UTAC
Encyclopedia
United Test and Assembly Center Ltd (Abbreviation
: UTAC; ) is one of the largest providers of test and assembly services for a wide range of semiconductor
devices, including memory, mixed-signal/RF and logic integrated circuit
s. Founded in 1997 and commencing full operations in 1999, the company started out by acquiring the semiconductor test operations of Fujitsu
Microelectronics Asia Pte. Ltd.
At the end of 2006, the company was ranked the fifth largest independent provider of semiconductor tests by Gartner
Dataquest. Headquartered in Singapore, UTAC has manufacturing facilities in Singapore
, Shanghai
, China
and Taiwan
with global sales offices located worldwide including the United States, Italy
and Japan
.
In 2005, UTAC completed the acquisition of UltraTera Corp. to become a leading test player in the world. In the same year, the company announced several joint ventures with SMIC
to build a test and assembly center in Chengdu, China and with Korea's Nepes Corp to build the first 12-inch wafer bumping facility in Singapore.
In 2006, UTAC announced its plans to acquire Thailand-based NS Electronics Bangkok (NSEB) for S$175 million after announcing plans to invest S$500 million into its Singapore operations.
June 26, 2007 : Proposed acquisition of UTAC by Global A&T Electronics, a special purpose company formed by Affinity Equity Partners
and TPG Capital.
Abbreviation
An abbreviation is a shortened form of a word or phrase. Usually, but not always, it consists of a letter or group of letters taken from the word or phrase...
: UTAC; ) is one of the largest providers of test and assembly services for a wide range of semiconductor
Semiconductor
A semiconductor is a material with electrical conductivity due to electron flow intermediate in magnitude between that of a conductor and an insulator. This means a conductivity roughly in the range of 103 to 10−8 siemens per centimeter...
devices, including memory, mixed-signal/RF and logic integrated circuit
Integrated circuit
An integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit is an electronic circuit manufactured by the patterned diffusion of trace elements into the surface of a thin substrate of semiconductor material...
s. Founded in 1997 and commencing full operations in 1999, the company started out by acquiring the semiconductor test operations of Fujitsu
Fujitsu
is a Japanese multinational information technology equipment and services company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It is the world's third-largest IT services provider measured by revenues....
Microelectronics Asia Pte. Ltd.
At the end of 2006, the company was ranked the fifth largest independent provider of semiconductor tests by Gartner
Gartner
Gartner, Inc. is an information technology research and advisory firm headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, United States. It was known as GartnerGroup until 2001....
Dataquest. Headquartered in Singapore, UTAC has manufacturing facilities in Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
, Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
, China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
and Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
with global sales offices located worldwide including the United States, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
and Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
.
Significant milestones
In 2003, UTAC established its wholly owned Shanghai operations in Waigaoqiao - a free trade zone in Shanghai. It also formed an alliance with Amkor Technology Inc. in China, combining the strengths of both companies to create a powerful turnkey assembly and test supplier capable of supporting as well as Integrated Device Manufacturers looking to service their end customers in the China market. This partnership was further enhanced in 2007 when both companies announced that they had entered into a multi-year cross-licensing agreement under which Amkor would license its MicroLeadFrame patents to UTAC, and UTAC would license its QFN patents to Amkor. The agreement covers the license of intellectual property rights and transfer of associated packaging technologies.In 2005, UTAC completed the acquisition of UltraTera Corp. to become a leading test player in the world. In the same year, the company announced several joint ventures with SMIC
SMIC
SMIC may refer to:*The SMIC Private School, in Shanghai*Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation, in Shanghai*Minimum wages in France...
to build a test and assembly center in Chengdu, China and with Korea's Nepes Corp to build the first 12-inch wafer bumping facility in Singapore.
In 2006, UTAC announced its plans to acquire Thailand-based NS Electronics Bangkok (NSEB) for S$175 million after announcing plans to invest S$500 million into its Singapore operations.
June 26, 2007 : Proposed acquisition of UTAC by Global A&T Electronics, a special purpose company formed by Affinity Equity Partners
Affinity Equity Partners
Affinity Equity Partners is one of the largest dedicated Asian private equity firms and focuses on leveraged buyout and growth capital transactions...
and TPG Capital.
Main customers
Some of UTAC's customers include:- SeagateSeagate TechnologySeagate Technology is one of the world's largest manufacturers of hard disk drives. Incorporated in 1978 as Shugart Technology, Seagate is currently incorporated in Dublin, Ireland and has its principal executive offices in Scotts Valley, California, United States.-1970s:On November 1, 1979...
- a global hard disk drive manufacturer. - QualcommQualcommQualcomm is an American global telecommunication corporation that designs, manufactures and markets digital wireless telecommunications products and services based on its code division multiple access technology and other technologies. Headquartered in San Diego, CA, USA...
- a wireless telecommunications technology provider. - SanDiskSanDiskSanDisk Corporation is an American multinational corporation that designs, develops and manufactures data storage solutions in a range of form factors using the flash memory, controller and firmware technologies. It was founded in 1988 by Dr. Eli Harari and Sanjay Mehrotra, non-volatile memory...
- a manufacturer of flash memoryFlash memoryFlash memory is a non-volatile computer storage chip that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed. It was developed from EEPROM and must be erased in fairly large blocks before these can be rewritten with new data...
. - HynixHynixHynix Semiconductor Inc. chips and flash memory chips. Founded in 1983, Hynix is the world's second-largest memory chipmaker, the largest being Samsung Electronics. Formerly known as Hyundai Electronics, the company has manufacturing sites in Korea, the U.S., China and Taiwan...
- a global memory semiconductor manufacturer.