Reps. Blake Moore (R-UT) and Anna Eshoo (D-CA) have reintroduced the Protecting Circuit Boards and Substrates Act, which aims to encourage domestic printed circuit board (PCB) production to help decrease American reliance on China.
According to a news release on Moore's congressional website, he considers it necessary for lawmakers to take further action to help America gain ground.
“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,” Moore said in the release. “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."
In his release, Moore mentioned that efforts taken so far to break dependance on China are not enough.
"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," he said.
The bill is positioned as a complement to incentives for domestic semiconductor manufacturing, according to the release. Eshoo described PCBs as "critical components of almost every piece of electronics used today," but noted America's decline in manufacturing this product.
"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," she said. "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."
China is the largest PCB producer in the world, accounting for approximately half of the global supply in 2020, PCB manufacturer Hillman Curtis reported. Taiwan, South Korea and Japan come after China in PCB production.
To incentivize domestic production and research, the bill would offer a 25% tax credit for purchasing PCBs made in America and would establish a program similar to the CHIPS for America Act to provide financial assistance to companies that manufacture or conduct research on PCBs, the release said.
Travis Kelly, chairman of the Printed Circuit Board Association of America, is one of many industry leaders to support the act.
"Remember, chips don’t float. They need PCBs to connect to any electronic device," he said. "With production of American-made semiconductors ramping up, PCBs are a key ingredient in revitalizing the nation’s microelectronics ecosystem. Without a robust domestic supply chain, we have become almost entirely reliant on foreign suppliers for the PCBs we need.”
