A high-end integrated circuit packaging and testing plant in Kaohsiung owned by Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc (ASE, 日月光半導體), a subsidiary of ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控), has been selected as a “lighthouse factory” by the World Economic Forum (WEF).
The term “lighthouse factories” refers to production plants that have adopted fourth industrial revolution (4IR) technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things in their daily operations.
The Kaohsiung bumping plant had been included by the WEF in the organization’s Global Lighthouse Network, a community of manufacturing sites and value chains that are leaders in the adoption of 4IR technologies, ASE said in a statement on Saturday.
Photo: CNA
“Bumping” refers to a process in semiconductor manufacturing where bumps are formed on wafers before they are diced into individual chips.
By adopting AI-enabled processes, the Kaohsiung plant’s production has risen by 67 percent, while the order lead time has been cut by 39 percent, ASE said.
The Kaohsiung factory is one of 18 lighthouse network sites announced by the WEF on Friday, joining the ranks of 132 leading manufacturers in the world, it said.
The increasing complexity of chip manufacturing processes amid disruptions in supply and demand had created unprecedented challenges for the Kaohsiung bumping factory, the company said.
Given that there are 100 more process steps in bumping operations than in traditional integrated circuit packaging operations, ASE strategically planned and deployed 4IR technologies across its operations to streamline manufacturing and optimize production, it said.
“By integrating 4IR technologies into their operations, lighthouse companies are achieving double-digit impact on throughput, costs and lead times,” Francisco Betti, head of the WEF’s Shaping the Future of Advanced Manufacturing and Value Chains, said in the statement.
“In this next chapter of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, they are setting the pace across industries. Lighthouses are demonstrating how to scale advanced technologies across entire manufacturing networks and beyond toward suppliers and customers or new functions, such as procurement, logistics, and research and development,” Betti said.
ASE is the largest integrated circuit packaging and testing services provider in the world.
In addition to Advanced Semiconductor Engineering, the holding company also owns Siliconware Precision Industries Co (矽品精密), which it acquired in 2016.
ASE provides packaging and system-in-package services in the 5G, automotive electronics and high-performance computing industries, it said.
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