A Lookback to the Evolution of the PCB Industry with Happy Holden

Introduction to Happy Holden and an overview of his career in the PCB Industry

What drove the PCB manufacturing off-shore? The printed circuit industry has been all over the map, to begin with

Happy shares his early years in printed circuit manufacturing

Comparing CAD tools from the 80s and the present – computers, calculators, and software

Happy talks about photonic circuits back in 1998 and how it is a hundred thousand times more capable than electronic communication and have no signal integrity issue

HP’s first notebook computer

Happy retired from HP and moved to Taiwan

Happy started working at Gentex Michigan

The beginning of offshoring the PCB manufacturing and fabrication

In Asia, the printing circuit board is like printing money. It is the most profitable industry in the region

Globalization took over the industry – emphasis on profit versus jobs

Diversifying the supply chain. How to bring some of the manufacturing sides of the industry back to the US?

The $52 Billion budget (CHIPS Act 2022) is just a downpayment to bring the 30 years that were lost

Would companies start manufacturing their own products?

How did HDI technology come about?