President Joe Biden signed a presidential determination (PD) authorizing the use of Defense Production Act to support the nation’s domestic Printed Circuit Boards (PrCB) and Advanced Packaging industrial base.
The PD allows the Department of Defense (DoD) to utilize its Defense Production Act (DPA) Title III authorities to invest in advanced microelectronics capacity and ensure the production of state-of-the-art integrated circuits in the United States.
President Biden’s Executive Order 14017 on “America’s Supply Chains” prioritized the need to support and advance the domestic PrCB and Advanced Packaging industrial base to addresses strategic vulnerabilities to U.S. military readiness and challenges to American economic competitiveness.
PrCBs are critical components in all electronics used in the national defense, economic, environmental, energy, and healthcare management sectors. Advanced packaging allows multiple devices to be packaged and mounted on a single electronic device. Advances in materials, manufacturing tooling, and process development are imperative in advanced packaging to support rapidly evolving technology and the continuously shrinking feature sizes.
“The rapid changes occurring within the microelectronics industry make it imperative for the Department of Defense to ensure that this critical sector can support the nation’s defense needs. The Presidential Determination will allow the DoD to use additional tools to ensure the resilience of American microelectronics manufacturing,” Anthony Di Stasio, Director of the Manufacturing Capability Expansion and Investment Prioritization (MCEIP) office. “We are committed to working with our interagency partners to expand the microelectronics domestic industrial base in the United States.”
The PD allows the DoD’s Office of Defense Production Act Investments (DPAI), which is part of the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition & Sustainment (A&S), to leverage DPA Title III incentives, including purchases and purchase commitments, to support the PrCB and Advanced Packaging industrial base.
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