Lawmakers File US Printed Circuit Boards Incentives Bill

Reps. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., and Blake Moore, R-Utah, filed the Supporting American Printed Circuit Boards Act Friday in a bid to encourage U.S. printed circuit board manufacturing alongside current efforts to bolster the domestic semiconductor industry. Congressional conferees are working to marry elements of the House-passed America Creating Opportunities for Manufacturing, Pre-Eminence in Technology and Economic Strength Act (HR-4521) and Senate-passed U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (S-1260), which both include $52 billion in chip incentives (see 2205050025). The Supporting American Printed Circuit Boards Act would create a $3 billion Commerce Department-administered financial assistance program modeled after that in the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors for America Act for U.S.-based facilities making or researching PCBs. The measure would also provide a 25% tax credit for the purchase or acquisition of U.S.-made PCBs. PCBs “are a critical part of that supply chain and are at risk of tampering vulnerabilities related to offshore production, yet the U.S. global production share of PCBs is only approximately four percent, compared to China’s 52 percent,” Eshoo 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.”