Taiwan's ASE to expand advanced IC packaging services in Kaohsiung

Taipei, Aug. 10 (CNA) ASE Technology Holding Co., the world's largest IC packaging and testing services provider, has decided to expand its advanced assembly technology capacity in Kaohsiung.

In a news conference on Friday, ASE Technology Chief Financial Officer Joseph Tung (董宏思) said the company has signed an agreement to acquire a facility coded "K18" in Kaohsiung's Nanzih District from its affiliate Hung Ching Development and Construction Co. for about NT$5.26 billion (US$162 million).

Tung said the acquisition of the K18 plant aims to expand its sophisticated IC pumping packaging and flip chip packaging capacity at a time of a boom in demand for chips using emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence applications and high-performance computing (HPC) devices.

According to ASE Technology, the K18 facility is originally a project co-developed with Hung Ching in an agreement signed in 2020 but due to the urging by clients to provide more advanced packaging services, the tech group has decided to completely own the facility ASE Inc. by exercising the right of first refusal to purchase the plant from the affiliate.

The floor area of the K18 plant totals almost 33,000 ping (108,900 square meters), ASE Technology said.

ASE Technology has intensified its efforts in expanding its production.

In late June, ASE Technology announced it would work with Hung Ching to build the K28 plant in Kaohsiung. Construction is scheduled to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2026, and the plant will focus on advanced packaging and testing services to cater to a boom in the AI era.

Earlier this month, ASE Technology said it would spend about NT$701 million to purchase a parcel of land located in Kitakyushu-shi, Japan through subsidiary ASE Japan Co.

ASE Technology is planning to build an advanced packaging facility on the 160,000-square-meter site.

In addition to Japan, ASE Technology has said it did not rule out the possibility of expanding production in Mexico and the United States.

In July, ASE Technology announced it has opened a second facility in Silicon Valley through a sub-subsidiary to expand its capacity in the U.S. semiconductor testing market.

ISE Labs, a unit of ASE Technology's wholly owned subsidiary ASE Inc., has doubled its R&D lab and business space to more than 150,000 square meters with the new facility in San Jose and reinforced its commitment to Silicon Valley by expanding its footprint in North America.

ISE Labs' high-power burn-in solutions, which are vital to detecting early failures in a semiconductor device, are among the best and highest-performing in the industry, ASE Technology said.

In addition, Universal Scientific Industrial (Shanghai) Co., a subsidiary listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, has also purchased land in Mexico to build a facility to provide IC packaging and testing solutions to the automotive and power management supply chains in North America, according to ASE Technology.

Meanwhile, ASE Technology said it posted NT$51.60 billion in consolidated sales in July, a new high since November 2023, when revenue hit NT$54.51 billion. The July figure is up 10 percent from a month earlier and also up 6.7 percent from a year earlier.

In the first seven months of this year, ASE Technology's consolidated sales totaled NT$324.64 billion, up 2.89 percent from a year earlier.