Chip testing and packaging company Siliconware Precision Industries Co (SPIL, 矽品精密) yesterday said it plans to invest NT$80 billion (US$2.86 billion) to build a new plant in Changhua County’s Erlin Township (二林).
SPIL is investing in new capacity as 5G-related applications and an expanding stay-at-home economy have boosted demand for chip testing and packaging services, and to ease persistent constraints in the semiconductor supply chain.
A subsidiary of ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控), SPIL said in a statement that the first phase of the construction would be completed next year.
Photo courtesy of Siliconware Precision Industries Co
“The plant’s groundbreaking today is just the first of a series of capacity expansions,” SPIL chairman Tsai Chi-wen (蔡祺文) said in the statement.
The Erlin plant would be a major base providing high-end chip testing and packaging services. It should help SPIL fend off growing competition in the wake of capacity buildup in the US and Europe to reduce dependence on Asia, Taiwan in particular, for semiconductors, the statement said.
The new plant would create 7,500 jobs after reaching full capacity in the next eight to 10 years, the statement said.
It would occupy 14.5 hectares, three times larger than its existing plant in the county.
ASE is the world’s biggest supplier of chip testing and packaging services.
The Kaohsiung-based company told investors last month that a supply-demand imbalance continues to affect the whole semiconductor chain.
“That is why many of our customers have signed long-term agreements,” ASE said at the time.
Taiwan’s chip testing and packaging services providers are forecast to see production value grow 8.28 percent to NT$575.2 billion this year, compared with last year’s NT$531.2 billion, the Market Intelligence and Consulting Institute (MIC, 資策會) said yesterday.
Overall, Taiwan’s semiconductor industry is to grow its production value at an annual pace of 11.4 percent this year to NT$3.26 trillion.
MIC attributed the growth to strong demand for notebook computers, high-performance computing devices, automotive electronics and Internet-of-things products.
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