KYEC Announces U.S. Factory Plan with Up to $1.4 Billion Investment

The trend toward semiconductor manufacturing in the United States is taking shape. Not only is GlobalWafers (6488-TW) expanding its capital expenditures in the U.S., but KYEC (2449-TW), a major IC testing company, announced today (10th) that its board of directors has approved a plan to invest in and establish a factory in the United States. The initial estimated investment is approximately $1.4 billion (about NT$44.9 billion), highlighting the gradual formation of a semiconductor cluster in the U.S.

Currently, KYEC only has a business office in the U.S. To meet the local manufacturing demands of U.S. customers, rumors of establishing a factory in the U.S. began circulating at the beginning of this year. After six months of discussions, the decision was officially confirmed today.

KYEC currently holds orders from several major U.S. companies. It is not only the primary end-to-end testing supplier for key client NVIDIA (NVDA-US), but also maintains strong relationships with other U.S. enterprises, including Broadcom (AVGO-US), Marvell (MRVL-US), Intel (INTC-US), and cloud service providers (CSPs) such as Google (GOOG-US) and Amazon (AMZN-US), all of whom are KYEC customers.

Industry expectations suggest that U.S. companies, responding to Trump's U.S. semiconductor manufacturing revival initiative, will increase orders placed with TSMC. As TSMC's (2330-TW)(TSM-US) Arizona facility gradually ramps up production, local demand for backend packaging and testing is also emerging. Wafers produced at TSMC's facility are expected to be tested by KYEC and packaged by Amkor, respectively.

KYEC's board of directors has authorized Chairman Hsieh Chi-Chun to fully manage all matters related to the U.S. investment and factory establishment within the $1.4 billion budget, to be funded through internal resources or borrowing, in response to operational development and global supply chain positioning.