Current Issue An Independent Journal Dedicated to the Advancement of Chip - Scale Electronics August - September 2001 Email the editor

Amkor China Is Qualifying

Shanghai-Amkor says its assembly and test facility in the Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone (WFTZ), near Shanghai, has begun customer qualification and test services.

The company says it may expand the existing plant within the next three months, based on demand.

Amkor has also reached a preliminary agreement with local authorities to reserve additional land in the WFTZ, large enough to construct two million square feet for production and test.

Production of Amkor's ChipArray BGA (CABGA) and Low Profile Quad Flat Pack (LPQFP) packages is scheduled to begin this quarter, ramping to volume runs during the fourth quarter. [amkor.com]

ASAT Is Now "Moisture Free"

Fremont, Calif.-ASAT Inc. has developed Moisture Sensitive Level One (MSL-1) capability for all leaded products.

MSL-1 is the JEDEC standard that guarantees unlimited shelf life for packages stored at standard temperature in an uncontrolled environment. As a result, the baking step is eliminated. [asat.com]

Kingpak Catches the IC Bus

Santa Clara, Calif.-Kingpak Technology, Taiwan, has been selected by Pericom Semiconductor Corp. to provide production-quantity assembly of multichip BGA packaging for a family of high-bandwidth bus switch products.

The tiny 13.5x5.5x1.4-mm outline with 96 leads actually contains four separate chips in a single packaged component. The devices are part of a next-generation 3.3V bus-switch family designed primarily for servers, network switches and router system boards. [kingpak.com]

William Meder

Goodbye IPAC, Hello OSE!

San Jose-The Integrated Packaging Assembly Corp., better known as "IPAC," has shed its former name and adopted the moniker of its owner, Orient Semiconductor Electronics Ltd., Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

The company was founded in 1993, and OSE acquired controlling interest during November 1999. [ose-us.com]

Meder Joins STATS Board

Singapore-Industry veteran William J. Meder has joined the STATS board as a non-executive director.

During his career, Meder served as GM of Motorola's operations in Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan, among other Motorola posts. He currently operates his own consulting firm. [stts.com]

Carsem, Malaysia, says it's shipping flip-chip-on-leadframe packaged devices by the millions.

Achievements/Awards

• Amkor Earns Multiple Kudos-Amkor Technology, Chandler, Ariz., has been named AMD's "Assembly Contractor of the Year 2000," and was also presented an "Outstanding Achievement Award." Amkor also earned "Assembly and Test Supplier of the Year 2000" ribbons from LSI Logic. [amkor.com]

• ASE Claims Zoran's Award-ASE has been named "Supplier of the Year 2000" by Zoran Corp., Santa Clara, Calif. [ase-global.com]

• Atlantic Wins Teradyne's Bravos-Atlantic Technology, Wales, U.K., has been recognized by Teradyne as an industry leader in subcontract RF test and mixed-signal test. [atlantic1.co.uk]

• Carsem Honored-Carsem has received a "supplier excellence" award from Analog Devices. Dynacraft, a related company that supplies leadframes, was similarly honored by AD. Carsem was also recognized by Microsemi-Linfinity for "outstanding support of new product development efforts." The Malaysian company has received two additional awards, including "vendor of the year" from Melexis and STMicroelectronics' "Excellence in Service for 2000." [carsem.com]

• Signetics Gets Plaudits from Fairchild and Samsung LSI Systems-Signetics Korea has received "Best Supplier" awards from both Fairchild Korea and Samsung LSI Systems. [signetics.com]