Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1513227
62 PCB007 MAGAZINE I DECEMBER 2023 Leonard: Yes, a short train or car ride and you are in a completely different territory with a unique culture, food, and population. You have to comply with that to be effective. Although I still believe that the English language is appro- priate when it comes to senior level manage- ment—and oen at the engineering level— when it comes to the operator level, education and training become very challenging because the local language matters and translation can mean significant costs. Francisco, what is the condition of the economic market here, and what do you see for the coming year? Francisco Fourcade: Europe has been prepar- ing itself economically, but a bit more slowly than the United States in terms of laying down a framework of legislation and then get- ting on with it. Europe is highly active in leg- islative terms but there are differences. For instance, the CHIPS Act in the U.S. is much different than pursuing the Chips Act here as we have 27 individual states in the European Union and a lot of bureaucracy between them. Everyone has to agree. You actually have very ingrained interests from each country that can sometimes create a political roller coaster. But we are gearing toward the same legisla- tive momentum you are beginning to realize in the United States. It will just take a bit longer here. In terms of the current market, the PCB business is suffering quite a lot. First, Chinese equipment and now deployment have bom- barded us with lower Chinese prices, which has been slowly poisoning the European mar- ket for ages. European fabricators must fol- low European regulations to do business, and yet conditions are different in China. Chinese products are not taxed higher than products built here. ere is no protection from the EU right now for European manufacturers, so it's not a level playing field. at is the feedback that I receive from the PCB fabricators, and we have fewer and fewer of them. at's really their main concern. Do you think any of the 27 state governments will step in to identify the printed circuit board as a critical component? If you continue to lose shops, then your national security is at risk. Leonard: Yes, that is exactly what we are doing. On the advocacy side, one of the main goals of our government relations team is to provide a sense of the big picture to the European Com- mission. We are pushing that button, and the European Commission is starting to listen. e issue is that policymakers don't always know the details of what electronics manufac- turing is about. ey know electronics. ey know computers. ey know chips. But they don't know the whole ecosystem. So, it's our job to raise the flag and spread the word that what matters is more than chips; if you only have silicon, you have nothing. You cannot get silicon to work if you don't have the whole eco- system around it. We are pushing an agenda of preach- ing , teaching , and educating policymak- ers to understand that to make chips oper- ate, you need PCBs and PCB assembly. You need materials and soldering. You need the full supply chain around it, and we need to Francisco Fourcade