Despite the recent fire at Advanced Semiconductor Engineering’s (ASE) Chungli plant, sources at ASE’s major customers such as Intel, Nvidia, ATI Technologies and VIA Technologies said the impact on their products will be limited.

Sources at Intel said the ICH6 southbridge chips for its 865-seris chipsets and some of its communication-use chips were the most affected products. However, its 915-series chipsets and CPUs were not affected.

Orders from Intel account for about half of the NT$300-400 million worth of monthly sales for ASE’s BGA (ball-grid array) packaging, according to sources.

Sources from Nvidia, ATI and VIA also indicated that the fire did not impact their products, as most of the orders they place with ASE are produced at its Kaohsiung plant.

Sources at other first-tier packaging and testing companies revealed that some ASE clients have called to ask for additional business from them, while other industry sources claimed it is highly likely that Intel has shifted some of its orders to Siliconware Precision Industries Ltd (SPIL) and Amkor Technology.

However, the sources also admitted that the extent of the shift will not be massive, as orders cannot be easily shifted due to validation requirements. In addition, some of ASE’s clients have stated that they are still waiting to see how ASE plans to reshuffle its production. ASE said it has not ruled out moving some production lines to its plant in Kaohsiung.