IF ANYONE SITS in on enough supply chain meetings, it wonโt take long before the phrase โChina Plus Oneโ comes up. It has become the prevailing corporate mantra.
Driven by tariffs, geopolitical tensions and the lingering scars of pandemic-era supply chain disruptions, OEMs and EMS providers across North America and Europe are desperately looking for the exits.
Many are pointing to Vietnam, Thailand, India and Malaysia and declaring a new era of diversified printed circuit board procurement.
On paper, it sounds good.
But as someone who has spent decades navigating the bare printed circuit board market and connecting Western buyers with Asian manufacturing, I need to deliver a heavy dose of reality…
Read more in Circuits Assembly.