ASE Technology Holding Co., Ltd. and its subsidiaries (ASEH) offer a comprehensive range of semiconductors packaging, testing, and electronic manufacturing services (EMS).
ASEH is a provider of semiconductor manufacturing services in assembly and testing. The company’s services include semiconductor packaging, production of interconnect materials, front-end engineering testing, wafer probing, and final testing services, as well as integrated solutions for EMS in relation to computing, periphera...
ASE Technology Holding Co., Ltd. and its subsidiaries (ASEH) offer a comprehensive range of semiconductors packaging, testing, and electronic manufacturing services (EMS).
ASEH is a provider of semiconductor manufacturing services in assembly and testing. The company’s services include semiconductor packaging, production of interconnect materials, front-end engineering testing, wafer probing, and final testing services, as well as integrated solutions for EMS in relation to computing, peripherals, communications, industrial, automotive, and server applications.
Strategy
The principal elements of the company’s strategy are to grow its packaging and testing services and expand its range of offerings; strategically expand and streamline production capacity; continue to leverage its presence in key centers of semiconductor and electronics manufacturing; and strengthen and develop strategic relationships with its customers and providers of complementary semiconductor manufacturing services.
Principal Products and Services
The company offers a broad range of semiconductor packaging and testing services. In addition, the company provides EMS through USI Group. The company's package types generally employ either leadframes or substrates as interconnect materials. The semiconductors it packages are used in a wide range of end-use applications, including communications, computing, consumer electronics, industrial, automotive, and other applications. The company's testing services include front-end engineering testing, which is performed during and following the initial circuit design stage of the semiconductor manufacturing process, wafer probe, final testing, and other related semiconductor testing services. The company focuses on packaging and testing semiconductors. It offers its customers turnkey services, which consist of packaging, testing, and direct shipment of semiconductors to end users designated by its customers. The company's EMS are used in a wide range of end-use applications, including but not limited to, computing, peripherals, communications, industrial applications, automotive electronics, and server applications.
Packaging Services
The company offers a broad range of package types to meet the requirements of its customers, including flip chip BGA, flip chip CSP, aCSP (advanced chip scale packages), quad flat packages (QFP), low profile and thin quad flat packages (LQFP/TQFP), bump chip carrier (BCC), quad flat no-lead (QFN) packages, aQFN (advanced QFN), and Plastic BGA. In addition, the company provides 3D chip packages, such as aMAP POP (advanced, laser ablation type), which enable its customers to mount packages more easily, and HB PoP (High-Band package on Package) for higher performance orientation and marketing requirements. The company also offers other forms of stacked die solutions in different package types, such as stacked die QFN, hybrid BGAs containing stacked wire bond, and FC die. Meanwhile, the company is developing solutions to 3D packages, such as FOCoS (Fan-out Chip-on-Substrate) and 2.5D (silicon interposer), to fulfill current low-cost and high-performance requirements in parallel with 3D IC with TSV (Through Silicon Via) technology. In addition, to meet current trends toward low-cost solutions, the company provides gold, copper, and silver wire bonding solutions which can be applied to traditional gold wire products. It also provides a high-volume manufacturing experience with silver wire bonding for FCCSP Hybrid packages. Furthermore, the company is one of the key providers of IoT (Internet of Things), server, and automotive services.
Wirebonding
The company provides wire bonding, including leadframe-based packages and substrate-based packages. Leadframe-based packages are packaged by connecting the die, using wire bonders, to the leadframe with gold wire or copper wire. As packaging technology improves, the number of leads per package increases. In addition, improvements in leadframe-based packages have reduced the footprint of the package on the circuit board and improved the electrical performance of the package. To have higher interconnected density and better electrical performance, semiconductor packages have evolved from leadframe-based packages to substrate-based packages. The key differences between these package types are the size of the package, the density of electrical connections the package can support, flexibility at lower costs, the thermal and electrical characteristics of the package, and environmentally conscious designs. Substrate-based packages generally employ the BGA design. Whereas traditional leadframe technology places the electrical connection around the perimeter of the package, the BGA package type places the electrical connection at the bottom of the package surface in the form of small bumps or balls. These small bumps or balls are typically distributed evenly across the bottom surface of the package, allowing greater distance between individual leads and higher pin counts. The company's expertise in BGA packages also includes capabilities in stacked-die BGA, which assembles multiple dies into a single package.
Advanced Packages
The semiconductor packaging industry has evolved to meet the requirements of high-performance electronics products. The company has focused on developing its capabilities in certain packaging solutions, such as aCSP (wafer-level chip scale package), flip chip BGA, Heat-Spreader FCBGA, flip-chip CSP, Hybrid FCCSP (Flip Chip + W/B), Flip Chip PiP (Package in Package), Flip Chip PoP (Package on Package), aS3 (Advanced Single Sided Substrate), HB POP (High-Bandwidth POP), and SESUB. Flip-chip BGA technology replaces wire bonding with wafer bumping for interconnections within the package. Wafer bumping involves the placing of tiny solder balls, instead of wires, on top of dies for connection to substrates. As compared with more traditional packages, which allow input/output connection only on the boundaries of the dies, flip chip or wafer-level package solutions significantly enhance the input/output flow by allowing input/output connections over the entire surface of the dies.
Chip scale packages typically have an area no greater than 120% of the silicon die. For wafer-level packages, the electrical connections are plated or printed directly onto the wafer itself, resulting in a package very close to the size of the silicon die.
Wafer-Level MEMs (WL MEMs) is an advanced assembly technology for MEMs in wafer-level types instead of current LGA or leadframe types using TSV or chip-to-wafer technology. WL MEMs are mainly used in applications, such as pressure, temperature, humidity, and gyroscope sensors, among others.
The company provides numerous technologies to meet various customer demands.
Heterogeneous Integration
Heterogeneous Integration refers to the integration of separately manufactured components into a higher-level assembly that, in the aggregate, provides enhanced functionality and improved operating characteristics:
SiP and Modules
The drive towards semiconductor miniaturization and integration is expanding the commercial potential of SiP, a package or module containing a functional electronic system or subsystem that is integrated and miniaturized through IC greater assembly technologies. With attributes that deliver higher performance, cost-effectiveness, and shorter time to market, SiP technology is enabling functionality and creating more commercial opportunities across a broader variety of electronics applications.
ASEH is a market leader in SiP technologies from design to assembly and high-volume manufacturing. SiP involves the integration of multiple components from IC chips and components, including ASICs, Memory, Analog & mixed signals devices, passives, MEMs, sensors, antennas, and other devices into one single package. SiP and Modules products are gaining significant traction within the industry, given growing demand for miniaturized electronic devices that deliver more functions and higher performance, lower power, greater speed, and increased bandwidth. ASEH’s SiP portfolio includes flip chip and wirebond multichip packaging, embedding technologies, such as SESUB, and wafer-level technologies, including fan-out and IPD. IPD uses a wafer-level process to integrate passive components on an individual substrate. Recent IPD innovation involves the extension of the RDL (Redistribution) process to build a high-quality factor (Q) inductor and RF circuits on top of silicon wafers. It can be used in the following three approaches to enhance product performance: replace discrete components, such as Balun and Filter, integrate other passive components and act as interposer, and replace PWB and act as a substrate of the module. In addition, the company leverages some of its SMT-based technologies, such as compartment shielding, double-sided module, and antenna integration.
The company also offers module assembly services, which combine one or more packaged semiconductors with other components in an integrated module to enable increased functionality for system-level assembly. End-use applications for modules include cellular phones and wireless LAN applications, Bluetooth applications, camera modules, automotive applications, toys, networking, storage, and power management.
Leading-Edge Advanced Packages
ASEH strives to meet the increasing package complexity needs related to increasing I/O density, expanding power delivery requirements and providing more robust inter-die connectivity from AI & HPC products. The company has established its selves as a leader through the successful introduction of leading-edge advanced packaging solutions, which have played a pivotal role in bringing advanced ASIC and HBM products to the marketplace.
The company defines leading-edge advanced packages as packaging technologies that incorporate redistribution layer (RDL) processes. By leveraging RDL processes, embedded integration, and 2.5D and 3D technologies, these packaging solutions facilitate unprecedented innovation in integrating multiple chips within a single package. Notable technologies include ASEH’s FOWLP (Fan-Out Wafer-Level Package), high-density RDL-based Fanout Package-on-Package (FOPoP), Fanout Chip-on-Substrate (FOCoS), Fanout Chip-on-Substrate-Bridge (FOCoS-Bridge), Fanout System-in-Package (FOSiP), Through Silicon Via (TSV)-based 2.5D and 3D IC, along with Co-Packaged Optics processing capabilities. The company’s comprehensive technology toolbox provides customers with the capabilities necessary to develop highly integrated silicon packaging solutions, optimizing clock speed, bandwidth, and power delivery, while reducing co-design time, product development cycles, and time to market.
Automotive Electronics: The company assembles automotive electronic products based on its leading technology, good quality systems, and automation. It provides a variety of products, such as leadframe base, substrate base, Flip Chip, and Wafer-Level packages. The company also provides robust package solutions to customers and end users, including most types of industrial package solutions, together with tailor-made solutions to meet customers' and end users' requirements for automotive specifications.
Interconnect Materials: Interconnect materials connect the input/output on the semiconductor dies to the printed circuit board. Interconnect materials include substrate, which is a multilayer miniature printed circuit board, and is an important element of the electrical characteristics and overall performance of semiconductors. The company produces substrates for use in its packaging operations.
Testing Services
The company provides a complete range of semiconductor testing services, including front-end engineering testing, wafer probing, final testing of logic/mixed-signal/RF semiconductors and SiP/MEMS/Discrete modules, and other test-related services.
The testing of semiconductors requires technical expertise and knowledge of the specific applications and functions of the semiconductors tested, as well as the testing equipment utilized.
In recent years, complex, high-performance logic/mixed signal/RF semiconductors and SiP/MEMS modules have accounted for an increasing portion of the company’s testing revenues.
Front-End Engineering Testing: The company provides front-end engineering testing services, including customized software development, electrical design validation, and reliability and failure analysis.
Customized Software Development: Test engineers develop customized software or test programs to test semiconductors using automated test equipment. Each device generally requires a specialized test program in order to test the conformity of each particular semiconductor to its required functionality and specification.
Electrical Design Validation: A prototype of the designed semiconductor is subjected to electrical tests using advanced test equipment and customized software. These tests assess whether the prototype semiconductor complies with a variety of different operating specifications, including functionality, frequency, voltage, current, timing, and temperature range.
Reliability Analysis: Reliability analysis is designed to assess the long-term reliability of the semiconductor and its suitability of use for intended applications. Reliability testing can include ‘burn-in’ services, which electrically stress a device, usually at high temperature and voltage, for a period of time long enough to cause the failure of marginal devices.
Failure Analysis: In the event that the prototype semiconductor does not function to specifications during either the electrical design validation or reliability testing processes, it is typically subjected to failure analysis to determine the cause of the failure to perform as anticipated. As part of this analysis, the prototype semiconductor may be subjected to a variety of analyses of electrical testing.
Wafer Probing: Wafer probing is the step immediately before the packaging of semiconductors and involves visual inspection and electrical testing of the processed wafer for defects to ensure that it meets its customers’ specifications. Wafer probing services require expertise and testing equipment similar to that used in final testing, and most of the company’s testers can also be used for wafer probing.
Logic/Mixed-signal/RF Module and SiP/Discrete Final Testing: The company conducts final tests of a wide variety of logic/mixed-signal/RF semiconductor devices and SiP/MEMS/discrete modules, with the number of leads or bumps ranging from the single digits to over 30 thousand and operating frequencies of over 44 Gbps for digital semiconductors and 44 GHz for 5G mmWave semiconductors, which are at the high end of the range for the industry. The products it tests include applications for wired, wireless, and mobile communications, satellite communications, automotive, home entertainment, IoT, personal computers, AI, and high-performance computing applications, as well as a variety of consumer and application-specific integrated circuits for various specialized applications.
Other Test-Related Services: The company provides a broad range of additional test-related services, such as:
Electric Interface Board and Mechanical Test Tool Design: Process of designing individualized testing apparatuses such as test load boards, sockets, handler change kits, and probe cards for unique semiconductor devices and packages.
Program Conversion: Process of converting a test program from one test platform to different test platforms.
Program Efficiency Improvement: Process of optimizing the program code.
Burn-In Testing: Burn-in testing is the process of electrically stressing a device, usually at high temperature and voltage, for a period of time to simulate the continuous use of the device to determine whether this use would cause the failure of marginal devices.
Module and SiP Testing: The company provides multi-die-module and SiP testing through integrated bench solutions or via automatic test equipment.
System Level Testing: The company provides customized system-level testing as a device functional simulation test solution, offering higher test coverage after the final test.
Drop Shipment Services: The company offers drop shipment services for the shipment of semiconductors directly to end users designated by its customers. Drop shipment services are provided mostly in conjunction with its testing services. The company provides drop shipment services to a significant percentage of its testing customers. A substantial portion of its customers at each of its facilities have qualified these facilities for drop shipment services. Since drop shipment eliminates the additional step of inspection by the customer before shipment to the end user, quality of service is a key consideration.
EMS
The company provides integrated solutions for EMS in relation to computing, peripherals, communications, industrial, automotive, and server applications through USI Group. The key products and services the company offers to its customers include:
Computing: Motherboards for server and PCs, peripherals, port replicators, network attached systems, and solid state drives;
Communications: Wi-Fi and SiP;
Consumer Products: Control boards for flat panel devices and SiP;
Automotive Electronics: Automotive EMS; automotive wireless solutions, regulators/rectifiers, and powertrain systems;
Industrial Products: Point-of-sale systems and smart handheld devices; and
Others: Field replacement units and return material authorization.
Seasonality
The company’s results of operations are affected by seasonality. In general, the company’s first quarter operating revenues have historically decreased over the preceding fourth quarter (year ended December 31, 2024), primarily due to the combined effects of holidays in the U.S., Taiwan, and elsewhere in Asia.
Sales and Marketing
Sales and Marketing Presence
The company maintains sales and marketing offices in Taiwan, the U.S., Belgium, Singapore, the P.R.C., Korea, Malaysia, Japan, and a number of other countries. It also has sales representatives operating in certain other countries in which it does not have offices. The company's sales and marketing offices in Taiwan are located in Hsinchu, Taichung, and Kaohsiung. The company conducts marketing research through its customer service personnel, and through its relationships with its customers and suppliers, it endeavors to keep abreast of market trends and developments. The company also provides advice on production process technology to its major customers planning the introduction of new products. When placing orders, the company's customers specify which of its facilities will receive the orders.
Customers
The company’s five largest customers together accounted for approximately 48.4% of its operating revenues in 2024. One customer (including other customers for whom OEM services were provided on its behalf) accounted for more than 10.0% of its operating revenues in 2024.
The company packages and tests for its customers a wide range of products with end-use applications in the communications, computing, and consumer electronics/industrial/automotive sectors.
The company’s EMS provides a wide range of products with end-use applications.
Packaging
The company established ASE Global Integrated Solutions Co., Ltd. to manage and implement procurement processes for certain materials and equipment requirements.
Intellectual Property
As of January 31, 2025, the company held a total of 6,433 patents, 2,077 Taiwan patents, 2,030 U.S. patents, 2,189 P.R.C. patents, 87 Europe patents, and 50 patents in other countries related to various semiconductor packaging technologies and invention, utility, and design on its EMS. In addition, as of January 31, 2025, the company had a total of 2,351 pending patent applications, 296 in Taiwan, 643 in the U.S., 1,353 in the P.R.C., 43 in Europe, and 16 in other countries. Moreover, the company filed several trademarks applications in Taiwan, the U.S., the P.R.C., and the EU. For example, ‘ASE,’ ‘aCSP,’ ‘a-EASI,’ ‘a-fcCSP,’ ‘aQFN,’ ‘a-QFN,’ ‘a-S3, ‘a-TiV,’ ‘aWLP,’ ‘a-WLP,’ ‘iSiP,’ ‘iWLP,’ ‘aSiM,’ ‘SiP-id’ ‘SPIL,’ ‘HSiP,’ ‘XnBay,’ ‘Emerald,’ and ‘VIPack’ have been registered in Taiwan.
The company has also entered into various non-exclusive technology license agreements with other companies involved in the semiconductor manufacturing process, including Infineon Technologies AG, TDK Corporation, and DECA Technologies Inc. The technology the company licenses from these companies includes solder bumping, redistribution, ultra CSP assembly, advanced QFN assembly, wafer-level packaging, and other technologies used in the production of package types, such as BCC, flip chip BGA, film BGA, aQFN, and chip embedding. One of the company’s license agreements with Infineon Technologies AG will remain in effect until expiration of the patents licensed by the agreement, and the other automatically renews each year unless otherwise agreed between the parties. The company’s license agreement with TDK Corporation will remain in effect until expiration of TDK Corporation’s patents licensed by the agreement. The company’s license agreement with DECA will expire on January 13, 2026.
Research and Development
For 2024, the company’s research and development expenditures totaled approximately NT$28,830.3 million (U.S.$879.2 million).
History
ASE Technology Holding Co., Ltd. was founded in 1984. The company was incorporated in 2018.
