Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1534385
APRIL 2025 I PCB007 MAGAZINE 13 scale and global footprint, a key differ- entiator for our customers. With the Syracuse, New York, facil- ity coming on, we'll be adding more defense capacity in the United States. If future infrastructure projects require it, such as some of the announcements around generative AI in the U.S. have indicated, we will be there to add to that capacity and supply chain capability. How is the Malaysia facility going? We are open and booking business. We're anticipating the start of real revenue in Q1, and need to ramp to about a break-even point, which is $30 to $35 million a quarter, by the end of Q3. It is a steep ramp ahead of us, but I was just there and saw that the team is com- ing together and very focused on yield, which, of course, is the swing factor for volume manu- facturing of printed circuit boards. Are you seeing the benefits of China Plus One? ere has definitely been increasing customer interest. We have four anchor customers in Malaysia. ey are our priority in terms of starting up, but we have room for others. We have been talking to and sampling other cus- tomers as well. In terms of the original plan, we were a bit delayed getting up and into volume production, but now that we're there, I like what I'm seeing. Most of the time, when setting up a complex manufacturing facility, schedules can shift. Too many things come up with such a com- plex facility. I would say the biggest variable that we ran into was the complexity of what we're building. We're building 16- to 18-layer count boards. at's our average, but we're actually build- ing boards with even higher layer counts. We didn't understand that our customers hadn't audited facilities with that kind of complexity before, so their schedules had to be redefined as they went through that process. You can only hurry that process along so much. at's it. It's certainly a learning experience. In Syracuse, we will be working hand in hand with major customers on how to effectively bring up that facility, get things documented, understand thoroughly the audit schedule, and so on. Let's talk about substrates, and your Advanced Technology facility in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. Aer we acquired the i3 assets, we moved all our substrate production to Chippewa Falls. e production facility is located in a sepa- rate building from our PCB production facil- ity there. We just added significant equipment sets into the substrate facility specifically tar- geted at getting to customer requirements for substrates as they've shied over time. is is a small-volume facility focused on defense requirements, and I'm pleased with our progress there. We have continued to mod- ify and grow that facility as customer demand has started to become much more real. Now let's talk about your role as chair of the IPC Board of Directors. What can you share? I've been involved in the organization for about 10 years. IPC has been growing over time, shiing from what has been viewed as a standards organization to a much broader and global representation of electronics manufac- turing. I've really enjoyed being part of that. As the CEO, John Mitchell has done a