{"id":72407,"date":"2026-04-28T18:28:50","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T12:58:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=72407"},"modified":"2026-04-28T18:29:05","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T12:59:05","slug":"pcb-supply-chain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/28-04-2026\/pcb-supply-chain","title":{"rendered":"Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) Supply Chain Disruptions\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS2\/IR; GS3\/Economy<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>In News<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The<strong> Middle East conflict<\/strong> has disrupted global supply chains for key raw materials used in <strong>printed circuit boards (PCBs)<\/strong>, driving sharp price increases across the electronics industry.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs<\/strong><strong>)<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It is a <strong>layered mechanical structure<\/strong> that holds and electrically connects <strong>components in a circuit.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It is used in almost all modern electronic devices like smartphones ,computers tablets, AI servers and smartwatches.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It provides the <strong>base for assembling electronic parts <\/strong>and guides the flow of electricity between them.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Raw Materials Used for PCB Manufacturing<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Resins:<\/strong> High-purity Polyphenylene Ether (PPE) and epoxy resins serve as critical base materials for laminates \u2014 the insulating substrate of the board.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Copper Foil:<\/strong> The primary conductive material, accounting for roughly 60% of total raw material costs.\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Glass Fibre: <\/strong>Used as a reinforcing material within the substrate to provide structural strength and insulation.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Helium &amp; Bromine: <\/strong>Qatar provides over a third of the world&#8217;s helium (used in semiconductor lithography), while two-thirds of bromine (used for etching) comes from Israel and Jordan.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Key Issues&nbsp;<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A strike on Saudi Arabia\u2019s Jubail petrochemical complex has <strong>disrupted production of a key material (PPE resin)<\/strong> used in printed circuit boards.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>China dominates global PCB manufacturing,<\/strong> accounting for over<strong> 50% of global output <\/strong>creating single-source concentration risk.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>India&#8217;s PCB industry remains heavily reliant<\/strong> on imported raw materials such as copper-clad laminates, specialty chemicals, and soldering compounds.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>India imports the bulk of its PCB requirements from China, Taiwan, and South Korea<\/strong>,\u00a0 making it a strategic vulnerability for defence, telecom, and EV sectors.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-background\" style=\"background-color:#fff2cc\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<p><strong>India&#8217;s Policy Interventions<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Electronics Component Manufacturing Scheme (ECMS), 2025: <\/strong>Approved by the Union Cabinet in April 2025 under MeitY with an outlay of \u20b922,919 crore.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Specifically targets PCBs, SMD passives, Li-ion cells, capacitors, connectors, copper laminates \u2014 areas of peak import dependence.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Offers up to 25% capital subsidy and 4\u20136% incentive on incremental sales \u2014 distinct from PLI (which rewards final product sales).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>PLI for Large Scale Electronics Manufacturing (LSEM): <\/strong>Attracted global players (Apple via Foxconn and Tata) to manufacture in India.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>India is now the world&#8217;s second-largest mobile phone manufacturer.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Limitation: <\/strong>focused on assembly, not component\/PCB manufacturing<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Semiconductor Mission (India Semiconductor Mission):<\/strong> Six semiconductor projects in execution; four more approved in Odisha, Punjab, and Andhra Pradesh.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Aims at a self-reliant semiconductor-to-PCB value chain by 2030.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source :IE<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><strong> In News <\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> The Middle East conflict has disrupted global supply chains for key raw materials used in printed circuit boards (PCBs), driving sharp price increases across the electronics industry.\u00a0 <\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><strong> Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) <\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> It is a layered mechanical structure that holds and electrically connects components in a circuit.\u00a0 <\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> It is used in almost all modern electronic devices like smartphones ,computers tablets, AI servers and smartwatches.\u00a0 <\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> It provides the base for assembling electronic parts and guides the flow of electricity between them. <\/li>\n<p><a href=\" https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/28-04-2026\/pcb-supply-chain \" class=\"btn btn-primary btn-sm float-end\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72407","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72407"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72407\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72409,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72407\/revisions\/72409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}