AUO Sells Two Taichung Display Fabs to TSMC for NT$38.8B
TL;DR
- AUO's board approved selling two Taichung display fabs (roughly 429,000 sq m across Gen 5 and Gen 7.5 lines) to TSMC for NT$38.8 billion.
- AUO expects about NT$18.5 billion in disposal gains and framed the deal as supporting a shift to an asset-light operating model.
- A separate plan to sell AUO's Huaya facility to Quanta was canceled over disputes on factory specifications and the delivery schedule.
AUO's board approved selling two display plants in Taichung to TSMC for NT$38.8 billion (about US$1.2 billion), TrendForce reported on October 30. The site is AUO's Taichung Phase 2 facility, roughly 429,000 square meters (129,800 ping) housing Gen 5 and Gen 7.5 display lines, and AUO expects about NT$18.5 billion in disposal gains.
AUO Chairman Paul Peng said the deal "supports the company's shift toward an asset-light operating model and efforts to strengthen its financial structure."
The reporting is lighter on what TSMC will do with the plants than the price tag implies. It describes the acquired footprint as space that, "together with nearby optical component suppliers," could support a co-packaged optics (CPO) ecosystem, without naming CoWoS lines or specific customers.
Separately, AUO scrapped a planned divestiture of its Huaya facility to Quanta. "The planned sale of AUO's Huaya facility to Quanta was canceled after the two companies failed to agree on factory specifications and the delivery schedule." That leaves AUO still holding Huaya.
It fits into a steady run of central-Taiwan chip-capacity stories we have been tracking this quarter.
Originally reported by trendforce.com
Read the original article →Original headline: TSMC Pays NT$38.8B for Two AUO Taichung Plants to Convert Into CoWoS Advanced Packaging Capacity