As the demand for outsourcing continues to grow and supply chains continue to shorten, Amkor is committed to increase our role in the customer's value chain.
Amkor Technology, Inc. is a publicly traded company providing contract semiconductor assembly and test services. Assembly and testing are two of the three steps required to produce a finished integrated circuit ready for use in a host of electronic applications. After transistors and electronic circuitry are deposited onto a silicon wafer, the wafer is assembled, or "packaged," by being cut into separate integrated circuits, which are connected electrically to a system board through a protective housing. The packaged integrated circuit is then subjected to testing to verify function, current, timing, and voltage. In addition, Amkor offers value-added services such as electrical package characterization and thermal package characterization, which help designers to learn how a device will perform in a finished package. The company also can help in the design of a package and provide other services, including die processing, package signal integrity analysis, failure analysis, and qualification testing. Amkor serves major global customers such as Agilent, Intel, Philips, Sony, and Toshiba. Amkor maintains its corporate headquarters in West Chester, Pennsylvania, where its founder and chairman, James J. Kim, lives, but most of the company's U.S. operations are located in Arizona, and manufacturing is conducted overseas in seven Asia-Pacific countries.
Anam ran into problems in the late 1960s when a partner of Hwang Kim quit. In 1968 his son began to help by acting as Anam's marketing agent in the United States. James Kim would then give up his academic career, quitting his Villanova post in 1970. He set up an office in his garage and incorporated Amkor Electronics Inc. (Amkor standing for American-Korean). The company was formed to design semiconductor packages and provide packaging services, with Anam acting as supplier. During the day Kim worked with U.S. engineers in determining the best way to take advantage of Anam's facilities, and at night he sent instructions to Korea by way of a telex machine. Well versed in the intricacies of U.S. tax law, Kim also set up Amkor to receive fees for its services, which were taxed at a lower rate. He also established several other companies to provide fee-based services to Anam. In addition to running this small stable of Amkor-related companies, he became involved in a business launched in 1977 by his wife, who opened a kiosk in a Philadelphia-area shopping mall that sold calculators and digital watches. A retail chain called The Electronics Boutique grew out of this initial venture. It began to show strong growth after adding video games and then moved into the home computer market by offering both hardware and software. The chain was located in 25 malls by the early 1980s, generating revenues of $13 million.
Principal Subsidiaries: Amkor Technology Hong Kong, Ltd.; Amkor Technology Singapore Pte. Ltd.; Amkor Technology Japan, KK; Amkor Technology Philippines (60%); Amkor Technology Taiwan Ltd. (84%); Amkor Technology Greater China, Ltd.
Principal Competitors: ASE Test Limited; Siliconware Precision Industries Co. Ltd.; STATS ChipPAC Ltd.
Source: International Directory of Company Histories , Vol.69. St. James Press, 2005.
