Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1512467
40 SMT007 MAGAZINE I DECEMBER 2023 e question is always, "What does all of this have to do with the PCB and EMS supplier industries?" It would be great to have a more positive message to send to the industry. But right now, it's hazy at best, and perhaps not all that consequential at worst, because we're still seeing almost singular focus on the semi- conductor industry with only rhetorical over- tures toward supporting the wider ecosystem. at's certainly true here in the U.S. in terms of CHIPS Act implementation. It's notable that the recent Calumet award was a DoD investment and not CHIPS Act money. Apart from some very broad state- ments that the Secretary of Commerce has made about support for the PCB ecosystem, we're still not seeing any real specificity about how this act will be used to catalyze a resur- gence across the industry. at's a real missed opportunity because these funds could be uti- lized to create greater economic activity and technical capacity across the ecosystem. In Europe, it's a somewhat similar dynamic. Europe is additionally challenged by the fact that, unlike the United States, the financing of its Chips Act is muddier. e European Chips Act meaningfully changed competition rules within the single market so that EU coun- tries can subsidize new chip facilities within their borders. at sounds great but individ- ual countries still need to allocate the funding, and there are interesting questions about how geographically dispersed these subsidies will be. ere's an open question about what all this means for the PCB and EMS supplier indus- tries. If you talk to European PCB manufactur- ers right now, they'll say the European Chips Act had nothing to do with them. On the other hand, IPC's advocacy in Europe is having an effect. We're getting some indication that there's at least a question about whether the European Union can more effectively be lever- aging the Chips Act to support more invest- ment in both research and capital investment. We'll see in the long term whether these initia- tives are good for the broader industry. Right now, there's no clear signal. How is continental Asia responding to this new strategic build-out in the Americas and Europe? Mitchell: Asia is making its own investments. We're seeing initiatives across many countries, including Japan and India, to name just a cou- ple. In fact, I was just in Japan with IPC CEO John Mitchell to meet with both government and corporate leadership. What's really inter- esting in Japan is that you have strong lead- ership in terms of materials and manufactur- ing equipment, even as their chip fabrication industry has lagged over the past 20 years or so. ey're making their own significant invest- ments to build up capability and capacity. So, bottom line, there is a global race to build capabilities and capacities. Each region is tak- ing a slightly different approach given the pol- itics and the strengths and weaknesses within those regions. We'll just have to see over time how these investments pan out and which countries make the right investments so that they can be on the cutting edge. Chris Mitchell