Dive Brief:
- U.S. semiconductor packaging maker Amkor Technology opened a $1.6 billion advanced chip packaging factory in Bac Ninh, Vietnam, on Wednesday.
- The campus will be Amkor’s first site in Vietnam as well as the company's largest, covering 57 acres with 200,000 square meters of cleanroom space.
- Amkor’s new site will serve semiconductor and electronic manufacturing customers, with an initial focus on advanced system in package and memory production.
Dive Insight:
Amkor’s move into Vietnam comes as the U.S. increasingly looks to the country as a regional manufacturing alternative to China. Last month, the State Department signed a new partnership with Vietnam to grow the semiconductor supply chain between the two countries.
Amkor executives also attended the U.S.-Vietnam innovation and investment summit held in Hanoi in September to discuss greater industry collaboration.
In a statement announcing the factory, Amkor President and CEO Giel Rutten highlighted Vietnam’s ability to help the company and its customers create more regionalized and reliable supply chains.
“A large and skilled workforce, a strategic location, and support from government authorities made [Vietnam] an ideal location for Amkor’s continued growth,” Rutten said.
While this will be the company’s first factory in Vietnam, it operates 20 facilities across 8 countries, including China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan.
Amkor has worked to grow its global manufacturing network in recent years through both new facilities and acquisitions. In 2017, the company acquired semiconductor packaging provider NANIUM in Portugal, and in February this year, Amkor forged a new partnership with chipmaker GlobalFoundries to share manufacturing and supply chain capacity.
Much like other semiconductor companies such as TSMC, Amkor has seen demand temper over the past year. Amkor’s net sales were down 3.1% YoY in Q2 to $1.46 billion, while revenue in the first half of the year, at $2.9 billion, was down 6% compared to 2022.
