Most Taiwan-based IC packaging and testing firms including Advanced Semiconductor Engineering (ASE), Silicon Precision Industries (SPIL) and Powertech Technology (PTI) all plan to ramp up their capex in 2012, according to industry sources.

ASE expects its capex for 2012 to reach US$800 million compared to US$780 million of a year earlier. Of the total investment, US$250 million will be used for flip chip packaging and bumping facilities, one-third of the capital will be for ramping up copper wire-bonding lines, and the rest will be used for the purchase of low-pin-count packaging equipment.

SPIL will increase its capex to NT$17.5 billion (US$584.9 million) in 2012 from NT$110 million in 2011. In addition to adding a total of 1,250 wire-bonding machines in 2012, SPIL also aims to ramp up its monthly capacity for 8- and 12-inch wafer bumping to 50,000 and 80,000 units, respectively. The company will also boost its flip chip (FC) and FC CSP packaging capacities to 30 million and 32 million units a month.

PTI may increase its capex for 2012 to NT$7 billion or maintain it at the NT$6 billion it spent in 2011. PTI will focus its spending on boosting packaging capacity for mobile DRAM products.

Total investment for IC backend service equipment by Taiwan makers is expected to top US$1.4 billion in 2012, according to an estimate by SEMI.