Happy Holden, a legend in the PCB Industry and one of our favorite Altium Industry Expert contributors gives us a trip to his 53 years of experience in the industry. From a chemical engineer, and PCB manufacturing expert to an educator with his countless contribution to the PCB industry’s wealth of knowledge through his books, column, and keynote presentations.
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Show Highlights:
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?

Links and Resources:
Connect with Happy Holden on LinkedIn
Read Happy Holden’s Articles on Altium’s Resource Page
Read Happy Holden’s Biography on HPMuseum.org
Buy Happy Holden’s Printed Circuits Handbook, Seventh Edition
Download FREE Ebook I-Connect007 Publishes Automation eBook by Happy Holden
Watch the Previous Episode with Happy Holden: The Father of HDI PCBs