Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1522641
22 PCB007 MAGAZINE I JUNE 2024 bondply family of materials for packaging sub- strates. We will see a far more intimate rela- tionship between the board or the intercon- nect and the IC than in the past. That segues into the advocacy work you are doing as the president of EIPC. Putting my EIPC hat on for a moment, pack- aging and interconnect are our drivers with our Letter of Urgency to European government leaders. It is an admonition that they don't let this all go. We're down to around 170 board shops in Europe now from having 500 shops 20 years ago, and much like the U.S., we have an aging population of engineers and technicians in Europe. We have difficulty in the U.S. and Europe accessing investment capital, which is much easier to get in Asia. We don't lack the ambition, but capital struc- tures that require very short-term returns on investment in a matter of a few years are diffi- cult, whereas in Asia they have decades, even multiple decades, for any expected ROI. We are asking our governments to help us here because if they don't, we will gradually lose the whole of the PCB industry. e supply base is already decimated. I have spent my life in materials, and there are only two full-scale plants le in Europe. If we carry on this way, we'll end up being entirely reli- ant on external supplies. e big focus, certainly for me, is defense. Do you really want to have your defense requirements met by a foreign, potentially hostile country's com- pany? at's a question. Communication is part of defense and security. Communication is infra- structure. is is the new Cold War. State-spon- sored espionage is a big thing for all of us. It's how wars are won. As nations, we need to have control over our defense. It is the primary responsibility of government. If we haven't got good comms, we haven't got defense. e whole PCB production for the space and defense sector in Europe is only $200– $300 million for the electronics, but that small piece supports and underpins a strategically crucial multi-billion-dollar industry because, without the electronics, nothing else works. You can have a missile, and without electron- ics, it doesn't do anything. That is the "chips don't float" message. You can have the best technology in the world, but unless you can also provide the environment in which it's actually opera- tional, it doesn't matter. at's the message we're trying to get across. I know that chips are sexy, and PCBs are not. Politicians can't be expected to understand this unless we explain it to them. I've spent a lot of time explaining this to politicians in Europe, and they get it when you sit in front of them with examples. ough many of us are work- ing as hard as we can to talk to anybody who'll listen, we all need to do more work on this. Making silicon in North America and Europe doesn't get us anywhere because the rest of the interconnect package is still at the mercy of other nations. Please take it seriously. What do we have without security? Noth- ing. Electronics is such an important part of defense now. That's a great place to end, Alun. I appreciate the education on materials, and thank you for your work on behalf of the PCB industry. ank you, Marcy. PCB007