Reducing the size and complexity of circuit boards is essential for companies to meet market demand. In major product sectors, passive resistors and components represent a significant fraction of the solder joints, consume almost half the surface area and account for the majority of the component placements. Embedded passives technology can allow significant reduction in the number of these surface passives. An enabling technology for the electronics industry, for North American PCB manufacturers its implementation can provide significant product and service differentiation from offshore competitors. This international conference held June 2003 brought together speakers from Japan, Finland, Singapore, Taiwan and the United States to address this critical new technology.