCBs), critical and complex components of almost every piece of electronics used today. All chips are mounted on PCBs, which allow them to communicate with the systems they power. Currently, as with semiconductors, China dominates PCB production, creating 45% of PCBs globally, while the U.S. market share is only 4%." e Securing Semiconductor Supply Chains Act of 2023 2 "requires the SelectUSA program to solicit comments from state economic devel- opment organizations regarding federal efforts to increase foreign direct investment in semi- conductor-related manufacturing and pro- duction. SelectUSA must then report to Con- gress on such comments and the strategies that SelectUSA may employ to increase such invest- ment and to secure the U.S. semiconductor sup- ply chain. SelectUSA is a Department of Com- merce program established to coordinate fed- eral efforts to attract and retain business invest- ment in the United States." As a long-standing former member of the House Intelligence Committee, Eshoo then points out she knows "the risks of foreign-made products embedded in the technology that pow- ers everything from the medical devices that keep us healthy to the military equipment our servicemembers rely on to protect our nation. is dependence on foreign suppliers gives our adversaries the opportunity to compromise our phones, computers, and other electronics by inserting malicious components into PCBs." In response to this risk, Eshoo, states why she introduced the bipartisan HR 3249. "My bill is modeled on the CHIPS program for semicon- ductors by providing incentives for the PCB and substrate industries to invest in domes- tic PCB manufacturing facilities," she writes. "ese new facilities will support thousands of high-quality jobs and help train workers across the country, all while bringing PCB production back to the U.S." SMT007 References 1. "Eshoo: Why we must bring back chip manufac- turing to the U.S.," by Anna G. Eshoo, The Mercury News, Aug. 1, 2023. 2. HR 752, Securing Semiconductor Supply Chains Act of 2023, introduced by Rep. Anna Eshoo, congress.gov. Chips are just one source of vulnerability in the microelectronics supply chain. My congressional district was named for the materials that semiconductors are made of— Silicon Valley. But although chips are now found in everything from smartwatches to fighter jets, few semiconductors are made in the valley or anywhere in the United States. Thirty years ago, the United States manufac- tured nearly 40% of all semiconductor chips, but today we produce only 12%. The industry's supply chains are fragile, leaving our economy and national security vulnerable to disruption by adversarial foreign governments and sup- ply chain shocks, and we experienced this first- hand throughout the pandemic and over the past few years with the scarcity of the products we rely on. To revitalize our domestic semiconductor industry, Congress passed the CHIPS and Sci- ence Act last year, and last week, the House of Representatives built on that investment by Op-ed Reprinted from The Mercury News Eshoo: Why we must bring back chip manufacturing to the U.S.