ASE said to expand advanced packaging/testing services for AI chips
Taipei, Dec. 26 (CNA) Taiwan-based ASE Technology Holding Co., the world's largest IC packaging and testing services provider, will devote more capacity in Kaohsiung to chips used in artificial intelligence applications, industry sources said Monday.
In a filing Monday with the Taiwan Stock Exchange, where ASE shares are traded, the company said wholly owned subsidiary Advanced Semiconductor Engineering, has spent NT$742 million (US$23.94 million) to rent a plant in Kaohsiung's Nanzih District from ASE Test Inc., another ASE subsidiary.
The plant, with a floor area of 15,600 square meters, will be used to expand ASE's high-end IC packaging and testing services, ASE said.
While ASE did not specify that the facility will be used for high-end AI chip production, industry sources said ASE has set its sights on AI chips at a time of soaring popularity for AI applications worldwide.
A recent research report by a local investment trust firm indicated that ASE's high-end IC packaging and testing capacity was expected to double next year.
According to the report, ASE has teamed up with pure wafer foundry operators to develop Chip on Wafer on Substrate (CoWoS) solutions for AI chip use along with sophisticated interposer technologies, which refer to electrical connections between components in the package.
Volume production of these technologies is expected to start at the end of this year or early next year, the report said.
Analysts said the development of chiplets -- offering specifically defined functions -- has also become a trend in the semiconductor industry, and ASE is involved in 2.5D and 3D IC packaging and testing technologies to meet chiplet demand over the next few years.
According to ASE data, Kaohsiung accounts for about 20 percent of the company's total production, largely involving high-end processes, such as Fan Out wafer level packaging (WLP), an enhancement of standard WLP solutions.
Also in Kaohsiung, the company handles System in a Package (SiP) and Flip Chip technologies, which are used in AI, automotive electronics, medical care, the Internet of Things, high-performance computing devices and application processors.
In addition to ASE, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) is expanding its CoWoS IC packaging and testing capacity at a time of booming AI applications.
TSMC expects that the current tight supply in CoWoS capacity will not ease until 2024.
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