After filing an application with the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) last month, Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc (ASE, 日月光半導體) plans to submit its bid to take over Siliconware Precision Industry Co (SPIL, 矽品精密) to China’s competition watchdog this month, a source said yesterday.
Winning approval for the deal from Chinese and Taiwanese authorities would bring the NT$128.7 billion (US$4.06 billion) deal one step closer to completion, the source said, adding that the companies plan to secure shareholder support for the creation of a holding company after receiving regulatory approval.
The companies’ boards in May agreed to form the holding company by the end of next year. ASE Industrial Holding Co Ltd (日月光投資控股) is to own 100 percent stakes in both ASE and SPIL, while both firms would remain separate legal entities.
The companies are confident about getting the nod from the FTC, the source said.
Seeking approval from China’s Ministry of Commerce would be the next step, the source said.
“The deal has an 80 percent chance of winning the approval of Chinese authorities, since China also launches mergers and acquisitions worldwide,” said Eric Teng (鄧志華), general manager of Japan-based Namics Corp, which supplies key materials in the manufacturing of semiconductors.
ASE and SPIL are also in discussion with the US Fair Trade Commission about whether the deal would require its approval, but it is unlikely it would, given that the firms have less than 50 percent combined market share in the US, the source said.
SPIL does not have any manufacturing plants in the US, while ASE operates one, the source said.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day