Manz Taiwan Ltd (亞智科技), a supplier of equipment for advanced chip packaging, yesterday said it is scouting sites for a US sales office, following in the footsteps of its key customers.
The move would be Manz’s latest global expansion, following the establishment of service offices in Malaysia, India and Japan. The Taoyuan-based company currently operates manufacturing facilities in Taiwan and Suzhou, China.
“If our customers build factories there [the US], we certainly have to set up service offices there as well. It is almost a rule for equipment suppliers, and we have to provide after-sales services such as maintenance and upgrades,” Manz Taiwan president Robert Lin (林峻生) said at a media gathering in Taipei.
Photo: Lisa Wang, Taipei Times
The company has no plans to build a manufacturing facility in the US due to high operating costs, as it would be at least 50 percent more expensive to run a factory there, the company said.
Last month, the company opened a new semiconductor research and development (R&D) center in Taoyuan as part of a strategic shift toward developing equipment for advanced chip packaging technology known as chip-on-panel-on-substrate (CoPoS), which is regarded as a more cost-efficient than chip-on-wafer-on-substrate technology.
The new R&D center is also expected to enhance real-time support for five customers working on CoPoS development and help meet their supply chain localization goals, Lin said.
To date, the company has delivered 8,000 units of semiconductor and display equipment to leading global chip packaging firms, IC substrate manufacturers and flat-panel display makers. Its key customers include Lam Research Corp, ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光), Powertech Technology Inc (力成) and Innolux Corp (群創).
Manz Taiwan generates about half of its revenue from semiconductor equipment — primarily for advanced chip packaging — while the other half comes from display equipment sales.
The company has signed an agreement with its German parent company, Manz AG, to become an independent entity through a management buyout, with the transaction expected to close this quarter, it said, without disclosing financial details.
The company also plans to launch an initial public offering within the next three years, likely on the Taipei Exchange, with an initial capital of NT$200 million (US$6.15 million), it added.
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