ASMPT enables developers with full-spectrum and accurate solutions

Innovation is imperative in the highly dynamic electronics industry, where the ability to launch products rapidly dictates survival. Top industry players stay in the race with the help of partners whose technologies close the gaps in developing next-generation devices. ASM Pacific Technology (ASMPT) has been the enabler of many with its full-spectrum assembly, packaging and surface-mount technology (SMT) solutions.

"ASM has the widest portfolio of product offerings for our industry," says Lee Wai Kwong, CEO of ASMPT. "A customer can come to us and buy all the necessary equipment to fully assemble an integrated circuit."

Such breadth of product offering is rare in the highly segmented electronics industry, making ASMPT No 1 in the assembly and packaging equipment segment since 2002. Renowned among top industry players, ASMPT serves clients ranging from multinational chip and consumer electronics manufacturers, independent integrated circuit assembly houses and outsourced semiconductor assembly and test services providers, to technology developers in the light-emitting diode industry.

An early move to Asia by parent firm ASM International also positioned ASMPT strongly in the global electronics assembly supply chain. Recognising the upcoming shift of mass production to Asia, Netherlands-based ASM International founder Arthur del Prado set up ASMPT in Hong Kong in 1975. ASMPT entered the mainland in 1989 and maintains its manufacturing base there with a 10,000-strong workforce. ASMPT has based its global business headquarters in Singapore.

As the global business headquarters, ASMPT steers the group's research and development (R&D) initiatives and business development from Singapore. It manages R&D centres spread across Munich, Hong Kong, Singapore and Chengdu - reflecting ASMPT's emphasis on R&D and continuous collaboration with research institutions globally. With up to 10 per cent of annual equipment revenue reinvested in R&D, ASMPT employs more than 1,200 R&D engineers, more than 60 per cent of whom are specialists with post-graduate and PhD qualifications. Their fields of expertise extend to material science, motion control systems, vision technologies, optics, precision engineering, real-time software and vibration control.

"This is the real strength of ASMPT - a group of people with multiple disciplines coming together to look at automation from different angles," Lee says. "When customers have to come up with new ideas on how to assemble and package the next generation of devices, they need technology partners whose breadth of knowledge encompasses the entire assembly chain of semiconductor devices."

This benefits end-product manufacturers because design changes are minimised in the product development cycle, shortening the time to commercialise next-generation devices and cutting overhead costs in doing so.

ASMPT's cutting-edge automation equipment takes technology developers closer to the future state of computers: smartphones and tablet PCs with multi-core processors that enable batteries to last longer and are very light. ASMPT also lends stability to such long-term pursuits with its financial strength.

"Good profitability is important because that's the only way you can continue to invest heavily in R&D and expand your customer base," Lee says.

ASMPT affirmed its commitment as the industry's technology leader with its acquisition of Siemens Electronics Assembly Systems in 2011. The move marked its entry to the SMT market, extending ASMPT's customer base to the automotive industry, industrial electronics and deeper into the smartphone and tablet PC space.

The company is open to more acquisitions to replicate the success it has achieved with Siemens.

"Our customers need strong business partners to help them realise their dreams, and ASMPT is the company to take up this role and work with them," Lee says. "We will see more integration within the industry as people find new ways of making electronic products. Our goal is to leverage the technologies of assembly, packaging and SMT to offer customers these new solutions."

ASM Pacific Technology
Website: www.asmpacific.com