Taipei, Oct. 9 (CNA) ASE Technology Holding Co., the world's largest IC packaging and testing services provider, held a groundbreaking ceremony on Wednesday for its new advanced production facility in Kaohsiung.

Construction of the K28 plant, expected to be completed in 2026, will expand ASE's CoWoS (Chip-on-Wafer-on-Substrate) advanced packaging capacity, the company said in a statement Wednesday.

The new plant is the second phase of a plan to build two factories on a two-hectare plot in Kaohsiung's Dashe District in response to growing demand for CoWoS advanced packaging and final testing services.

The first half of the plan, the K27 facility, was completed and began operations in 2023.

ASE Technology and affiliate Hung Ching Development & Construction Corp. are collaborating on the K28 plant, with ASE providing the land and Hung Ching the capital and construction know-how, ASE Kaohsiung Plant General Manager Raymond Lo (羅瑞榮) said in the statement.

The new factory, designed to have seven floors above ground and one floor underground, will be built with low-carbon building materials and equipped with energy-saving and energy-efficient equipment and solar panels, according to the company.

ASE said the K28 facility, its first to have an anti-microvibration design, will represent a step forward in smart manufacturing technologies and automation.

More than 400 engineers have been assigned to focus on automation, developing software, equipment and procedures such as automated coding that will allow the factory to be much less reliant on workers.

ASE has been expanding its advanced assembly technology capacity in Kaohsiung beyond the K27 and K28 facilities.

In August, ASE said it had signed an agreement to acquire a facility coded K18 in Kaohsiung's Nanzih District from Hung Ching for about NT$5.26 billion (US$163.41 million) to expand its sophisticated IC pumping packaging and flip chip packaging capacity.

Additionally, in late December 2023, ASE announced it had leased buildings from ASE Test, Inc. in Nanzih to expand its packaging capacity. The industry believed that those moves were aimed at increasing packaging capacity for AI chips.