ASE to Spend More on Production Expansion

Taipei, April 6, 2011 (CENS)--Following an NT$7.2 billion (US$240 million at US$1:NT$30) expenditure on production expansion at the Nantze Export Processing Zone last year, Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc. (ASE) recently forwarded the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) a plan to spend up to US$900 million on expansion at the same processing zone.

The world's No.1 chip assembler plans to build a factory on a two-hectare plot of land at the zone, with construction set to begin in May at the earliest.

The company came up with the expansion plan at a time when economic recoveries in Europe and the United States have taken hold.

People familiar with ASE's US$900 million plan pointed out that the expansion will be completed in three to four years. The company's operation in Kaohsiung, in which the zone is located, will surge 50% soon after the new facilities come on stream, up from current US$2 billion a year.

ASE Chairman Jason Chang pointed out that the company has stepped up expansion investments both in Taiwan and mainland China since Taiwan government lifted the ban on mainland-bounded investments by Taiwan's chip assemblers a few years ago.