Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc (ASE, 日月光半導體), the world's biggest chip packager, and three other local firms yesterday obtained the government's approval to invest a total of US$99.6 million in China.
The decision marks the latest batch of local semiconductor companies to get a green light for investing in China, six months after the government gave the go-ahead to ASE and two local computer memory chipmakers, including Powerchip Semiconductor Corp (
ASE received the go-ahead for its plans to spend US$21.6 million to form a joint venture with NXP Semiconductors, which operates a factory in Suzhou, China. ASE plans to open the factory this quarter, as an addition to its first Chinese operation, Global Advanced Packaging Technology Ltd (
Late last year, the government lifted the ban on local chip testing and packaging service providers to offer services for low-end technologies in China after prolonged evaluation.
Lagging behind ASE on the Chinese market, Siliconware Precision Industries Co (矽品精密), the nation's second-biggest chip tester and packager, yesterday was also granted approval to invest US$30 million in its first Chinese project.
Greatek Electronics Inc
The four companies promised to invest NT$75 billion (US$2.28 billion) in Taiwan in three years.
China's semiconductor market is expected to expand by a compounded annual growth rate of 10.5 percent to US$122 billion in 2011, market research firm Gartner Inc forecast.
Investors reacted positively to the news, driving shares of the four semiconductor companies up by between 1.47 percent and 5.54 percent yesterday, compared with a 0.55 percent increase on the benchmark index.
RSS