ASE Group will complete the establishment of its 18th smart factory by the end of this year, with plans to build seven more intelligent plants in 2021, according to company COO Tien Wu.

Wu said ASE adopts a three-pronged approach - automation, integration of heterogeneous machinery equipment, and heterogeneous microsystem packaging integration - in building smart factories with thinking, detection, learning and adjustment capabilities.

The company has just installed its first 5G mmWave private network at a smart plant in Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan in collaboration with Chunghwa Telecom and Qualcomm.

Wu said ASE will not rule out incorporating more 5G mmwave networks into its smart factories to expand the coverage and complexity of the factories and automated services, while also leveraging Industry 4.0 solutions to connect product designs and materialize heterogeneous integration in the production process.

Smart plants now account for 20% of its manufacturing facilities in Kaohsiung, and the percentage will be raised to 50% in the future, which is expected to significantly help the company reduce the need for labor force.

Wu stressed that production automation will be the major weapon for Taiwan backend houses to meet price competition from Chinese peers including JCET, Tongfu Microelectronics and Tianshui Huatian Technology.

ASE has seen clear order visibility through the second quarter of 2021, with traditional wire bonding and midrange and high-end FC packaging capacities all fully booked amid a spate of factors including massive orders shifted by chipmakers, according to Wu.

ASE COO Tien Wu
Photo: Company