Micron Technology reportedly has held back plans to set up a joint IC packaging/testing company in China with Advanced Semiconductor Engineering (ASE) and instead may build a backend service company in cooperation with Powertech Technology (PTI), according to industry sources.

Micron and ASE began talks on jointly building an IC packaging/testing plant in Xian, China in early 2014, looking to sign a pact by the end of August, the sources noted.

The negotiations between Micron and ASE appear to have hit a snag, said the sources, although Micron's plan to set up a packaging/testing firm in Xian remains unchanged.

As a result, Micron is looking for a new partner and has started talks with PTI, one of its current backend service partners. Micron also outsources memory backend services to Walton Advanced Engineering and ChipMOS Technologies.

ASE, which focuses on logic chips, ranked as the top supplier in the global IC backend service market with an 18.9% share in 2013. PTI, which focuses on memory chips, took the fifth position with a 5.1% share, according to Gartner.

By: DocMemory
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