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Award recognizes the significant impact and leadership made by ASE in bringing solutions for cost-effective manufacturing and high level performance to market.

Taipei, January 15, 2015 – Advanced Semiconductor Engineering, Inc. (TAIEX: 2311, NYSE: ASX) announced today that SEMI, the global industry association serving the manufacturing supply chain for the micro- and nano-electronics industries, has awarded ASE the 2014 SEMI Award for North America. Recipients of the award are Jason Chang, Chairman and CEO, and Tien Wu, COO, whom are recognized for the relentless pursuit of commercializing copper wire in the IC assembly process at a time when go ld wire bonding was the industry standard. The honorees accepted the award at the 2015 SEMI Industry Strategy Symposium (ISS) in Half Moon Bay, California.

In early 2005, anticipating a steep increase in go ld price, ASE embarked on an ambitious push to encourage the use of copper wire bonding as an alternative to go ld wire bonding. When the price of go ld soared in 2007 and to all-time highs in 2011 and 2012, ASE was able to offer a proven and viable alternative to customers. The transition from go ld to copper, however, was not without challenge. Customers were initially skeptical about the thermal and electrical performance of copper versus go ld and whether cost savings would ultimately be worthwhile. The ASE engineering team went through months and years of laborious studies, evaluations, and qualification lots, and with each successful production run, customers become increasingly confident in the company. By 2011, ASE was shipping more than four billion chips using copper wire bonding processes.

“The award is especially meaningful to ASE and our employees. I am extremely proud of our team’s engineering achievement on copper wire bonding that has enabled the process to become an industry standard now, ” said Tien Wu. “The industry is pushing for the next level of efficiency and each new process and technology we introduce to our customers will help them become eventual winners in the market as well as set us further apart from the competition.” 

“It is a huge honor to receive the 2014 SEMI Award and be recognized amongst so many of our peers, ” said Jason Chang. “In a dynamic industry where change and advancement is our lifeline, it is ASE’s mission to continue to propagate the latest technologies, the newest materials, and advanced production methods to enable the success of our customers’ IC designs.”

“SEMI is proud to honor ASE with a SEMI Award. Jason Chang and Tien Wu committed to resolve technical problems and address customer concerns. These two individuals, plus ASE’s willingness to underwrite risk, made a difference — and copper wire bonds are now the industry standard, ” said Karen Savala, president, SEMI Americas.

About The SEMI Award
The SEMI Award was established in 1979 to recognize outstanding technical achievement and meritorious contribution in the areas of Semiconductor Materials, Wafer Fabrication, Assembly and Packaging, Process Control, Test and Inspection, Robotics and Automation, Quality Enhancement, and Process Integration. The award is the highest honor conferred by SEMI. It is open to individuals or teams from industry or academia whose specific accomplishments have broad commercial impact and widespread technical significance for the entire semiconductor industry. Nominations are accepted from individuals of North American-based member companies of SEMI. For a list of past award recipients, visit www.semi.org/semiaward. For more information on SEMI, please visit: www.semi.org.