Press Release

Printed Electronics: This One WILL Come Back to Bite Us

Who runs the largest conference in the fastest growth segment of the printed circuits industry? IPC? No. CPCA, then? No. TPCA or JPCA? No. It�fs not EIPC. It�fs not NEPCON or Productronica.

Next question: What is the fastest growing PCB segment? Flex typically grows at a pretty fast pace--NOT. HDI seems to be taking off in Asia and gaining more ground in North America--NOT.

Answer: The fastest growing segment of the PCB industry is printed electronics, by far. And, one of the largest conferences and tradeshows with a printed electronics focus is produced by IDTechEx.
A five billion-dollar industry today, the printed electronics industry is projected to reach $300 billion in 20 years and our industry is not taking part. If fact, we�fre about to be left in the dust.

At the IDTechEx (printed electronics conference and expo) in San Jose, California last January, there weren�ft any fabricators exhibiting. Nor did I run into any fabricators walking the floor. IPC was non-existent. Those developing printed or printable electronics (PE) are talking about building billions of circuits and basically, our industry wasn�ft present. There were 700 engineers, product designers and scientists sitting in conferences and walking through the exhibition (very small at this point, but think Semicon-size in the not-too-distant future) looking for solutions to some of their circuit and interconnection challenges.

Market researcher Electronics Trends said this about PE: �gIt can be safely said that printed electronics is a disruptive technology.�h
PE is creating amazing new opportunities for electronics, allowing circuits to be placed everywhere, on everything and at very low cost. Printed Electronics will open doors to markets we have never thought of. This is a tremendous opportunity for fabricators. There�fs also a real danger here, however.

The PE industry is moving at light speed. I�fm sure many of you are saying: �gThis industry is just about RFID tags and low-tech circuits.�h For now, that�fs true.

Technologists are working feverishly to drive down the cost of RFID tags to a few cents each. Once they do this, the doors will blow open, creating a market for billions of these smart tags each year. Smarter tags are also in the works, which can cost tens of cents or tens of dollars. These more complex circuits with microprocessors attached offer greater functionality and therefore greater value. This progression of technical capabilities will continue. Base materials and conductive inks are advancing along with the systems (equipment) used to bring them together.

The rapid pace of innovation in the PE industry will come back to bite us. Instead of playing an active role in the development of this industry, we will become subordinate to the PE industry in very short order. How soon? Soon.