ASE Technology Holding Co (ASE, 日月光投控), the world’s largest integrated circuit (IC) packaging and testing services provider, has taken a step toward investing in Mexico by purchasing a “significant” parcel of land in the country to build a production base.
ASE through its California-based subsidiary ISE Labs Inc said that it has acquired a large plot in Axis 2 Industrial Park, which is located in Tonala, Guadalajara, in western Mexico. Guadalajara is the capital city of the state of Jalisco.
It was a strategic land purchase which demonstrated the company’s long-term commitment to Jalisco and the establishment of a footprint for future expansion in the country, ASE said.
Photo: Grace Hung, Taipei Times
The company’s investments in Jalisco would focus on IC packaging and testing services, ASE said, adding that presence in the Mexican state is expected to help extend its reach globally and penetrate the North American market.
Jalisco accounts for 70 percent of the semiconductor market in Mexico, it said.
The semiconductor industry generates significant value for the economy due to the high-paying jobs required to successfully run operations and continued innovation across the state’s technology sector, it added.
The company’s IC packaging and testing hub in Jalisco is expected to create more than 500 jobs in the first year of its operations, it said, adding that it would work closely with educational institutions to create workforce development initiatives to recruit skilled engineers and technicians.
The Jalisco State Ministry of Economic Development, the Jalisco State Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology, and the Jalisco State Ministry of Education are to facilitate a strong link between ISE Labs and the region’s educational institutions and chambers of commerce to ensure the recruitment of highly specialized talent for operations, ASE said.
ISE Labs provides a wide range of services, such as test engineering support, production test services, test program development, test interface and reliability test hardware, electrostatic discharge, high power burn-in solutions, environmental testing, mechanical testing and failure analysis.
The company opened a second facility in Silicon Valley in July, increasing its business space to more than 150,000m2 with the new facility in San Jose, California. It also reinforced its commitment to Silicon Valley by expanding its footprint in North America.
ISE Labs’ original Silicon Valley facility in Fremont, California, is to expand its test functions, including automated test equipment and test program development, ASE said.
ISE Labs was set up in Fremont in November 1983 to provide IC testing services.
ASE’s other subsidiary, Universal Scientific Industrial (Shanghai) Co (環旭電子), opened a facility in Jalisco in July to expand its contract industrial and automotive electronics business and to cater to clients in North America.
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