STATS ChipPAC Ltd., semiconductor test and advanced packaging service provider, today held the groundbreaking ceremony for a new factory in Singapore. The new 197,000 square foot building will be located next to the Company’s current factory in Yishun, Singapore and will enable STATS ChipPAC to expand its manufacturing capabilities for advanced wafer level technologies including embedded Wafer Level Ball Grid Array (eWLB), Wafer Level Chip Scale Packaging (WLCSP), Integrated Passive Devices (IPD) and Through Silicon Via (TSV).
STATS ChipPAC had invested approximately US$250 million in Singapore over the last three years to expand its technology offering and manufacturing capacity. The new factory will allow the Company to further expand its capacity in advanced wafer level packaging and test solutions to support growing customer demand.
The Company expects to invest an additional US$220 million in Singapore over the next several years. “We believe our technology leadership, manufacturing capabilities and new capacity in Singapore will provide a strong foundation for future expansion in our advanced wafer level package offering in eWLB, WLCSP, IPD and TSV. Advanced wafer level technologies are essential to support our customers’ requirements for increased performance and functionality in a smaller footprint for sophisticated mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets,” said Tan Lay Koon, President and Chief Executive Officer, STATS ChipPAC. “Expanding our global manufacturing footprint in advanced wafer level packaging will further strengthen our leadership in these technologies and reinforce Singapore’s position as a leading location for advanced packaging technology.” Wafer level packaging has been one of the highest growth segments in the semiconductor industry with demand that has outpaced the available market capacity.
STATS ChipPAC’s significant focus on the development of wafer level technologies has resulted in a broader range of advanced process capabilities and package architectures for high performance mobile and consumer applications. “The new factory in Singapore will greatly contribute to our Company’s overall strategic growth initiatives. Our larger presence in Singapore is an important step in enabling us to further optimize our overall manufacturing activities by concentrating on advanced packaging capacity that will generate more cost, productivity and efficiency advantages. The combination of excellent infrastructure and semiconductor ecosystem in Singapore and our depth of technical knowledge and advanced packaging production volume experience will enable our operation in Singapore to thrive in the globally competitive Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Test (OSAT) industry,” said Lew Hon Sang, Managing Director, STATS ChipPAC Singapore. “In 2010, we celebrated the grand opening of our new 300mm eWLB manufacturing in Singapore. Today’s groundbreaking is another major milestone for STATS ChipPAC Singapore.”
Once the new building is completed, STATS ChipPAC’s combined manufacturing space in Singapore will increase from 595,000 to 792,000 square feet. The new facility is expected to be operational by the fourth quarter of 2012.
