South SFV Today

WASHINGTON, D.C. – On May 11 Reps. Anna G. Eshoo (CA-16) and Blake Moore (UT-1) announced bipartisan legislation to bolster domestic printed circuit board (PCB) production and strengthen supply chain security. The Protecting Circuit Boards and Substrates Act will encourage domestic PCB manufacturing, research, and development to reduce supply chain disruptions, address national security concerns related to foreign PCB production, and enhance America's economic leadership.

"Printed circuit boards (PCBs) are critical components of almost every piece of electronics used today. However, over the past two decades, a vast majority of PCB manufacturing has moved offshore, making PCBs vulnerable to tampering by foreign adversaries, and only 4% of PCBs are manufactured in the United States. If we want to ensure technological superiority across the global stage and strengthen national security, we need to bring PCB production back to America, which is exactly what my bipartisan bill does," said Rep. Eshoo.

“Now is the moment for Congress to take decisive action by furthering robust legislation to reshore our manufacturing, strengthen our supply chains, and prioritize national security,” said Rep. Moore. "The Protecting Circuit Boards and Substrates Act provides a tried and true approach to incentivizing American companies to produce printed circuit boards here at home, which will maintain the integrity of military and national security commercial materials, boost our economy and workforce, and usher in a new era of American manufacturing. The progress we have made on semiconductors is a significant step in the right direction, but congressional support for the entire microelectronics ecosystem is needed to reduce reliance on China. I am grateful to reintroduce this bill with Congresswoman Eshoo and am hopeful this bipartisan effort will successfully move through the legislative process."

Background

PCBs are the material on which semiconductors sit (often the green-colored surface in images of chips) and are a critical part of the semiconductor supply chain. An assessment from the Department of Commerce and the Department of Homeland Security called for domestic investment and production of key information and communications technology products such as PCBs.

The Protecting Circuit Boards and Substrates Act does the following to incentivize domestic PCB manufacturing and R&D:

1. Establishes a financial assistance program, modeled on the CHIPS Act, within the Commerce Department for American facilities manufacturing or researching PCBs; and
2. Provides a 25% tax credit for entities that purchase American-manufactured PCBs.

A one-page summary of the bill can be found here and the bill text can be found here.

“This bipartisan bill addresses well-known vulnerabilities in U.S. electronics manufacturing, taking a ‘silicon-to-systems’ approach that prioritizes greater innovation and resiliency across the entire industry. We thank Reps. Eshoo and Moore for their leadership, and we call on all Members of Congress to support this bill,” said IPC President and CEO John W. Mitchell.

“From F-35s to F-150s, the modern world is built on printed circuit boards, and we need to make more of them in America. This bill will lead to new factories, high paying jobs and an ecosystem to support the work being done by our colleagues in the semiconductor industry,” said David Schild, Executive Director of the Printed Circuit Board Association of America (PCBAA).

Issues: Technology & Innovation 

Original source can be found here