Europe needs PCB manufacturing; silicon isn't enough
During Evertiq Expo in Berlin earlier this June, EIPC president Alun Morgan took to the stage to provide listeners with an overview of the state of the electronics industry, and where we currently are heading – and also to shine the spotlight on the importance of our domestic PCB industry.
Evertiq took the opportunity to have a chat with Mr Morgan following his presentation.
According to the EIPC president, things are looking better – but there are still reasons to be cautious.
“We started this year with no expectation of being really any real change. We certainly didn't expect anything to happen until the summer. But now we are seeing upticks in the economic activity, in GDP, particularly in Europe, and we're seeing a positive sign.”
EIPC track the purchasing power indices, which is the confidence level of people buying electronics. and this now is ticking into positive territory for the first time in more than a year. So as Alun says, there is reason to be cautiously optimistic.
“Interest rates now are dropping down to normal rates again. We, of course, still have geopolitical tensions. We still have the war in Ukraine. However, despite all this, we are now seeing all the economies in Europe showing positive tracking upwards. So what's expected is that this year will continue to consolidate to some degree. Most forecasts I look at show 2025 should be for electronics, a really good year. So it's about time we had one. And all the indicators are showing us this direction.”
Silicon alone doesn’t work
There are currently moves being made to revitalise the semiconductor industry in Europe through the EU Chips Act. However, as pointed out by the EIPC, the region needs to invest in more than just chips.
“We also need to invest in our PCB, in our materials, and this is a very strong message we want to give. However, the demand will be there. So where there is demand, we have a chance to do something.”
The EIPC issued a letter of urgency in April to government leaders, calling for explicit assistance to the European PCB industry – including but not limited to direct financial aid, access to internationally competitive energy pricing and tax breaks. If nothing changes the European PCB industry risks falling even further behind. And as Alun says, silicon needs to be packaged. It needs to be assembled and interconnected on circuit boards.
Just to illustrate the urgency of this development, some 20 years ago, Europe had roughly 555 PCB manufacturers and in 2024, that number has shrunk to roughly 170. And as Alun mentions, there have been forecasts that, by 2035 there will be no European PCB manufacturers left, if nothing is done to curb the development.
“The reality is we had around 5 billion Euros worth of production and in the year 2000, we have around 2 billion dollars worth, and you know, I think we have to make sure we maintain that 2 billion and start to grow this now. If we drop down from 2 billion, we get to the point where we're not viable anymore.”
Make sure to listen to the interview in its entirety.
