Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc (ASE, 日月光半導體), yesterday said it is in talks with Siliconware Precision Industries Co (SPIL, 矽品精密) to create a joint-venture holding company in a last-ditch attempt to push for a merger of the two firms.
ASE’s proposal, if accepted, would put an end to a nine-month ownership fight, as SPIL has resisted a “hostile” takeover bid by the world’s biggest chip tester and packager.
“The company has talked to SPIL about the feasibility of forming a joint holding company. We have also exchanged views [about the proposal],” ASE said in a statement.
The company plans to make a formal announcement after the two sides reach an agreement and receive approvals from their respective boards, ASE said in the statement.
ASE’s comments came after the Chinese-language Liberty Times yesterday reported that the two firms were scheduled to announce later this week an agreement on forming an industrial holding company after a meeting between ASE chairman Jason Chang (張虔生) and SPIL chairman Bough Lin (林文伯) last month.
The proposed holding company is planning to list its shares in the US, possibly the NASDAQ, which has a higher price-earnings ratio of about 25 times, compared with 14 times for Taiwan stock exchange, the report said, citing unidentified sources.
In a separate statement, SPIL confirmed plans about forming a joint holding company.
“The negotiations are still under way and the company does not guarantee that the talks would lead to an agreement,” SPIL said in the statement.
In March, ASE proposed a new industrial holding company that would hold 100 percent equity interests in ASE and SPIL, with the two companies retaining their legal entities.
The proposal was made after ASE failed to win approval from the Fair Trade Investment Commission for its second tender offer to increase its stake in SPIL to 49 percent.
The latest proposal demonstrates ASE’s determination to fully acquire SPIL to expand the company’s economies of scale in order to fend off growing competition from Chinese rivals.
ASE has increased its holding of SPIL from about 25 percent, which it obtained via the first tender offer launched in October last year, to 33.28 percent in March.
Market reaction to the latest news was positive, with ASE shares rallying 3.84 percent to NT$32.45 and SPIL shares climbing 2.46 percent to NT$50, outperforming the TAIEX, which edged down 0.52 percent, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
BUSINESS UPDATE: The iPhone assembler said operations outlook is expected to show quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year growth for the second quarter Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported strong growth in sales last month, potentially raising expectations for iPhone sales while artificial intelligence (AI)-related business booms. The company, which assembles the majority of Apple Inc’s smartphones, reported a 19.03 percent rise in monthly sales to NT$510.9 billion (US$15.78 billion), from NT$429.22 billion in the same period last year. On a monthly basis, sales rose 14.16 percent, it said. The company in a statement said that last month’s revenue was a record-breaking April performance. Hon Hai, known also as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), assembles most iPhones, but the company is diversifying its business to
Apple Inc has been developing a homegrown chip to run artificial intelligence (AI) tools in data centers, although it is unclear if the semiconductor would ever be deployed, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The effort would build on Apple’s previous efforts to make in-house chips, which run in its iPhones, Macs and other devices, according to the Journal, which cited unidentified people familiar with the matter. The server project is code-named ACDC (Apple Chips in Data Center) within the company, aiming to utilize Apple’s expertise in chip design for the company’s server infrastructure, the newspaper said. While this initiative has been
GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓), the world’s No. 3 silicon wafer supplier, yesterday said that revenue would rise moderately in the second half of this year, driven primarily by robust demand for advanced wafers used in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, a key component of artificial intelligence (AI) technology. “The first quarter is the lowest point of this cycle. The second half will be better than the first for the whole semiconductor industry and for GlobalWafers,” chairwoman Doris Hsu (徐秀蘭) said during an online investors’ conference. “HBM would definitely be the key growth driver in the second half,” Hsu said. “That is our big hope
The consumer price index (CPI) last month eased to 1.95 percent, below the central bank’s 2 percent target, as food and entertainment cost increases decelerated, helped by stable egg prices, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. The slowdown bucked predictions by policymakers and academics that inflationary pressures would build up following double-digit electricity rate hikes on April 1. “The latest CPI data came after the cost of eating out and rent grew moderately amid mixed international raw material prices,” DGBAS official Tsao Chih-hung (曹志弘) told a news conference in Taipei. The central bank in March raised interest rates by