Mark LaPedus
EE Times
(06/28/2007 11:59 $ EDT)

SAN JOSE, Calif. ? Taiwan's Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc. (ASE) remained the No. 1 provider of assembly and test services in 2006 and became the first provider to exceed $3 billion in a calendar year, according to rankings from Gartner Inc. (See table below)

U.S.-based Amkor Technology Inc. grew the fastest among the top three companies, growing more than 30 percent and crossing the $2.5 billion revenue mark in 2006.

Worldwide semiconductor contract assembly and test services (SATS) market experienced double-digit growth in 2006 as revenue totaled $19.2 billion, a 26.5 percent increase from 2005, according to Gartner. Outsourcing's share rose to 43.5 percent of the total semiconductor packaging market.

"SATS market growth was greater than overall semiconductor growth again in 2006, reflecting the ongoing increased used of outsourcing services resulting from the dynamic expansion in chip scale packages (CSPs), flip-chip packages, system-in-package (SiP) and 3-D assembly,'' said Jim Walker, research vice president for Gartner's semiconductor manufacturing and design research group.