Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1535183
MAY 2025 I DESIGN007 MAGAZINE 61 ing pain points for their business. is year, we've stayed focused on the impact of tariffs, encouraging the administration to quickly pass pro-manufacturing tax provisions and to focus on the Defense Production Act invest- ments for PCBs and substrates. Aer repeated government studies and reports, we know we need to bolster our capability to manufacture printed circuit boards and IC substrates. We still need to stay focused on making sure those investments happen because the FY 25 bud- get didn't include funding for those investments despite the presidential determination in 2023. ere were three initial awards made. We celebrated those as great for the industry. e 2025 budget didn't include any funding. We fought hard over the last year to have some of that funding restored in the Senate Defense Appropriations Bill, but ultimately, Congress couldn't pass a budget. So, the Continuing Resolution through the remainder of FY 25 just carries forward prior year funding levels. Unfortunately, specific call-outs for PCB investments don't make it into that type of budget. So, we've been spending time on the Hill, pressing for that funding and raising awareness because Congress is starting the process for FY 26 NDAA and appropriations, and we want to make sure that funding for PCB manufacturing is part of that discussion. Matties: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is obviously pro-military. He wants to beef up our military, and there seems to be a lot of intent to do this, but will the funding come through? His stated focus is on lethality and force read- iness. Certainly, this readiness aspect is part of that conversation: readiness to maintain and manufacture the electronics that go into virtually every piece of technology across the defense ecosystem. We need to ensure resil- ience and the most advanced level of tech- nology in our national defense electronics. Johnson: Are we doing enough to get the baseline capacity required for critical defense, let alone any consumer-type production? We're advocating for more investment. We were happy to see a statement from the Defense Appropriations Committee in the Senate Appropriations Bill last year that encouraged funding last year and continued investment. We're making the case to the Hill that we need to continue investing in the industry if we want to meet defense needs by a spe- cific goal date. We need to continue that effort. We've drawn attention to other Fed- eral efforts also. For example, the Office of Strategic Capital was created in 2022, and later Congress gave authority to make invest- ments and loans into the supply chain. ose investment categories include 31 covered technology categories, a number of which are focused on microelectronics. But when they issued their FY 25 investment strategy, all the focus was on semiconductor manu- facturing. is is one example where we're pressing Congress to ensure program's like this direct investment into component-level technology in the supply chain, including printed circuit board fabrication, IC sub- strates, and PCB assembly. Are we doing enough? We're using every opportunity possible to draw more invest-