Joe Biden invokes Defence Production Act for printed circuit board production
- The US will spend US$50 million on domestic and Canadian production of the boards, which are used for missiles, radar and other applications
- Industry groups have called for such a move, saying there was not enough domestic production needed to support the US electronics manufacturing industry
US President Joe Biden on Monday invoked the Defence Production Act to spend US$50 million on domestic and Canadian production of printed circuit boards, citing the technology’s importance to national defence.
Printed circuit boards are incorporated into missiles and radars, as well as electronics used for energy and healthcare.
Without presidential action under the act, “United States industry cannot reasonably be expected to provide the capability for the needed industrial resource, material, or critical technology item in a timely manner,” Biden wrote in the memo.
“I find that action to expand the domestic production capability for printed circuit boards and advanced packaging is necessary to avert an industrial resource or critical technology item shortfall that would severely impair national defence capability,” Biden said.
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The move would speed up contracts, said Franklin Turner, a government contracts lawyer at McCarter & English, “by streamlining and prioritising the procurement processes for these critical technologies, which are used in a variety of defence theatres around the world, including the current conflict in Ukraine”.
Industry groups had called for such a move by Washington last year, saying there was not enough domestic production needed to support the US electronics manufacturing industry.
The Defence Production Act ruling also calls for more “advanced packaging” that allows multiple devices to be packaged and mounted on a single electronic device shrinking them and making power use more efficient.
