One or more factories of Taiwan-based Advanced Semiconductor Engineering (ASE), the world's largest IC packaging house, might receive a government order to suspend operations for discharging untreated industrial wastewater, according to industry observers.

　　In addition to ASE's K7 factory, the company's K5 and K11 factories have also been accused of illegally dumping wastewater containing acids and toxic metals, the observers indicated. The three facilities focus on offering bumping and flip-chip (FC) packaging services for ASE's international chip clients, such as Qualcomm, Broadcom, Marvell Technology, MediaTek and NXP Semiconductors, the observers said.

　　Many of the potentially affected chip vendors have already approached other backend service providers including Siliconware Precision Industries (SPIL), Amkor Technology and STATS ChipPAC about booking additional capacity for bumping and FC packaging, the observers noted. Orders requiring deliveries to be made before the Lunar New Year will be shifted away from ASE first, the observers added.

　　Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is also being identified as another alternative bumping service provider. TSMC has secured bumping orders from Qualcomm, and will likely grab orders for turnkey solutions for high-end chips from the client, the observers said.

　　TSMC reportedly has been aggressively ramping up its bumping capacity, which is estimated at 150,000 12-inch wafers a month.