Singapore-based ST Assembly Test Services acquired US-based ChipPac Inc for US$1.6 billion. In acquiring ChipPac, ST also gained control over the California firm's Shanghai factory, thus rendering its plan to build a mainland assembly and test facility unnecessary.
The companies will combine to form a new firm, STATS ChipPAC, which will have the second-largest testing capacity in the world after Advanced Semiconductor. The company's Shanghai facility is the largest testing and packaging plant on the mainland.