ASE Technology, the world’s leading OSAT provider, has raised prices on advanced packaging services, with CoWoS wafer-level and FoCoS fan-out substrates seeing hikes exceeding 20% effective immediately. Industry sources indicate rival packagers are likely to follow suit.
The price adjustment, confirmed by COO Tien Wu, stems from soaring raw material costs and an aggressive capex surge—from $2B annually to **$8.5B in 2026**—to fund high-end capacity expansion. With TSMC’s own CoWoS supply strained, ASE is absorbing surging outsourced orders from U.S. chip giants, passing through the cost pressure across the backend supply chain.
Beyond short-term demand, ASE is redirecting investment toward AI infrastructure, automotive electronics, and humanoid robotics, securing long-term process technology for next-gen heterogeneous integration.
ICgoodFind Takeaway
AI computing tightens advanced packaging capacity. ASE’s hike—driven by materials and massive capex—ripples through OSATs and substrates. Expect broader margin pressure across the assembly chain.
