Semiconductor testing firm United Test & Assembly Center (Utac) said it is
investing US$100 million over the next three years in Thailand, where it will consolidate its
leadframe-based packaging business. The investment will include a 29,100-square-metre
factory - its third in the country - will have testing operations and a distribution centre. The
new investment follows the company's acquisition of NS Electronics Bangkok (1993) in
June for US$175 million. It has been renamed Utac Thai. 'Our Thailand operations are
growing very strongly and have become a significant contributor to the group's growth over
the past two quarters,' said group president and chief executive officer Lee Joon Chung in a
news release yesterday. 'Moving forward, the group's strategy will be to consolidate
leadframe-based assembly in Thailand, with Singapore concentrating on substrate-based
packaging activities. 'The strategy to focus on the respective strengths and capabilities of
our Singapore and Thailand operations reinforces the synergies between both sites.' Utac
Thai will lease the new building, which is near the existing plant in the Wellgrow industrial
park of Chachoengsao province. The plant, expected to begin production in the second half
of next year, will employ more than 1,000 people. Utac Thai has two other factories in the
districts of Bangna and Wellgrow, just outside Bangkok city, with a total of 640,000 square
feet of production space hosting 598 wirebonders and 340 testers, the company said.
