IPC International Community magazine an association member publication
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106 I-CONNECT007 MAGAZINE I APRIL 2026 Congratulations! What other prod- ucts are you currently working on? I can't say too much because of our non-disclosure agreements, but we are working on some computer peripheral products with several OEMs. We were part of the Amazon accelerator, for example, which was great for us. They want to stay engaged with us, and, of course, several big companies are interested in our prog- ress toward multilayer capability and certi- fication. We are working on a four-layer design that we hope to start on in late Q2 or Q3. OEMs in the LED markets in the UK and greater Asia are also interested in what we have to offer. We also have some industrial applications specifically related to materials handling, and this year we will go to scale. It's all very exciting for us. What do you mean by going to scale in this example? For production volume, that would be 200,000 to 300,000 square meters annually on the first line, with plans for the second line to produce 1 million square meters annually. The first line is 600 meters wide, and it's a continuous process. The production line will be 1,500 meters wide, increasing capacity by three times. That's not big by standard laminate standards, but it's a significant amount of laminate to produce. Especially when you're talking about a brand- new product and lines. It sounds like, surprisingly, you've had solid reception from the OEM sector. How has the education process been? Yes, we've been up against all the naysayers. Many in the U.S. and the UK told me, "Steve, that will never work," but it is working. We have many good people on board and on our advisory panel, includ- ing Alun Morgan, Emma Hudson, and Murali Sethu- madhavan, who was formerly Innovations Director with Rogers. Our strategy is similar to Rogers', and, like most laminate suppliers, we are OEM-driven. We are framing Soluboard as an advanced mate- rial, meaning it's a specialty laminate that needs to be spec'd in on the drawing by the de- signers and OEMs. Whilst our customers might be PCB fab shops and CEMs, the specifier must be an OEM. All our work has been OEM-driven educational programs, just like here at the Global Electronics Association. We're trying to influ- ence and educate, which is one of the hardest parts. We've been in a different country every month for the past two years, presenting at various semi- nars, conferences, and workshops. It's a really difficult challenge because there isn't an IPC spec sheet or a material slash sheet yet for Soluboard. We are a true disruptor. We've got to get the specs caught up, so there's a lot of work to be done. We are relying on AABUS (As Agreed Between User and Supplier) relationships. It's built on a lot of trust now. Because Jiva is a young company still in early de- velopment phases for your product or products, how are things on the investment side? Yes, we are also investment-driven. Our custom- ers, investors, and stakeholders want us to achieve commercial traction as soon as possible, which will require double-sided boards before we spend much more money developing a multilayer product. But it's good, and exciting. We do believe that peo- ple genuinely want this product. Steve, you are, no doubt, following the stories de- veloping on the glass fiber shortage and copper and base laminate price increases affecting the supply chain. What does that mean for Jiva? Yes, I have, and I believe this is our moment. The focus of all the laminate guys is on the very high end: the AI servers, the 40- to 100- -layer boards, and military and aerospace. Those markets can take those price increases. The guys at the bottom of that food chain—the consumer market, two-layer boards—is the market we are looking to serve, and our time is absolutely now. We always said we would be able to enter the market at parity with standard FR-4 pricing. We be- Steve D river