Intellectual Property

Intellectual property (IP) rights are the results of extensive research and development. Therefore IP management is an important aspect of a company's innovation management. Effective IP management helps to maintain ASE's leading position in corporate innovation.
ASE's IP management is closely embedded into its overall business operation planning and implementation to form a continuous innovation cycle consisting of "business opportunity", "R&D" and "IP management and utilization". The innovation cycle includes the following three phases:

• Research and development activities are conducted in response to market's prospective demands, to ensure that the R&D activities are linked to key business opportunities;
• Through our effective IP application system and tools, R&D activities are carefully recorded and processed for intellectual property rights protection (e.g. patents, trademarks and trade secrets);
• High-value IP helps to facilitate business success, obtain orders from clients, develop more new business opportunities, thereby creating a sustainable positive cycle. In addition, by protecting R&D achievements with intellectual property rights, an IP protective wall is established to prevent others from plagiarizing ASE's technologies and to defend against the threat of competitors with their intellectual property rights, ensuring ASE's operational freedom.

As of January 31, 2017, we own more than 3,900 patents. Our Patent Portfolio includes 2,020 Taiwan patents, 945 U.S. patents, 996 PRC patents, and 17 patents from other countries, related to a variety of packaging and testing technologies and electronic manufacturing service technologies.

ASE's patent quality also received external recognition. For 11 consecutive years (2007-2017), ASE was selected by IEEE as "The world's top 20 semiconductor equipment manufacturing companies in the Patent Power Scorecards ", which demonstrated ASE's balance of its patent quantity and quality.

To encourage employees to innovate, ASE offers an excellent reward system that motivates employees to achieve personal-growth as well as enhance the company's productivity and competitiveness. With a diversified reward system, combined with strategic use of the company's intellectual property rights, the company has created many highly valuable intellectual properties.