ASE Technology Holding Co (ASE, 日月光投控), the world’s biggest chip assembly and testing service provider, yesterday said it is investing NT$17.6 billion (US$578.6 million) to build a new advanced chip packaging facility in Kaohsiung to cope with fast-growing demand from artificial intelligence (AI), high-performance-computing (HPC) and automotive applications.
The new fab, called K18B, is to commence operation in the first quarter of 2028, offering chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) chip packaging and final testing services, ASE said in a statement.
The fab is to create 2,000 new jobs upon its completion, ASE said.
Photo: CNA
A wide spectrum of system-level chip packaging technologies would be available at the new factory, from new panel-level packaging technology, dubbed fan-out chip-on-substrate (FOCoS), to copper pillar bump and flip-chip ball grid arrays for CoWoS and chiplets, it said.
ASE on its Web site said its FOCoS technology is suitable for large package sizes and packages with high input-output density that are designed for networking and server applications.
FOCoS is one of the panel-level packaging technologies that are under development by multiple companies, including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) and memory chip packaging service provider Powertech Technology Inc (力成科技).
“As advanced chip packaging technology plays a growingly critical role in the overall semiconductor value chain, ASE is committed to further its investment in the newest technology and equipment to satisfy the enormous demand from global customers in the AI and HPC areas,” ASE senior vice president Mike Hung (洪松井) said in the statement.
“The construction of the K18B facility marks a new milestone for the company in deploying advanced packaging technology. In addition, it shows that we are proactively responding to the market’s [growth] momentum. Furthermore, it means Taiwan will continue to safeguard its leading position in the global semiconductor industry,” the statement said.
The new investment came as ASE told investors in July that it is to accelerate advanced packaging and testing capacity investment at home to mitigate tight supply.
All of its leading-edge capacity in Taiwan is fully utilized, it said.
ASE would boost equipment capital expenditure by up to 16 percent for this year to about US$3 billion to fund the capacity expansion, including some new areas such as final test, burn-in and system-level test technologies.
ASE’s new chip packaging facility would further enhance an extensive semiconductor cluster in Kaohsiung, including suppliers of raw materials, equipment and chip designs, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said.
Those companies include TSMC, Advanced Micro Devices Inc, Lam Research Corp, Applied Materials Inc, ASML Holding NV, Merck Group and Entegris Inc, the ministry said.
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