Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is collaborating with Amkor Technology Inc to provide local advanced packaging and test capacities in Arizona to address customer requirements for geographical flexibility in chip manufacturing.
As part of the agreement, TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, would contract turnkey advanced packaging and test services from Amkor at their planned facility in Peoria, Arizona, a joint statement released yesterday said.
TSMC would leverage these services to support its customers, particularly those using TSMC’s advanced wafer fabrication facilities in Phoenix, Arizona, it said.
Photo: AP
The companies would jointly define the specific packaging technologies, such as TSMC’s Integrated Fan-Out (InFO) and Chip on Wafer on Substrate (CoWoS) that would be employed to address common customers’ needs, the statement said.
The agreement underscores a shared commitment to supporting customer requirements for geographic flexibility in front-end and back-end manufacturing, as well as fostering the development of a vibrant and comprehensive semiconductor manufacturing ecosystem in the US, the statement said.
“Our customers are increasingly depending on advanced packaging technologies for their breakthroughs in advanced mobile applications, artificial intelligence [AI] and high-performance computing, and TSMC is pleased to work side by side with a trusted long-time strategic partner in Amkor to support them with a more diverse manufacturing footprint,” TSMC senior vice president Kevin Zhang (張曉強) said in the statement.
Amkor, based in Tempe, Arizona, in November last year announced plans to build its first domestic outsourced semiconductor assembly and test in Peoria, Arizona for US$2 billion.
Upon completion, it would be the largest outsourced advanced packaging and test (OSAT) facility in the US.
The advanced packaging and production outsourcing agreement came as TSMC’s first Arizona fab is to begin high-volume production of 4-nanometer chips in the first half of next year, mostly for its US customers, including Apple Inc, Nvidia Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc.
In Arizona, TSMC plans to build three fabs to produce advanced chips, such as 3-nanometer and 2-nanometer chips, with a total investment of US$65 billion.
Amkor is already on TSMC’s CoWoS capacity supplier list along with Taiwan’s Siliconware Precision Industries Co (SPIL, 矽品) and Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc (ASE, 日月光半導體) to help resolve prolonged capacity scarcity amid surging AI chip demand, TrendForce Technology Corp (集邦科技) analyst Joanne Chiao (喬安) said.
“Due to geopolitical factors, some of TSMC’s US-based customers are seeking localized production,” Chiao said.
As TSMC’s Arizona plant is only designed for front-end chip manufacturing and no back-end packaging capacity was planned, it requires a US-based OSAT partner to supply CoWoS capacity, Chiao said.
Amkor has apparently emerged as a suitable choice, she added.
ASE and SPIL did not build large-scale packaging and testing capacity in the US.
ASE in July unveiled a second testing fab in San Jose, operated by its US subsidiary, to cope with rising demand for AI and high-performance-computing applications.
SEMICONDUCTORS: The German laser and plasma generator company will expand its local services as its specialized offerings support Taiwan’s semiconductor industries Trumpf SE + Co KG, a global leader in supplying laser technology and plasma generators used in chip production, is expanding its investments in Taiwan in an effort to deeply integrate into the global semiconductor supply chain in the pursuit of growth. The company, headquartered in Ditzingen, Germany, has invested significantly in a newly inaugurated regional technical center for plasma generators in Taoyuan, its latest expansion in Taiwan after being engaged in various industries for more than 25 years. The center, the first of its kind Trumpf built outside Germany, aims to serve customers from Taiwan, Japan, Southeast Asia and South Korea,
Gasoline and diesel prices at domestic fuel stations are to fall NT$0.2 per liter this week, down for a second consecutive week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) announced yesterday. Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to drop to NT$26.4, NT$27.9 and NT$29.9 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, the companies said in separate statements. The price of premium diesel is to fall to NT$24.8 per liter at CPC stations and NT$24.6 at Formosa pumps, they said. The price adjustments came even as international crude oil prices rose last week, as traders
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which supplies advanced chips to Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc, yesterday reported NT$1.046 trillion (US$33.1 billion) in revenue for last quarter, driven by constantly strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips, falling in the upper end of its forecast. Based on TSMC’s financial guidance, revenue would expand about 22 percent sequentially to the range from US$32.2 billion to US$33.4 billion during the final quarter of 2024, it told investors in October last year. Last year in total, revenue jumped 31.61 percent to NT$3.81 trillion, compared with NT$2.89 trillion generated in the year before, according to
PRECEDENTED TIMES: In news that surely does not shock, AI and tech exports drove a banner for exports last year as Taiwan’s economic growth experienced a flood tide Taiwan’s exports delivered a blockbuster finish to last year with last month’s shipments rising at the second-highest pace on record as demand for artificial intelligence (AI) hardware and advanced computing remained strong, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. Exports surged 43.4 percent from a year earlier to US$62.48 billion last month, extending growth to 26 consecutive months. Imports climbed 14.9 percent to US$43.04 billion, the second-highest monthly level historically, resulting in a trade surplus of US$19.43 billion — more than double that of the year before. Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) described the performance as “surprisingly outstanding,” forecasting export growth
RSS