An Independent Journal Dedicated to the Advancement of Chip - Scale Electronics July - August 2000 Email the editor

Amkor Technology, the "Big Blue" of the independent IC packaging and test industry, recently held a confab for press and analysts in Palo Alto. Talk about perfect timing! Amkor couldn't have timed it better, since we were in the process of putting together our issue on IC packaging foundries and looking for more answers. Our limited space, as well as the lateness of the hour, won't permit an extensive recap here-besides they'll probably post it on their Web site. There are several nuggets, however, that Amkor executives disclosed that we'll share with you.

By Ron Iscoff Editor

Expansion

Amkor President John Boruch, appearing deeply tanned and relaxed, said Amkor is reviewing major expansion plans for Taiwan, where the high-end assembly industry appears to be gravitating and where outsourcing is almost a religion. Asked if that means the acquisition of another assembler or the establishment of a new plant, Boruch said that acquisition would likely be the case. "Now is the time to be in Taiwan," he added. Look for Amkor to begin operations in China, as well.

John Boruch

Today, Amkor's assembly and test facilities are limited to Korea and the Philippines. Amkor acquired its Philippine plants several years ago from Advanced Micro Devices.

By the way, outsourcing of IC assembly and test still represents only about 20% of the worldwide total.

The largest captive assemblers? Still Japan Inc., Boruch said. Amkor's customers send about 80% of their packaging to dedicated factories. However, 80%of all new packages are outsourced, he noted.

If you've been waiting for some price relief in final test, forget it! That's the word from Boruch. "For test, there is no cost reduction curve, and the cost of test seems to be going up."

Geographic distribution of Amkor's IC assembly and packaging revenues. (Source: Amkor Technology Inc.)

The U.S. supplies nearly 75% of Amkor's revenue, with Europe second at 20% (see figure). By product type, traditional leadframes keep growing. "We have never killed a package," Boruch said. "People ask, 'what about obsolescence?'

"There's been no obsolescence in packaging since I started in this business 35 years ago. Metal cans are still around, CERDIP is still around. And for Amkor, they're still growing."

By the way, if you think packages are dense now, just wait. Bruce Freyman, Amkor corporate vice president, told the audience to expect 6,000 pins in about two years.

Amkor is bringing in a lot of capacity for an expected second-half surge, Boruch reported.

"Last year we said the second half of the year can't be that good-but it was, and we were caught off-guard. We then placed customers on allocation for practically everything we built."

This year, he added, Amkor believes the estimates, which point to a continuation of the boom.

Last year, Amkor invested $241 million, mostly in assembly and test equipment. Boruch expects this investment to more than double in 2000.

Hey! That Was a Joke!

In my May-June column, I exhorted readers to send me, "missives, brickbats, computer viruses and congratulation. . . ." The day after the issue came off the press, the ignominious "I Love You" virus struck. Seriously folks, I was just kidding!