Advanced Semiconductor Engineering (ASE) broke ground at the site of a regional headquarters in Zhangjiang, Shanghai on September 21. Operations are scheduled to commence in 2012, according to the Taiwan-based IC packaging and testing house.

Construction of the 120,000-square-meter factory building will be divided into three phases, ASE said. The company also unveiled plans to invest a total of CNY24 billion (US$3.7 billion) in the facilities over the next eight to 10 years. The regional headquarters is expected to generate annual revenues of CNY55 billion, ASE remarked.

ASE revealed that total investment in the company's current operations in Shanghai has reached CNY13 billion, and about 11,000 employees are stationed at the factory site. With plans to expand the facilities and build a local headquarters, the company will hire an additional 50,000 staff for the Shanghai operations.

ASE currently operates ASE Assembly & Test, which offers a one-stop shop for IC backend solutions, and a manufacturing plant for IC substrates in Shanghai, where foundries including Semiconductor Manufacturing International (SMIC), Hua Hong NEC (HHNEC) Electronics and Grace Semiconductor Manufacturing (GSMC) are also located.

ASE also runs an EMS factory in Shanghai as a result of its buyout of Universal Scientific Industrial (USI).