Singapore-based semiconductor test and packaging service provider STATS ChipPAC Ltd. today announced the grand opening of a second 371,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Shanghai, China.

The company, which claims to be the largest full turnkey assembly and test service provider in China, said that the new facility almost doubles the company's current floor space of 422,000-square feet. STATS ChipPAC Shanghai offers high volume turnkey solutions including wafer probe, assembly, final test and distribution to support multiple customers in markets such as PC chipsets, computing, consumer and broadband applications.

"China is a growing market and an important strategic location for our customers and our company," Wan Choong Hoe, executive VP and COO of STATS ChipPAC, said in a statement.

In addition to the recent floor space expansion, STATS ChipPAC said it has been "rapidly building" its technology portfolio in China with advanced die attach and wire bond processes, advanced mold processes, film die attach and wafer thinning. STATS ChipPAC is also adding a turnkey flip chip solution from bump, sort and assembly to final test in China.

The company is no stranger to investing outside of its home country: STATS ChipPAC has had operations in China since 1995, and earlier this year acquired an assembly and test operation in Pathumthani, Thailand, for approximately $100 million.

The expansion efforts may play a role in strengthening the company, which has indeed weathered a tumultuous year thus far. In late August, the company saw the resignations of five board members, three months after its CFO suddenly stepped down from his post.

The executive exodus occurred amid several takeover attempts, which the company very narrowly evaded. In March, Singaporean investment firm Temasek Holdings Ltd. launched an offer worth some $1.6 billion for the remaining shares in STATS ChipPAC that Temasek's holding company, STS, did not already own. At that time, STS owned a 35.6 percent stake in the company. By mid-May, however, Temasek and STS had garnered a majority stake of 83.1 percent of the company, less than the 90 percent stake it needed to take STATS ChipPAC completely private by delisting it from the Singapore Exchange and the Nasdaq.

Since then, the company has taken aggressive steps to regain its financial prowess. In June, STATS ChipPAC signed a definitive agreement to sell a host of its manufacturing assets to transition out of the discrete power market, in an effort to concentrate on businesses that it said have better "long-term growth prospects." And last week, STATS ChipPAC announced it had appointed a new CFO, John Lau.

By: DocMemory
Copyright © 2023 CST, Inc. All Rights Reserved