A chip that leaves the fab still has work ahead. Someone has to cut it, seal it in a protective package, wire it to the outside world and test that it works. Advanced Semiconductor Engineering did that job for chip companies around the globe from its base in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Already listed in Taipei, it sold American depositary shares on the New York Stock Exchange in September 2000, as the chip boom peaked.

Two Brothers and a Back End

Brothers Jason C.S. Chang and Richard H.P. Chang led ASE as chairman and as vice chairman and chief executive. The company described itself as one of the world's largest independent providers of chip packaging. Its subsidiary ASE Test, quoted on Nasdaq since 1996, ran testing plants in Taiwan, the United States, Hong Kong and Singapore. The bet was that chip companies would hand off more of the back end of manufacturing to specialists.

Seven Dollars, Then a Merger

ASE sold 20 million ADSs at $7 each and listed them on the NYSE under the symbol ASX. Just before pricing, its Taipei shares had closed at the equivalent of $7.62 per ADS. ASE kept growing through acquisitions. In 2018 it combined with its rival Siliconware Precision Industries under a new holding company, ASE Technology Holding. That company still trades on the NYSE under ASX.

Cover: Venetian Glass Workers, John Singer Sargent. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for glass workers at a bench (precise handwork).