ASE Technology Holding (ASX) 20-F2019 FY Annual report (foreign)

UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION 

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 20-F

OR

OR

OR

Commission file number: 001-16125

(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter)

ASE Technology Holding Co., Ltd.

(Translation of Registrant’s Name into English)

REPUBLIC OF CHINA

(Jurisdiction of Incorporation or Organization)

26 Chin Third Road

Nantze Export Processing Zone

Nantze, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

Republic of China

(Address of Principal Executive Offices)

Joseph Tung

Room 1901, No. 333, Section 1 Keelung Rd.

Taipei, Taiwan, 110

Republic of China

Tel: 886-2-6636-5678

Fax: 882-2-2757-6121

Email:ir@aseglobal.com

 (Name, Telephone, Email and/or Facsimile Number and Address of Company Contact Person)

Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

* Traded in the form of American Depositary Receipts evidencing American Depositary Shares (the “ADSs”), each representing two common shares of ASE Technology Holding Co., Ltd. 

Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:

None

Securities for which there is a reporting obligation pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Act:

None

Indicate the number of outstanding shares of each of the issuer’s classes of capital or common stock as of the close of the period covered by the annual report:

As of December 31, 2019, 4,329,883,632 Common Shares, par value NT$10 each were outstanding.**

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.

Yes ☒         No ☐

If this report is an annual or transition report, indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

Yes ☐         No ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the Registrant was required to file such reports) and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.

Yes ☒         No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files).

Yes ☒         No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or an emerging growth company. See definition of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

Indicate by check mark which basis of accounting the registrant has used to prepare the financial statements included in this filing:

If “Other” has been checked in response to the previous question, indicate by check mark which financial statement item the registrant has elected to follow:

             Item 17 ☐         Item 18 ☐

If this is an annual report, indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).

Yes ☐         No ☒

** As a result of the exercise of employee stock options subsequent to December 31, 2019, as of January 31, 2020, we had 4,331,603,182 Common Shares outstanding.

table of contents

Page

USE OF CERTAIN TERMS

Unless the context otherwise requires, references in this annual report to:

We publish our financial statements in New Taiwan dollars, the lawful currency of the R.O.C. In this annual report, references to “United States dollars,” “U.S. dollars” and “US$” are to the currency of the United States; references to “New Taiwan dollars,” “NT dollars” and “NT$” are to the currency of the R.O.C.; references to “RMB” are to the currency of the P.R.C.; references to “JP¥” are to the currency of Japan; references to “MYR” are to the currency of Malaysia; references to “SGD” are to the currency of the Republic of Singapore; references to “KRW” are to the currency of the Republic of Korea; references to “EUR” are to the currency of the EU; and references to “PLN” are to the currency of the Poland. Unless otherwise noted, all translations from NT dollars to U.S. dollars were made at the exchange rate as set forth in the H.10 weekly statistical release of the Federal Reserve System of the United States (the “Federal Reserve Board”) as of December 31, 2019, which was NT$29.91=US$1.00, and all translations from RMB to U.S. dollars were made at the exchange rate as set forth in the H.10 weekly statistical release of the Federal Reserve Board as of December 31, 2019, which was RMB6.9618=US$1.00. All amounts translated into U.S. dollars in this annual report are provided solely for your convenience and no representation is made that the NT dollar, RMB or U.S. dollar amounts referred to herein could have been or could be converted into U.S. dollars or NT dollars/RMB, as the case may be, at any particular rate or at all. On March 13, 2020, the exchange rate between NT dollars and U.S. dollars as set forth in the H.10 weekly statistical release by the Federal Reserve Board was NT$30.13=US$1.00. On March 13, 2020, the exchange rate between RMB and U.S. dollars as set forth in the H.10 weekly statistical release by the Federal Reserve Board was RMB7.0079=US$1.00.

SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This annual report on Form 20-F contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act and Section 21E of the Exchange Act. Although these forward-looking statements, which may include statements regarding our future results of operations, financial condition or business prospects, are based on our own information and information from other sources we believe to be reliable, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which apply only as of the date of this annual report. The words “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “plan” and similar expressions, as they relate to us, are intended to identify these forward-looking statements in this annual report. Our actual results of operations, financial condition or business prospects may differ materially from those expressed or implied in these forward-looking statements for a variety of reasons, including risks associated with cyclicality and market conditions in the semiconductor or electronics industry; changes in our regulatory environment, including our ability to comply with new or stricter environmental regulations and to resolve environmental liabilities; demand for the outsourced semiconductor packaging, testing and EMS we offer and for such outsourced services generally; the highly competitive semiconductor or manufacturing industry we are involved in; our ability to introduce new technologies in order to remain competitive; international business activities; our business strategy; our future expansion plans and capital expenditures; the strained relationship between the R.O.C. and the P.R.C.; general economic and political conditions; the recent global economic crisis; possible disruptions in commercial activities caused by natural or human-induced disasters; fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates; and other factors. For a discussion of these risks and other factors, see “Item 3. Key Information—Risk Factors.”

PART I

Item 1. Identity of Directors, Senior Management and Advisers

Not applicable.

Item 2. Offer Statistics and Expected Timetable

Not applicable.

Item 3. Key Information

SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA

The following tables present selected consolidated financial data for ASEH as of and for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2019, and ASE as of and for the years ended December 31, 2015, 2016 and 2017.

The selected consolidated statements of comprehensive income data and cash flow data for the years ended December 31, 2017, 2018 and 2019, and the selected consolidated balance sheet data as of December 31, 2018 and 2019 set forth below are derived from our audited consolidated financial statements included in this annual report and should be read in conjunction with, and are qualified in their entirety by reference to, these consolidated financial statements, including the notes thereto. The selected consolidated statements of comprehensive income data and cash flow data for the years ended December 31, 2015 and 2016 and the selected consolidated balance sheet data as of December 31, 2015 and 2016 and 2017 set forth below are derived from our audited consolidated financial statements not included herein.

Our consolidated financial statements have been prepared and presented in accordance with IFRS.

Following our adoption of IFRS for SEC filing purposes, pursuant to the rule amendments adopted by the SEC that became effective on March 4, 2008, we were no longer required to reconcile our consolidated financial statements with U.S. GAAP.

__________________  

Exchange Rates

Fluctuations in the exchange rate between NT dollars and U.S. dollars will affect the U.S. dollar equivalent of the NT dollar price of our common shares on the TWSE and, as a result, will likely affect the market price of the ADSs. Fluctuations will also affect the U.S. dollar conversion by the depositary under our ADS deposit agreement referred to below of cash dividends paid in NT dollars on, and the NT dollar proceeds received by the depositary from any sale of, common shares represented by ADSs, in each case, according to the terms of the deposit agreement dated September 29, 2000 and as amended and supplemented from time to time among us, Citibank N.A. as depositary, and the holders and beneficial owners from time to time of the ADSs, which we refer to as the deposit agreement.

CAPITALIZATION AND INDEBTEDNESS

Not applicable.

REASON FOR THE OFFER AND USE OF PROCEEDS

Not applicable.

RISK FACTORS

Risks Relating to the SPIL Acquisition

Due to the SPIL Acquisition, our financial and operational results of annual and interim periods may not be comparable.

ASEH was formed pursuant to the consummation of the Share Exchange on April 30, 2018. ASE is ASEH’s predecessor entity; therefore, the financial and operational results of ASEH for periods before the Share Exchange were prepared under the assumption that ASEH owned 100% shareholdings of ASE. The financial and operational results before April 30, 2018 reflect the business operations of ASE. The financial and operational results for the second quarter of 2018 reflect the business operations of ASE starting from April 1, 2018 and the business operations of ASEH starting from April 30, 2018. The financial and operational results after April 30, 2018 reflect the combined operations after the SPIL Acquisition. Therefore, the financial and operational results of annual and interim periods may not be comparable.

There may be risks associated with our current holding company structure.

We entered into the Joint Share Exchange Agreement with SPIL in June 2016, pursuant to which ASEH, a holding company in Taiwan, holds 100% of the equity interests in both ASE and SPIL such that ASE and SPIL became wholly owned subsidiaries of ASEH. The common shares of ASE and SPIL were delisted from the TWSE. The ADSs of ASE and SPIL were delisted from NYSE and NASDAQ, respectively, and became eligible for deregistration under the Exchange Act. Subsequently, the common shares of ASEH were listed on the TWSE, and the ADSs of ASEH were listed on the NYSE. The implementation of such corporate structure restructuring plan may result in contingent risks, including increase in tax liabilities or trading discounts relating to a holding company discount that may become apparent in the future. For details about the Joint Share Exchange Agreement, see “Item 10. Additional Information—Material Contract.”

Risks Relating to Our Business

Since we are dependent on the highly cyclical semiconductor and electronics industries and conditions in the markets for the end-use applications of our products, our revenues and net income may fluctuate significantly.

Our business is affected by market conditions in the highly cyclical semiconductor and electronics industries. Most of our customers operate in this industry, and variations in order levels from our customers and service fee rates may result in volatility in our revenues and net income. From time to time, the semiconductor and electronics industries have experienced significant, and sometimes prolonged, downturns. As our business is, and will continue to be, dependent on the requirements for independent packaging, testing and EMS, any future downturn in the industry would reduce demand for our services. If we cannot reduce our costs or adjust our product mix to sufficiently offset any decline in sales volumes, our profitability will suffer, and we may incur losses.

Market conditions in the semiconductor and electronics industries depend to a large degree on conditions in the markets for the end-use applications of various products, such as communications, computing and consumer electronics products. Any deterioration of conditions in the markets for the end-use applications would reduce demand for our services, and would likely have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations. In 2019, approximately 52.5%, 14.6% and 32.9% of our operating revenues from packaging and testing were attributed to the packaging and testing of semiconductors used in communications, computing and consumer electronics/industrial/automotive/other applications, respectively. In the same year, approximately 37.4%, 11.3%, 34.6%, 11.3% and 5.4% of our operating revenues from EMS were attributed to the communications, computers and storage, consumer electronics applications, industrial and automotive applications and other, respectively. Across end-use applications, our customers face intense competition and significant shifts in demand, which could put pricing pressure on our services and may adversely affect our revenues and net income.

A reversal or slowdown in the outsourcing trend for semiconductor packaging and testing services and EMS could adversely affect our growth prospects and profitability.

Semiconductor manufacturers that have their own in-house packaging and testing capabilities, known as integrated device manufacturers and original equipment manufacturers, have increasingly outsourced stages of the production process, including packaging, testing, electronic manufacturing and assembly, to independent companies in order to reduce costs, eliminate product complexity and meet fast-to-market requirements. In addition, the availability of advanced independent semiconductor manufacturing services has also enabled the growth of so-called “fabless” semiconductor companies that focus exclusively on design and marketing and outsource their manufacturing, packaging and testing requirements to independent companies. We cannot assure you that these manufacturers and companies will continue to outsource their packaging, testing and manufacturing requirements to third parties like us. Furthermore, during an economic downturn, these integrated device manufacturers typically rely more on their own in-house packaging and testing capabilities, therefore decreasing their need to outsource. A reversal of, or a slowdown in, this outsourcing trend could result in reduced demand for our services and adversely affect our growth prospects and profitability.

Any global economic downturn could adversely affect the demand for our products and services, and a protracted global economic crisis would have a material adverse effect on us.

The global financial markets experienced significant disruptions in 2008 and the United States, Europe and other economies went into recession. The recovery from the lows of 2008 and 2009 was uneven and it is facing new challenges, including a European sovereign debt crisis that began in 2011, a referendum in the United Kingdom in June 2016, in which the majority of voters voted in favor of an exit from the European Union (“Brexit”), and continuing high unemployment rates in much of the world. It is unclear what the long-term impact of the European sovereign debt crisis will be and uncertainty remains over the long-term effects of the expansionary monetary and fiscal policies that have been adopted by the central banks and financial authorities of some of the world’s leading economies. On January 31, 2020, the United Kingdom ceased to be a member state of the EU. As of the date of this filing until December 31, 2020, the EU and the United Kingdom will negotiate the terms of their future relationship. It remains unclear how the Brexit would affect the fiscal, monetary and regulatory landscape within the United Kingdom, the EU and globally. Any economic downturn or crisis may cause our customers to cancel or reduce planned expenditures for our products and services. Any uncertainty or significant volatility in global economic conditions may also make it difficult for our customers to accurately forecast and plan future business activities and may have a material adverse effect on us.

If we are unable to compete favorably in the highly competitive markets of semiconductor packaging and testing and EMS, our revenues and net income may decrease.

The markets of semiconductor packaging and testing and EMS are very competitive. We face competition from a number of sources, including other independent semiconductor packaging and testing companies, integrated device manufacturers, and other EMS providers with large-scale manufacturing capabilities who can quickly react to market changes. We believe that the principal competitive factors in our industry are:

We face increasing competition, as most of our customers obtain services from more than one source. Rapid technological advances and aggressive pricing strategies by our competitors may continue to increase competition. Our ability to compete depends on factors both within and outside of our control and may be constrained by the distinct characteristics and production requirements of individual products. We cannot assure you that we will be able to continue to improve production efficiency and maintain reasonable profit for all of our products.

In addition, some of our competitors may have superior financial, marketing, manufacturing, research and development and technological resources than we do. For example, the central government of the P.R.C. as well as provincial and municipal governments have provided various incentives to domestic companies in the semiconductor industry, including major semiconductor testing and packaging providers, such as Jiangsu Changjiang Electronics Technology Co., Ltd. Similarly, our customers may face competition from their competitors in the P.R.C., and such competitors may also receive significant subsidies from the P.R.C. government. As we are downstream suppliers, the impact of such government policies on competition and price pressure of our customers may negatively impact our own business. Increasing competition may lead to declines in product prices and profitability and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and future prospects.

Our profitability depends on our ability to respond to rapid technological changes in the semiconductor industry.

The semiconductor industry is characterized by rapid increases in the diversity and complexity of semiconductors. As a result, we expect that we will need to constantly offer more sophisticated packaging and testing technologies and processes in order to respond to competitive industry conditions and customer requirements. We have successfully combined our packaging, testing and materials technologies with the expertise of EMS at the systems level to develop our SiP business. We also entered into multiple technology license agreements with DECA to advance our fan-out technology. There is, however, no assurance that our development efforts for our SiP business or the use of licensed technology to further advance our fan-out technology will be successful.

We continue to develop new products in anticipation of future demand. However, there is no assurance that the launch of any new product will be successful or that whether we will be able to produce sufficient quantities of these products to meet market demand. If we fail to develop, or obtain access to, advances in packaging or testing technologies or processes, we may become less competitive and less profitable. In addition, advances in technology typically lead to declining average selling prices for semiconductors packaged or tested with older technologies or processes. As a result, if we cannot reduce the costs associated with our services, the profitability of a given service and our overall profitability may decrease over time.

Our operating results are subject to significant fluctuations, which could adversely affect the market value of your investment.

Our operating results have varied significantly from period to period and may continue to vary in the future. Downward fluctuations in our operating results may result in decreases in the market price of our common shares and the ADSs. Among the more important factors affecting our quarterly and annual operating results are the following: 

Due to the factors listed above, our future operating results or growth rates may be below the expectations of research analysts and investors. If so, the market price of our common shares and the ADSs, and thus the market value of your investment, may fall.

Due to our high percentage of fixed costs, we may be unable to maintain our gross margin at past levels if we are unable to achieve relatively high capacity utilization rates. 

Our operations, in particular our testing operations, are characterized by relatively high fixed costs. We expect to continue to incur substantial depreciation and other expenses in connection with our acquisitions of equipment and facilities. Our profitability depends not only on the pricing levels for our services or products, but also on utilization rates for our machinery and equipment, commonly referred to as “capacity utilization rates.” In particular, increases or decreases in our capacity utilization rates can significantly affect gross margins since the unit cost generally decreases as fixed costs are allocated over a larger number of units. In periods of low demand, we experience relatively low capacity utilization rates in our operations, which leads to reduced margins. We cannot assure you that we will be able to maintain or surpass our past gross margin levels if we cannot consistently achieve or maintain relatively high capacity utilization rates.

If we are unable to manage our expansion or investments effectively, our growth prospects may be limited and our future profitability and core business operations may be adversely affected.

We have significantly expanded our operations through acquisitions and joint ventures in recent years. For our expansion or investments, see “Item 4. Information on the Company—Business Overview—Strategy—Strategically Expand and Streamline Production Capacity.”

While we expect that we will continue to expand our operations in the future to broaden our product offerings, rapid expansion may strain our managerial, technical, financial, operational and other resources. As a result of our expansion, we have implemented and will continue to implement additional operational and financial controls and hire and train additional personnel. Any failure to manage our growth effectively could lead to inefficiencies and redundancies and result in reduced growth prospects and profitability.

In addition, we have made several investments in the real estate development businesses in China. The P.R.C. property market is volatile and may experience undersupply or oversupply and property price fluctuations. The central and local governments frequently adjust monetary and other fiscal policies to prevent and curtail the overheating of the economy. Such policies may lead to changes in market conditions, including price instability and imbalance of supply and demand in respect of office, residential, retail, entertainment, cultural and intellectual properties. Our exposure to risks related to real estate development may also increase over time as a result of our expansion into such a business. We may continue to make investments in this area in the future and our diversification in this industry may put pressure on our managerial, financial, operational and other resources. There can be no assurance that our investments in such a business will yield the anticipated returns and that our expansion into such a business, including the resulting diversion of management’s attention, will not adversely affect our core business operations.

The financial performance of our equity method investments could adversely affect our results of operations.

As part of our business strategy, we have and may continue to pursue acquisitions of businesses and assets, strategic alliances and joint ventures. We currently have equity investments in certain entities and the accounting treatment applied for these investments varies depending on a number of factors, including, but not limited to, our percentage ownership,our percentage of membership of investee’s board and the level of influence we have over the relevant entity. Any losses experienced by these entities could adversely affect our results of operations and the value of our investment. In addition, if these entities were to fail and cease operations, we may lose the entire value of our investment and the stream of any shared profits.

There can be no assurance that we will be able to maintain or enhance the value or performance of our investee companies or that we will achieve the returns or benefits sought from such investments. If our interests differ from those of other investors in our investee companies, we may not be able to enjoy synergies with the investee and it may adversely affect our financial results or financial condition.

We recognized impairment charges of nil, NT$521.0 million and NT$400.2 million (US$13.4 million) in 2017, 2018 and 2019, respectively, in our investments under the equity method. See note 14 to our consolidated financial statements included in this annual report and see “Item 5. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects—Operating Results and Trend Information—Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates—Valuation of Investments.”

The packaging and testing businesses are capital intensive. If we cannot obtain additional capital when we need it, our growth prospects and future profitability may be adversely affected.

The packaging and testing business is capital intensive. We will need capital to fund the expansion of our facilities as well as fund our research and development activities in order to remain competitive. We believe that our existing cash, marketable securities, expected cash flow from operations and existing credit lines under our loan facilities will be sufficient to meet our capital expenditures, working capital, cash obligations under our existing debt and lease arrangements, and other requirements for at least the next twelve months. However, future capacity expansions or market or other developments may cause us to require additional funds. Our ability to obtain external financing in the future is subject to a variety of uncertainties, including:

If we are unable to obtain funding in a timely manner or on acceptable terms, our results of operations and financial conditions may be materially and adversely affected.

Restrictive covenants and broad default provisions in our existing debt agreements may materially restrict our operations as well as adversely affect our liquidity, financial condition and results of operations.

We are a party to numerous loans and other agreements relating to the incurrence of debt, which may include restrictive covenants and broad default provisions. In general, covenants in the agreements governing our existing debt, and debt we may incur in the future, may materially restrict our operations, including our ability to incur debt, pay dividends, make certain investments and payments, other than in connection with restructurings of consolidated entities, and encumber or dispose of assets. In addition, any global economic deterioration or ineffective expansion may cause us to incur significant net losses or force us to assume considerable liabilities. We cannot assure you that we will be able to remain in compliance with our financial covenants, which, as a result, may lead to a default. This may thereby restrict our ability to access unutilized credit facilities or the global capital markets to meet our liquidity needs. Furthermore, a default under any agreement by us or our subsidiaries may trigger cross-defaults under our other agreements. In the event of default, we may not be able to cure the default or obtain a waiver on a timely basis. An event of default under any agreement timely governing our existing or future debt, if not cured or waived, could have a material adverse effect on our liquidity, financial condition and results of operations.

We have on occasion failed to comply with certain financial covenants in some of our loan agreements. Such non-compliance may also have, through broadly worded cross-default provisions, resulted in default under some of the agreements governing our other existing debt. For example, we failed to comply with certain financial covenants in some of our loan agreements as a result of our acquisition of the controlling interest of Universal Scientific Industrial in 2010, for which we have timely obtained waivers from our counterparties. With respect to our syndicated loan agreement for financing the SPIL Acquisition, the banks agreed to exempt debt/equity ratio from assessment before June 30, 2018. If we are unable to timely rectify any possible non-compliance under such loan agreements or obtain applicable waivers or amendments, we would breach our financial covenants and our financial condition would be adversely affected. As of December 31, 2019, we were not in breach of any of the financial covenants under our existing loan agreements, although we cannot provide any assurance that we will not breach any of such financial covenants in the future.

We depend on select personnel and could be affected by the loss of their services.

We depend on the continued service of our executive officers and skilled technical personnel. Our business could suffer if we lose the services of any of these personnel and cannot adequately replace them. Although some of these management personnel have entered into employment agreements with us, they may nevertheless leave before the expiration of these agreements. We are not insured against the loss of the services of any of our personnel. In addition, these proceedings may divert these and other employees’ attention from our business operations.

In addition, we may be required to increase substantially the number of these employees in connection with our expansion plans, and there is intense competition for their services in this industry. We may not be able to either retain our present personnel or attract additional qualified personnel as and when needed. In addition, we may need to increase employee compensation levels in order to attract and retain our existing officers and employees and the additional personnel that we expect to require. Furthermore, a portion of the workforce at our facilities in Taiwan are foreign workers employed under work permits, which are subject to government regulations on renewal and other terms. Consequently, our business could also suffer if the Taiwan regulations relating to the employment of foreign workers were to become significantly more restrictive or if we are otherwise unable to attract or retain these workers at a reasonable cost.

The ongoing proceeding involving Dr. Tien Wu may have an adverse impact on our business and cause our common shares and ADS price to decline.

Dr. Tien Wu, ASEH’s director and chief operating officer, was involved in a criminal proceeding brought by the Taiwan Kaohsiung District Prosecutors Office. The indictment alleged that Dr. Tien Wu violated Article 157-1 of the R.O.C. Securities and Exchange Act for insider trading activities involving SPIL common shares conducted during the period when the Initial SPIL Tender Offers, the Second SPIL Tender Offers and negotiations of the memorandum of understanding in relation to SPIL Acquisition took place. Dr. Tien Wu was accused of tipping off a friend about the aforementioned tender offers and negotiation ahead of the public announcements. After an investigation that spanned over two years, the Taiwan Kaohsiung District Court pronounced its judgment on February 5, 2020 that Dr. Tien Wu is found to be NOT guilty. On March 20, 2020, the Taiwan Kaohsiung District Prosecutors Office filed an appeal against the February 5, 2020 judgement. This matter will continue to be litigated in the Taiwan High Court Kaohsiung Branch Court. ASEH has reinforced internal control measures after this incident and no ASEH directors are expected to become party to any current or future litigation related to Dr. Tien Wu.

On October 26, 2018, the R.O.C. Securities and Futures Investors Protection Center filed a civil lawsuit against Dr. Tien Wu and ASEH, requesting the court to remove him from ASEH’s board based on Article 10-1 of the Securities Investor and Futures Trader Protection Act. No judicial conclusion has been reached yet for this proceeding. There is no assurance that this proceeding or the further scrutiny from regulators will not generate publicity or media attention. Any negative publicity in connection to this legal proceeding may adversely affect ASEH’s brand and reputation and result in a material adverse impact on their business operations and prospects. As ASEH depends on the continued service of its executive officers and is not insured against the loss of service of any of their personnel, ASEH’s business operations could suffer if it loses the service of any executive officers, including Dr. Tien Wu, and cannot adequately replace them.

If we are unable to obtain additional packaging and testing equipment or facilities in a timely manner and at a reasonable cost, our competitiveness and future profitability may be adversely affected.

The semiconductor packaging and testing businesses are capital intensive and require significant investment in expensive equipment manufactured by a limited number of suppliers. The market for semiconductor packaging and testing equipment is characterized, from time to time, by intense demand, limited supply and long delivery cycles. Our operations and expansion plans depend on our ability to obtain a significant amount of such equipment from a limited number of suppliers. From time to time we have also leased certain equipment. We have no binding supply agreements with any of our suppliers and acquire our packaging and testing equipment on a purchase order basis, which exposes us to changing market conditions and other substantial risks. For example, shortages of capital equipment could result in an increase in the price of equipment and longer delivery times. Semiconductor packaging and testing also require us to operate sizeable facilities. If we are unable to obtain equipment or facilities in a timely manner, we may be unable to fulfill our customers’ orders, which could adversely affect our growth prospects as well as financial condition and results of operations. See “Item 4. Information on the Company—Business Overview—Equipment.”

Fluctuations in exchange rates could result in foreign exchange losses.

Currently, the majority of our revenues are denominated in U.S. dollars, with a portion denominated in NT dollars and Japanese yen. Our operating costs and operating expenses, on the other hand, are incurred in several currencies, primarily NT dollars, U.S. dollars, RMB, Japanese yen, Korean won, as well as, to a lesser extent, Singapore dollars and Malaysian ringgit and Polish zloty. In addition, a substantial portion of our capital expenditures, primarily for the purchase of packaging and testing equipment, has been, and is expected to continue to be, denominated in U.S. dollars, with the remainder in Japanese yen. Fluctuations in exchange rates, primarily among the U.S. dollar and Japanese yen against the NT dollar and RMB, will affect our costs and operating margins. In addition, these fluctuations could result in exchange losses and increased costs in NT dollar and other local currency terms. Despite hedging and mitigating techniques implemented by us, fluctuations in exchange rates have affected, and may continue to affect, our financial condition and results of operations. We recognized net foreign exchange gains of NT$3,502.6 million in 2017, net foreign exchange losses of NT$1,015.6 million in 2018 and net foreign exchange gains of NT$1,125.7 million (US$37.6 million) in 2019. We cannot assure you that we will achieve foreign exchange gains in the future. See “Item 11. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk—Market Risk—Foreign Currency Exchange Rate Risk.”

The loss of a large customer or disruption of our strategic alliance or other commercial arrangements with semiconductor foundries and providers of other complementary semiconductor manufacturing services may result in a decline in our revenues and profitability.

Although we have a large customer base, we have derived and expect to continue to derive a large portion of our revenues from a small group of customers during any particular period due in part to the concentration of market share in the semiconductor and electronics industries. Our five largest customers together accounted for approximately 46.4%, 46.2% and 51.1% of our operating revenues in 2017, 2018 and 2019, respectively. One customer accounted for more than 10.0% of our operating revenues in 2017 and 2018. For our operating revenues in 2019, two of our customers individually accounted for more than 10.0% of our operating revenues. The demand for our services from a customer is directly dependent upon that customer’s level of business activity, which could vary significantly from year to year. Our key customers typically operate in the cyclical semiconductor and electronic business and, in the past, have varied, and may vary in the future, order levels significantly from period to period. Some of these companies are relatively small, have limited operating histories and financial resources, and are highly exposed to the cyclicality of the industry. We cannot assure you that these customers or any other customers will continue to place orders with us in the future at the same levels as in past periods. The loss of one or more of our significant customers, or reduced orders by any one of them, and our inability to replace these customers or make up for such orders, could adversely affect our revenues and profitability. In addition, we have in the past reduced, and may in the future be requested to reduce, our prices to limit the level of order cancellations. Any price reduction would likely reduce our margins and profitability.

Since 1997, we have maintained a strategic alliance with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited, or TSMC, one of the world’s largest dedicated semiconductor foundries. TSMC designates us as their nonexclusive preferred provider of packaging and testing services for semiconductors manufactured by TSMC. In May 2015, we entered into a joint venture agreement with TDK Corporation to invest in ASEEE and in April 2019 we obtained control over ASEEE to further expand our business in embedded substrates. In February 2018, to expand our SiP business, we entered into a joint venture agreement with Qualcomm Incorporated to form Semicondutores Avancados do Brasil S.A. Such strategic alliances, as well as our other commercial arrangements with providers of other complementary semiconductor manufacturing services, enable us to offer total semiconductor manufacturing solutions to our customers. These strategic alliances and other commercial arrangements may not achieve their anticipated commercial benefits and may be terminated at any time. Any failure in successfully maintaining such alliances, any termination of such alliances or our failure to enter into substantially similar strategic alliances or commercial arrangements may adversely affect our competitiveness and our revenues and profitability.

We rely on a limited number of key customers in certain products for our revenues, and our results of operations may be adversely affected by a reduction of business from our key customers.

Our results of operations also depend on the performance and business of our key customers. Accordingly, risks that could seriously harm our key customers could harm us as well, including:

The launch and market acceptance of our individual key customers’ products could significantly impact our product and customer mix, resulting in significant volatility in the demand for the solutions we offer and our results of operations. It is also possible that a key customer’s market share with respect to its product may decline as its competitors introduce new products, which could adversely affect our results of operations, particularly if we are unable to sell our solutions to such competitors. Furthermore, sales of our key customers’ products are subject to seasonal fluctuation.

Our revenues and profitability may decline if we are unable to obtain adequate supplies of raw materials in a timely manner and at a reasonable price.

Our operations, such as packaging operations, substrate operations and EMS, require that we obtain adequate supplies of raw materials on a timely basis. Shortages in the supply of raw materials have in the past resulted in occasional price increases and delivery delays. In addition, the operations of some of our suppliers are vulnerable to natural disasters, such as earthquakes and typhoons, the occurrences of which may deteriorate and prolong the shortage or increase the uncertainty of the supply of raw materials. We experienced a disruption to the supply of raw materials from Japan for about three to four weeks due to the fear of radiation contamination and the reduction or postponement in production by some of our Japanese suppliers. Although the purchase of supplies from Japan has been restored to the previous level, we cannot assure you that we will not suffer in the long term from the impact of the earthquake and the tsunami. In addition, further earthquakes, aftershocks thereof or other disasters in Japan or other regions in which we operate may cause a decline in our sales. Any of the above events or developments may have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. 

Raw materials such as IC substrates are prone to supply shortages since such materials are produced by a limited number of suppliers, such as Kinsus Interconnect Technology Corporation, Nan Ya Printed Circuit Board Corporation, SIMMTECH Co. Ltd., and Unimicron Technology Corporation. Our operations conducted through our wholly owned subsidiaries ASE Electronics and ASE Shanghai have improved our ability to obtain IC substrates on a timely basis and at a reasonable cost. In 2019, our interconnect materials operations supplied approximately 10.0% of our consolidated substrate requirements by value. We do not expect that our internal interconnect materials operations will be able to meet all of our interconnect materials requirements. Consequently, we will remain dependent on market supply and demand for our raw materials. In addition, recent fluctuations in prices of precious metals, such as gold, have also affected the price at which we have been able to purchase the principal raw materials we use in our packaging processes. We cannot guarantee that we will not experience shortages in the near future or that we will be able to obtain adequate supplies of raw materials in a timely manner or at a reasonable price. Our revenues and net income could decline if we are unable to obtain adequate supplies of high quality raw materials in a timely manner or if there are significant increases in the costs of raw materials that we cannot pass on to our customers.

Regulations related to conflict minerals could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act contains provisions to improve transparency and accountability concerning the supply of certain minerals, known as conflict minerals, which are defined as cassiterite, columbite-tantalite, gold, wolframite or their derivatives and other minerals determined by the U.S. government to be financing conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo and adjoining countries. As a result, in August 2012 the SEC adopted annual disclosure and reporting requirements for those companies who use conflict minerals in their products. These rules require companies that manufacture or contract to manufacture products for which conflict minerals are necessary to the functionality or production to begin scrutinizing the origin of conflict minerals in their products starting from January 1, 2013, and file a new form, Form SD, containing the conflict minerals disclosure by May 31 for the prior calendar year, beginning May 31, 2014. We filed a specialized disclosure report on Form SD for the years ended December 31, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018, on May 30, 2014, June 1, 2015, May 31, 2016, May 31, 2017, April 27, 2018 and May 31, 2019 respectively. Pursuant to the SEC rules governing conflict minerals disclosures, we have engaged an independent auditing firm to conduct audits on our due diligence framework to provide a private sector report for our specialized disclosure report on Form SD for the years ended December 31, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019. As a result, there will be costs associated with complying with these disclosure requirements, including costs for diligence to determine the sources of conflict minerals used in our products and other potential changes to products, processes or sources of supply as a consequence of such verification activities. The implementation of these rules could adversely affect the sourcing, supply and pricing of materials used in our products.

As there may be only a limited number of suppliers offering “conflict free” minerals, we cannot be sure that we will be able to obtain necessary “conflict free” minerals from such suppliers in sufficient quantities or at competitive prices. Also, we may face adverse effects to our reputation if we determine that certain of our products contain minerals not determined to be conflict free or if we are unable to sufficiently verify the origins for all conflict minerals used in our products through the procedures we may implement.

System security risks, data protection breaches or unexpected system outage or failures could harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We rely on the efficient and uninterrupted operation of complex information technology applications, systems and networks to operate our business. Our systems are vulnerable to damage or interruption from earthquakes, terrorist attacks, floods, fires, power loss, telecommunications failures, cyber-attacks, computer viruses, computer denial of service attacks or other attempts to harm our system, and similar events. In recent years, the risks that we face from cyber attacks have increased significantly. Some of these attacks may originate from well-organized, highly skilled organizations. Although there have not been reported major cyber attacks against our systems in recent years, any such attack or system or network disruption could result in a loss of our intellectual property, the release of commercially sensitive information, customer or employee personal data. Failures to protect the privacy of customer and employee confidential data against breaches of network security could result in damage to our reputation. 

Furthermore, some of our data centers are located in areas with a high risk of major earthquakes. Our data centers are also subject to break-ins, sabotage and intentional acts of vandalism, and to potential disruptions if the operators of these facilities have financial difficulties. Some of our systems are not fully redundant, and our disaster recovery planning cannot account for all eventualities. The occurrence of a natural disaster, a decision to close a facility we are using without adequate notice for financial reasons or other unanticipated problems at our data centers could result in loss of production capabilities and lengthy interruptions in our service. Any damage to or failure of our systems could result in interruptions in our service. Interruptions in our service could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

A cybersecurity breach could interfere with our business operations, compromise confidential information, adversely impact our reputation and operating results and potentially lead to litigation and other liabilities.

Cybersecurity threats continue to expand and evolve globally. Our cybersecurity response system includes a risk notification and assessment scheme that categorizes and implements different responses to address different levels of cybersecurity risk. In addition, we have implemented risk management programs at our major manufacturing sites and have included cybersecurity threats as an integral subject in these programs. While we actively take measures to manage information technology security risks, there can be no assurance that these measures will be sufficient to mitigate all potential risks to our system, networks and data.

Although our on-site safety teams conduct periodic meetings to update our cybersecurity protocols and cybersecurity is a key part of our risk management program that our management regularly reviews, a failure or breach in security could expose us and our customers, dealers and suppliers to risks of unauthorized access to information technology systems, misuse and compromise of confidential information, manipulation and destruction of data, which could potentially result in disruption of our business operations and adversely affect our reputation, competitive position, financial condition and results of operations. Security breaches could also result in litigation with third parties, regulatory actions and higher costs of implementing additional data protection measures.

Negative publicity may adversely affect our brand and reputation, which may result in a material adverse impact on our business, results of operations and business prospects and cause fluctuations in the price of our common shares and ADSs.

Any negative publicity may damage our brand and reputation, harm our ability to attract and retain customers and have a material adverse impact on our results of operations as well as cause fluctuations in the trading price of our common shares and ADSs. In addition, any change in policy or the direction in which we carry out our corporate social responsibility or corporate sustainability activities may also have an adverse effect on our business reputation. In recent years, we have experienced and may continue to experience negative publicity in connection with administrative penalties and criminal charges related to alleged violations of environmental regulations and laws. For further details, see “Item 4. Information on the Company—Business Overview—Environmental Matters,” and “Item 8. Financial Information—Consolidated Statements and Other Financial Information—Legal Proceedings.”

Any environmental claims or failure to comply with any present or future environmental regulations, as well as any fire or other industrial accident, may require us to spend additional funds and may materially and adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.

We are subject to various laws and regulations relating to the use, storage, discharge and disposal of chemical by-products of, and water used in, our packaging and interconnect materials production processes, and the emission of volatile organic compounds and the discharge and disposal of solid industrial wastes from EMS operations. In recent years, we have been subject to environmental administrative actions and judicial proceedings related to certain wastewater discharge incidents that occurred at our facilities. As a result of these proceedings, we have been subject to monetary fines as well as sanctions, including orders to suspend or limit our operations and criminal charges against us. For further details, see “Item 4. Information on the Company—Business Overview—Environmental Matters,” and “Item 8. Financial Information—Consolidated Statements and Other Financial Information—Legal Proceedings.” 

Climate change, water shortage and other environmental concerns could negatively affect our business and financial planning.

There is concern that without substantial remediation, increasing man-made climate change could adversely affect the global economy irreversibly. A modest change in average global temperatures would result in increased coastal flooding, altered precipitation patterns and increased risk of extinction for the world’s species. Extreme weather conditions, such as droughts and floods, that occur due to climate change can also impact our business operations and financial performance. For example, since our business operations depend on adequate supplies of water, an extended drought may affect our ability to obtain sufficient amounts of water and threaten our production capability.

We believe that we should play our part in the mitigation of man-made climate change. For instance, we have incorporated green design standards and building concepts into the construction of our facilities. Since 2014, we have been committed to constructing all of our new Taiwan manufacturing facilities and office buildings while following the most up-to-date green building standards, such as the US Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design and the Taiwan Ecology, Energy Saving, Waste Reduction and Health standards. In addition, when developing our business strategies, we strive to reflect industry leading awareness of environmental protection and low-carbon transition planning. In 2017, we implemented a top-down enterprise risk-management (ERM) system and created a Task Force to provide a Climate-related Financial Disclosures framework. These actions help to provide our management team with the tools necessary to identify, assess and prevent environment-related corporate risks.

 Public expectations for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions could result in increased energy, transportation and raw material costs. Scientific examination of, political attention to and rules and regulations on issues surrounding the existence and extent of man-made climate change may result in an increase in the cost of production due to increase in the prices of energy and introduction of energy or carbon tax. Various regulatory developments have been introduced that focus on restricting or managing emissions of carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases. Enterprises may need to purchase at higher costs emission credits, new equipment or raw materials with lower carbon footprints. These developments and further legislation that is likely to be enacted could negatively affect our operations and financial performance. Also, changes in environmental regulations, such as those that concern the use of perfluorinated compounds (known commonly as PFC’s), could increase our production costs, which may adversely affect our results of operation and financial results.

As freshwater supply is key to our business operations, we have established a sustainable water recycling system and implemented water management strategies to identify and prevent water-shortage related risks. Our water management program is based on the core ideas of reduce, reuse and recycle. We reference the Aqueduct Water Risk data from the World Resources Institute to calculate the level of water risk at each site based on the product of various risk factors. We continuously seek opportunities to improve our operational resilience through effective water use management.

We may be subject to intellectual property rights disputes, which could materially adversely affect our business.

Our ability to compete successfully and achieve future growth depends, in part, on our ability to develop and protect our proprietary technologies and to secure on commercially acceptable terms certain technologies that we do not own. We cannot assure you that we will be able to independently develop, obtain patents for, protect or secure from any third party, the technologies required. Our failure to successfully obtain such technology may seriously harm our competitive position.

Our ability to compete successfully also depends, in part, on our ability to operate without infringing the proprietary rights of others. We have no means of knowing what patent applications have been filed in the United States or elsewhere until they are granted or published. In particular, the semiconductor and electronics industries are characterized by frequent litigation regarding patent and other intellectual property rights. It is common for patent owners to assert their patents against semiconductor manufacturers. We have received from time to time communication from third parties asserting patents that cover certain of our technologies and alleging infringement of intellectual property rights of others, and we may continue receiving such communication in the future. In the event that any third party makes a valid claim against us or against our customers, we could be required to:

Any one of these developments could place substantial financial and administrative burden on us and hinder our business. In February 2006, Tessera filed a suit against ASE Inc., ASE (U.S.) Inc. and others alleging patent infringement. In February 2014, ASE Inc. and ASE (U.S.) Inc. reached a term sheet agreement with Tessera to fully resolve the remaining legal proceedings between each other, under which ASE Inc. and ASE (U.S.) Inc. would pay a total of US$30.0 million to Tessera and both Tessera and ASE Inc. and ASE (U.S.) Inc. would dismiss all pending claims against each other. The final settlement agreement was entered into among the parties in October 2014 and the final settlement amount was reduced to US$27.0 million. In October 2014, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California dismissed all claims between Tessera and ASE Inc. and ASE (U.S.) Inc.. ASE Inc. and ASE (U.S.) Inc. have fully paid the settlement amount in January 2015. In connection to the 2016 patent dispute between Broadcom and Tessera, SPIL and Broadcom settled the dispute for a total of US$5.0 million in February 2020. This settlement amount was recognized in our consolidated financial statements for the year end December 31, 2019. See “Item 8. Financial Information—Consolidated Statements and Other Financial Information—Legal Proceedings” for more information about the Broadcom Patent Dispute.

Any litigation, whether as plaintiff or defendant and regardless of the outcome, is costly and diverts company resources. Any of the foregoing could harm our competitive position and render us unable to provide some of our services operations.

Our major shareholders may take actions that are not in, or may conflict with, our public shareholders’ best interest.

Members of the Chang family own, directly or indirectly, a significant interest in our outstanding common shares. See “Item 7. Major Shareholders and Related Party Transactions—Major Shareholders.” Accordingly, these shareholders will continue to have the ability to exercise a significant influence over our business, including matters relating to:

Members of the Chang family may take actions that you may not agree with or that are not in our or our public shareholders’ best interests.

We are an R.O.C. company and, because the rights of shareholders under R.O.C. law differ from those under U.S. law and the laws of certain other countries, you may have difficulty protecting your shareholder rights.

Our corporate affairs are governed by our Articles of Incorporation and by the laws governing corporations incorporated in the R.O.C. The rights of shareholders and the responsibilities of management and the members of the board of directors under R.O.C. law are different from those applicable to a corporation incorporated in the United States and certain other countries. As a result, public shareholders of R.O.C. companies may have more difficulty in protecting their interests in connection with actions taken by management or members of the board of directors than they would as public shareholders of a corporation in the United States or certain other countries.

We have made investments in, and are exploring the possibility of expanding our businesses and operations to, or making additional investments in, the P.R.C., which may expose us to additional political, regulatory, economic and foreign investment risks.

We currently maintain packaging and testing facilities and EMS sites in the P.R.C. We also made substantial investments in P.R.C. real estate development through our subsidiaries in the P.R.C. Under P.R.C. laws and regulations, foreign investment projects, such as our subsidiaries, must obtain certain approvals from the relevant governmental authorities in the provinces or special economic zones in which they are located and, in some circumstances, from the relevant authorities in the P.R.C. central government. Foreign investment projects must also comply with certain regulatory requirements. However, P.R.C. laws and regulations are often subject to varying interpretations and means of enforcement, and additional approvals from the relevant governmental authorities may be required for the operations of our P.R.C. subsidiaries. If required, we cannot assure you that we will be able to obtain these approvals in a timely manner, if at all. Because the P.R.C. government holds significant discretion in determining matters relating to foreign investment, we cannot assure you that the relevant governmental authorities will not take action that is materially adverse to our P.R.C. operations.

In addition, the P.R.C. stock market is subject to extreme price and volume fluctuations. We are the controlling shareholder of USI Shanghai, which is an entity currently listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange. The P.R.C. securities markets have recently experienced, and may experience in the future, significant volatility. Any volatility may have a significant effect on USI Shanghai’s share price and may indirectly affect the market price of our common shares and ADSs.

Our global manufacturing and sales activities subject us to risks associated with legal, political, economic or other conditions or developments in various jurisdictions, including in particular the R.O.C. and the P.R.C., which could negatively affect our business and financial status and therefore the market value of your investment.

Our principal executive office and our principal production facilities are located in the R.O.C., and a substantial majority of our net revenues are derived from our operations in the R.O.C. and the P.R.C. In addition, we have operations worldwide and a significant percentage of our revenue comes from sales to locations outside the R.O.C. or the P.R.C. Operating in the R.O.C., P.R.C. and other overseas locations exposes us to changes in policies and laws, including environmental regulations, as well as the general political and economic conditions, security risks, health conditions and possible disruptions in transportation networks, in the various countries in which we operate, which could result in an adverse effect on our business operations in such countries. If any of our global operations are affected by the legal, political, economic or other conditions in the jurisdiction we operate, our results of operations as well as market price and the liquidity of our ADSs and common shares may be materially and adversely affected.

Any impairment charges may have a material adverse effect on our net income.

Under IFRS, we are required to evaluate our assets, such as property, plant and equipment, intangible assets, including goodwill, and investments in financial instruments, for possible impairment at least annually or whenever there is an indication of impairment. If certain criteria are met, we are required to record an impairment charge.

With respect to assets, we recognized impairment charges of NT$764.9 million, NT$654.1 million and NT$601.2 million (US$20.1 million) in 2017, 2018 and 2019, respectively, primarily as a result of impairment charges related to property, plant and equipment, equity-method investments and goodwill. See “Item 5. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects—Operating Results and Trend Information—Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates—Impairment of Tangible and Intangible Assets Other Than Goodwill,” “Item 5. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects—Operating Results and Trend Information—Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates—Valuation of Investments” and “Item 5. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects—Operating Results and Trend Information—Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates—Goodwill.”

We are unable to estimate the extent and timing of any impairment charges for future years and we cannot give any assurance that impairment charges will not be required in periods subsequent to December 31, 2019. Any impairment charge could have a material adverse effect on our net income. The determination of an impairment charge at any given time is based significantly on our expected results of operations over a number of years in the future. As a result, an impairment charge is more likely to occur during a period in which our operating results and outlook are otherwise already depressed.

Any failure to achieve and maintain effective internal controls could have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

We are subject to reporting obligations under the U.S. securities laws. The SEC as required by Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 adopted rules requiring every public company to include a management report on the effectiveness of such company’s internal control over financial reporting in its annual report. In addition, an independent registered public accounting firm must report on such company’s internal control over financial reporting.

As effective internal control over financial reporting is necessary for us to produce reliable financial reports and is important to help prevent fraud, any failure to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting could harm our business and result in a loss of investor confidence in the reliability of our financial statements, which in turn could negatively impact the trading price of our common shares and ADSs. Furthermore, we may need to incur additional costs and use additional management and other resources in an effort to comply with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and other requirements going forward. Please refer to “Item 15. Controls and Procedures” for details on our internal control over financial reporting.

Our insurance coverage may be inadequate to cover all of our business risks.

Although we seek to obtain insurance for some of our main operational risks, the amount of our insurance coverage may not be adequate to cover all potential claims or liabilities, and we may be forced to bear substantial costs resulting from risks and uncertainties of our business. There is also no guarantee that we will be able to obtain insurance coverage when desired or that insurance will be available on commercially attractive terms. Any failure to obtain adequate insurance coverage on terms favorable to us, or at all, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We could potentially face tax uncertainties arising from the decisions, activities and operations undertaken by us.

There are many business activities that may give rise to tax issues in our daily operations, ranging from procurement, research and development activities, manufacturing to product storage and distribution, among other activities. Additional tax liabilities such as double taxation, inapplicability of tax incentives, tax adjustment and related interest and penalties may arise if all these tax issues are not dealt with properly. The development and evolution of tax laws and regulations present considerable uncertainties in interpretation and enforcement, which could call for more onerous compliance measures and tax audits in the jurisdictions in which we operate. Failure to comply with any change in tax laws could result in unfavorable tax consequences to us and have an adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We have business operations in multiple countries and our worldwide operations are taxed under the laws of the jurisdictions in which we operate. However, the integrated nature of our worldwide operations can produce conflicting claims from revenue authorities in different countries as to the profits to be taxed in the individual countries. Recently, tax authorities around the world have heightened their scrutiny of company tax filings and have adopted a more rigid regulatory posture. As part of this shift, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development has proposed a number of tax law changes under its Base Erosion and Profit Shifting Action Plans to address issues of transparency, coherence and substance. The Cayman Islands, one of our operating locations, was added into the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes in February 2020. Whether our operations will be negatively affected by the inclusion of the Cayman Islands into the EU List of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes remains uncertain and there can be no assurance that the Cayman Islands will be removed from the list or that any other countries where our operations are based will not be added into this list.  

Uncertainty under United States corporate income tax reform legislation could adversely affect our operating results and financial condition.

The United States recently enacted tax reform legislation (the “Tax Reform Legislation”) that, among other things, reduced the U.S. federal corporate income tax rate from 35% to 21% and imposes an alternative “base erosion and anti-abuse tax” (“BEAT”) on U.S. corporations that make deductible payments to foreign related persons in excess of specified amounts. The reduction in the U.S. federal corporate income tax rate is expected to be beneficial to us in future years in which our consolidated U.S. subsidiaries have net income subject to U.S. tax.

There are a number of uncertainties and ambiguities as to the interpretation and application of many of the provisions in the Tax Reform Legislation, including the provisions relating to the BEAT. In the absence of guidance on these issues, we will use what we believe are reasonable interpretations and assumptions in interpreting and applying the Tax Reform Legislation for purposes of determining our income tax payable and results of operations, which may change as we receive additional clarification and implementation guidance. It is also possible that the U.S. Internal Revenue Service could issue subsequent guidance or take positions on audit that differ from the interpretations and assumptions that we previously made, which could have a material adverse effect on our cash tax liabilities, results of operations and financial condition.

We face risks related to public health epidemics, including the recent novel coronavirus outbreaks.

Our financial condition and results of operations may be adversely affected if a public health epidemic interferes with our ability, or that of our employees, suppliers, customers and other business partners to perform our and their respective responsibilities and obligations related to the conduct of our business. Since November 2019, a novel strain of coronavirus (COVID-19) has spread across the world. On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. To date, the COVID-19 outbreak has caused significant disruption to the financial markets and international supply chains, which can substantially depress global business activities, restrict access to capital and result in a long-term economic downturn that would negatively affect our operating results. Any interruption to our supply chain can cause shortages in materials and labor supplies that are key to our commercial operations and negatively impact our business results. COVID-19 related factors, including facility shutdowns mandated by national or regional public health policies, could also prevent our sites from operating in full capacity and adversely affect our financial position.

To combat the impact of COVID-19, we continually update our preventative policies for our manufacturing facilities and provide constant monitoring of our operations. We go beyond just adopting control measures to comply with local government health and safety regulations. For example, we have implemented enhanced health and safety protocols across our sites, including temperature screening, mandatory and self-quarantine protocols, suspension of non-critical overseas business travel, remote work arrangements and social distancing guidelines in our employee cafeteria, changing rooms, conference rooms as well as other public common areas to reduce the risk of disease exposure. While we have leveraged corporate resources across our business platform and manufacturing sites to mitigate the potential impact that COVID-19 might have on our operations and there has been intensifying efforts to contain the spread of the COVID-19 by the governments of the countries and territories affected, the extent to which COVID-19 impacts our results remains highly uncertain and depends on future developments, including new information which may emerge concerning the severity of the COVID-19 and the actions to contain COVID-19 or treat its impact, among others.

We face uncertainties relating to the phasing out of LIBOR.

In July 2017, the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority, which regulates the London interbank offered rate (LIBOR), announced that it intends to phase out LIBOR by the end of 2021. Discontinuation of LIBOR and uncertainty as to the nature of such potential changes, alternative reference rates or other reforms may adversely affect the amounts of interest we pay under our debt arrangements and our results of operations.

Escalation of tensions between South Korea and North Korea could have an adverse effect on our operations in South Korea and the market value of our shares.

The political relationship between South Korea and North Korea has been tense throughout Korea’s modern history. The level of tension between the two countries has heightened and may increase abruptly as a result of current and future events. In recent years, there have been increasing security concerns stemming from North Korea’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs and uncertainty regarding North Korea’s actions and possible responses from the international community. Although we do not derive any revenue from, nor sell any products in, North Korea, any further increase in tension between North and South Korea, for example, if North Korea experiences a leadership crisis, high-level contacts between South Korea and North Korea break down or military hostilities occur, could have a material adverse effect on our South Korea subsidiary, our business, financial condition, results of operations and the market value of our common stock.

Any attempt by the U.S. government to withdraw from or materially modify existing international trade agreements or take further actions against certain P.R.C. technology companies could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

The U.S. is currently undergoing major political changes, which has created uncertainty regarding future U.S. trade policies. The United States government has made certain comments that suggest the U.S. is not supportive of certain existing international trade agreements, such as the North America Free Trade Agreement. The United States government has also issued executive orders to withdraw the U.S. from the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The United States government has shown inclinations to withdraw the U.S. from the World Trade Organization, which can lead to greater economic instability. If the U.S. were to withdraw from or materially modify certain international trade agreements to which it is a party, or if tariffs continue to be raised on foreign-sourced goods imported to the U.S., our U.S. customers may seek new suppliers in the U.S. or other countries, and our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.

In addition, the United States government has also escalated disputes with certain P.R.C. technology companies, some of which are our customers, over issues in cybersecurity. Since mid-2018, political tension has increased between the U.S. and the P.R.C. and has escalated into a tariff war. On January 15, 2020, the United States and the P.R.C. signed the Phase One trade deal, which officially agreed to the rollback of tariffs, expansion of trade purchases, and renewed commitments on intellectual property, technology transfer, and currency practices. Any future re-adoption or expansion of United States trade restrictions and tariffs, quotas and embargoes, or further escalation of the United States and the P.R.C. trade war can adversely impact our business operations.

We may not be successful in pursuing mergers and acquisitions. Any mergers or acquisitions we make may lead to a diversion of management resources.

 Our future success may depend on acquiring businesses and technologies, making investments or forming joint ventures that complement, enhance or expand our current product offerings or otherwise offer us growth opportunities. In pursuing such acquisitions, we may face competition from other companies in the semiconductor industry. Our ability to acquire or invest in suitable targets may be limited by applicable laws and regulations in the R.O.C., P.R.C., the United States and other jurisdictions where we do business. For example, the completion of the FAFG Transaction that USIFR entered in December 2019 with FAFG remains subject to regulatory approvals, including, among others, clearance from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy in Germany and the French Ministry for Economy and Finance. For details about the FAFG Transaction, see “Item 4. Information on the Company—History and Development of the Company—USI Group and USI Group Restructuring.” Even if we are successful in making such acquisitions or investments, we may have to expend substantial amounts of cash, incur debt, assume loss-making divisions and incur other types of expenses. We may also face challenges in successfully integrating any acquired companies into our existing organization or in creating the anticipated synergistic benefits. Each of these risks could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Risks Relating to Taiwan, R.O.C.

Strained relations between the R.O.C. and the P.R.C. and disruptions in Taiwan’s political environment caused by domestic political events could negatively affect our business and the market value of your investment.

Our principal executive offices and our principal facilities are located in Taiwan and approximately 47.6%, 56.9% and 58.7% of our operating revenues in 2017, 2018 and 2019, respectively, were derived from our operations in Taiwan. Accordingly, our business and financial condition may be affected by changes in local governmental policies and political and social instability.

The R.O.C. has a unique international political status. The government of the P.R.C. asserts sovereignty over all of China, including Taiwan, and does not recognize the legitimacy of the R.O.C. government. Although significant economic and cultural relations have been established in recent years between the R.O.C. and the P.R.C., relations have often been strained. Any major change in the Taiwanese political environment, including the outcome of presidential or municipal elections, or potential shifts in government policy, may affect the direction of economic and political developments and negatively impact the economic and political environment in Taiwan. Past developments related to the interaction between the R.O.C. and the P.R.C., domestic political events or election results have on occasion depressed the market prices of the securities of Taiwanese or Taiwan-related companies, including our own. Relations between the R.O.C. and the P.R.C. and other factors affecting the political or economic conditions in Taiwan could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations, as well as the market price and the liquidity of our common shares and ADSs.

Currently, we manufacture interconnect materials in the P.R.C. through our wholly owned subsidiary, ASE Shanghai. We also provide packaging and testing services in the P.R.C. through some of our subsidiaries. In addition, we engage in the P.R.C. in real estate development and the manufacture of computer peripherals and electronic components through our subsidiaries in the P.R.C. See “Item 4. Information on the Company—Organizational Structure—Our Consolidated Subsidiaries.” In the past, R.O.C. companies, including ourselves, were prohibited from investing in facilities for the packaging and testing of semiconductors in the P.R.C. Although the prohibitions have been relaxed since February 2010, the R.O.C. government currently still restricts certain types of investments by R.O.C. companies, including ourselves, in the P.R.C. We do not know when or if such laws and policies governing investment in the P.R.C. will be amended, and we cannot assure you that such R.O.C. investment laws and policies will permit us to make further investments of certain types in the P.R.C. in the future that we consider beneficial to us. Our growth prospects and profitability may be adversely affected if we are restricted from making certain additional investments in the P.R.C. and are not able to fully capitalize on the growth of the semiconductor industry in the P.R.C.

As a substantial portion of our business and operations is located in Taiwan, we are vulnerable to natural disasters including earthquakes, typhoons, drought, as well as power outages and other industrial incidents, which could severely disrupt the normal operation of our business and adversely affect our results of operations. 

Taiwan is susceptible to earthquakes and has experienced severe earthquakes which caused significant property damage and loss of life. Earthquakes have damaged production facilities and adversely affected the operations of many companies involved in the semiconductor and other industries. For example, in February 2016, an earthquake measuring 6.4 on the Richter magnitude scale occurred in Kaohsiung caused several deaths and property damages. However, the earthquake did not have a material impact on our operations. We have never experienced structural damage to our facilities or damage to our machinery and equipment as a result of these earthquakes. In the past, however, we have experienced interruptions to our production schedule primarily as a result of power outages caused by earthquakes.

Taiwan is also susceptible to typhoons, which may cause damage and business interruptions to companies with facilities located in Taiwan. For example, on September 14, 2016, Taiwan experienced severe damage from typhoon Meranti that caused severe flooding, extensive property damage and loss of electricity for thousands of households. Taiwan has experienced severe droughts in the past. Although we have not been directly affected by droughts, we are dependent upon water for our packaging and substrates operations and a drought could interrupt such operations. In addition, a drought could interrupt the manufacturing process of the foundries located in Taiwan, in turn disrupting some of our customers’ production, which could result in a decline in the demand for our services.

The supply of electrical power in Taiwan, which is primarily provided by Taiwan Power Company, the state-owned electric utility, is susceptible to power disruptions that could be prolonged and frequent, caused by overload as a result of high demand or other reasons. For example, on August 15, 2017, Taiwan suffered a massive power blackout, which left millions of homes, offices and factories without power. Although the power blackout did not have a material impact on our operations, future power blackout may disrupt our business operations and adversely affect our results of operations.

In addition, we are also subject to the risk of industrial and workplace accidents that could lead to injury or loss of life, damages to our facilities, and adversely impact our business reputation, commercial prospects and operations, as well as our share price and dividends.

Our production facilities as well as many of our suppliers and customers and providers of complementary semiconductor manufacturing services, including wafer foundries, are located in Taiwan. If our customers are impacted by natural disasters including earthquake, typhoon, drought or industrial incidents including power outage and labor strikes, these events could cause a decline in the demand for our services. If our suppliers or providers of complementary semiconductor manufacturing services are affected by the aforementioned events, our production schedule could be interrupted, which can adversely impact our financial condition and results of operations. 

Risks Relating to Ownership of Our Common Shares and the ADSs

The market for our common shares and the ADSs may not be liquid.

Active, liquid trading markets generally result in lower price volatility and more efficient execution of buy and sell orders for investors, compared to less active and less liquid markets. Liquidity of a securities market is often a function of the volume of the underlying shares that are publicly held by unrelated parties.

There has been no trading market outside the R.O.C. for our common shares and the only trading market for our common shares is the TWSE. The outstanding ADSs are listed on the NYSE. There is no assurance that the market for our common shares or the ADSs will be active or liquid.

Although ADS holders are entitled to withdraw our common shares underlying the ADSs from the depositary at any time, R.O.C. law requires that our common shares be held in an account in the R.O.C. or sold for the benefit of the holder on the TWSE. In connection with any withdrawal of common shares from our ADS facility, the ADSs evidencing these common shares will be canceled. Unless additional ADSs are issued, the effect of withdrawals will be to reduce the number of outstanding ADSs. If a significant number of withdrawals are effected, the liquidity of our ADSs will be substantially reduced. We cannot assure you that the ADS depositary will be able to arrange for a sale of deposited shares in a timely manner or at a specified price, particularly during periods of illiquidity or volatility.

If a non-R.O.C. holder of ADSs withdraws and holds common shares, such holder of ADSs will be required to appoint a tax guarantor, local agent and custodian in the R.O.C. and register with the TWSE or the Taipei Exchange in order to buy and sell securities on the TWSE.

When a non-R.O.C. holder of ADSs elects to withdraw and hold common shares represented by ADSs, such holder of the ADSs will be required to appoint an agent for filing tax returns and making tax payments in the R.O.C. Such agent will be required to meet the qualifications set by the R.O.C. Ministry of Finance and, upon appointment, becomes the guarantor of the withdrawing holder’s tax payment obligations. Evidence of the appointment of a tax guarantor, the approval of such appointment by the R.O.C. tax authorities and tax clearance certificates or evidentiary documents issued by such tax guarantor may be required as conditions to such holder repatriating the profits derived from the sale of common shares. We cannot assure you that a withdrawing holder will be able to appoint, and obtain approval for, a tax guarantor in a timely manner.

In addition, under current R.O.C. law, such withdrawing holder is required to register with the TWSE or the Taipei Exchange and appoint a local agent in the R.O.C. to, among other things, open a bank account and open a securities trading account with a local securities brokerage firm, pay taxes, remit funds and exercise such holder’s rights as a shareholder. Furthermore, such withdrawing holder must appoint a local bank or a local securities firm to act as custodian for confirmation and settlement of trades, safekeeping of securities and cash proceeds and reporting and declaration of information. Without satisfying these requirements, non-R.O.C. withdrawing holders of ADSs would not be able to hold or otherwise subsequently sell our common shares on the TWSE or otherwise.

Pursuant to Mainland Investors Regulations, only QDIIs or persons that have otherwise obtained the approval from the MOEAIC and registered with the TWSE are permitted to withdraw and hold our shares from a depositary receipt facility. In order to hold our shares, such QDIIs are required to appoint an agent and custodian as required by the Mainland Investors Regulations. If the aggregate amount of our shares held by any QDII or shares received by any QDII upon a single withdrawal or in the aggregate accounts for 10.0% of our total issued and outstanding shares, such QDII must obtain the prior approval from the MOEAIC. We cannot assure you that such approval would be granted.

The market value of your investment may fluctuate due to the volatility of the R.O.C. securities market.

The trading price of our ADSs may be affected by the trading price of our common shares on the TWSE. The R.O.C. securities market is smaller and more volatile than the securities markets in the United States and in many European countries. The TWSE has experienced substantial fluctuations in the prices and volumes of sales of listed securities and there are currently limits on the range of daily price movements on the TWSE. The TWSE Weighted Index peaked at 12,495.3 in February 1990, and subsequently fell to a low of 2,560.5 in October 1990. On March 13, 2000, the TWSE Weighted Index experienced a 617-point drop, which represented the single largest decrease in the TWSE Weighted Index in its history. During the period from January 1, 2019 to December 31, 2019, the TWSE Weighted Index peaked at 12,122.45 on December 18, 2019, and reached a low of 9,382.51 on January 4, 2019. During the period from January 1, 2019 to December 31, 2019, the trading price of our common shares ranged from NT$87.6 per share to NT$54.0 per share. On March 13, 2020, the TWSE Weighted Index closed at 10,128.87 and the closing value of our common shares was NT$61.00 per share.

The TWSE is particularly volatile during times of political instability, including when relations between Taiwan and the P.R.C. are strained. Several investment funds affiliated with the R.O.C. government have also from time to time purchased securities from the TWSE to support the trading level of the TWSE. Moreover, the TWSE has experienced problems such as market manipulation, insider trading and settlement defaults. The recurrence of these or similar problems could have an adverse effect on the market price and liquidity of the securities of R.O.C. companies, including our common shares and ADSs, in both the domestic and international markets.

We may not continue to declare cash dividends in any particular amount.

We intend to continue to pay dividends. However, future dividends may be affected by, among other things, the best interests of our Company and our shareholders, our results of operations, cash balances and future cash requirements, financial condition, investments and acquisitions, legal risks, and other factors that the board of directors may consider relevant. Our dividend payments may change from time to time, and we cannot assure that we will continue to declare dividends in any particular amounts. A reduction in, a delay of, or elimination of our dividend payments could adversely affect our share price.

Holders of common shares and ADSs may experience dilution if we issue stock bonuses and stock options to employees or sell additional equity or equity-linked securities.

Similar to other R.O.C. technology companies, we issue bonuses from time to time in the form of common shares. Bonuses in the form of our common shares are valued at the closing price of our common shares on the day prior to our shareholders’ meeting. In addition, under the R.O.C. Company Law we may, upon approval from our board of directors and the R.O.C. Securities and Futures Bureau of the FSC, establish employee stock option plans provided that shareholders’ approval is required if the exercise price of an option would be less than the closing price of our common shares on the TWSE on the grant date of the option. ASE maintained 2010 and 2015 employee stock option plans before the combination with SPIL.

ASEH assumed ASE’s obligations for employee share options that were issued before the execution of the Joint Share Exchange Agreement on April 30, 2018; all terms and conditions of the issued ASE share options remain the same, except that each ASE share option represents the right to purchase 0.5 ordinary share of ASEH.

In August 2018, our board of directors and FSC both approved the ASEH first employee share option plan. As a result, ASEH currently maintains three employee stock option plans pursuant to which our full-time employees, including our domestic and foreign subsidiaries, are eligible to receive stock option grants. As of December 31, 2019, a total of 170,785,750 options assumed and granted by ASEH were outstanding. See “Item 6. Directors, Senior Management and Employees—Compensation—ASEH Employee Compensation and Stock Option Plans.” The issuance of our common shares pursuant to stock bonuses or stock options may have a dilutive effect on the holders of outstanding common shares and ADSs.

In addition, the issuance of additional equity or equity-linked securities may result in additional dilution to our shareholders. In September 2013, ASE issued 2018 Convertible Bonds to fund procurement of raw materials from overseas and in July 2015, ASE issued 2018 NTD-linked Convertible Bonds to fund procurement of equipment from overseas. In March 2017, ASE granted rights to the record holders of our existing common shares to subscribe for an aggregate of 240,000,000 of our common shares, par value NT$10.0 per share (the “Rights Offering”). Substantially concurrently with the Rights Offering, ASE also offered 30,000,000 of our common shares to our employees (the “Employee Offering”) and offered 30,000,000 of our common shares to the public in Taiwan (the “Taiwan Public Offering,” together with the Rights Offering and the Employee Offering, the “2017 Capital Increase”). See “Item 5. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects—Liquidity and Capital Resources” for more information.

Restrictions on the ability to deposit our common shares into our ADS facility may adversely affect the liquidity and price of our ADSs.

The ability to deposit common shares into our ADS facility is restricted by R.O.C. law. A significant number of withdrawals of common shares underlying our ADSs would reduce the liquidity of the ADSs by reducing the number of ADSs outstanding. As a result, the prevailing market price of our ADSs may differ from the prevailing market price of our common shares on the TWSE. Under current R.O.C. law, no person or entity, including you and us, may deposit our common shares in our ADS facility without specific approval of the FSC, unless:

With respect to item (4) above, the depositary may issue ADSs against the deposit of those common shares only if the total number of ADSs outstanding following the deposit will not exceed the number of ADSs previously approved by the FSC, plus any ADSs issued pursuant to the events described in items (1), (2) and (3) above.

In addition, in the case of a deposit of our common shares requested under item (4) above, the depositary will refuse to accept deposit of our common shares if such deposit is not permitted under any legal, regulatory or other restrictions notified by us to the depositary from time to time, which restrictions may include blackout periods during which deposits may not be made, minimum and maximum amounts and frequency of deposits.

The depositary will not offer holders of ADSs preemptive rights unless the distribution of both the rights and the underlying common shares to our ADS holders are either registered under the Securities Act or exempt from registration under the Securities Act.

Holders of ADSs will not have the same voting rights as our shareholders, which may affect the value of their ADSs.

The voting rights of a holder of ADSs as to our common shares represented by its ADSs are governed by the deposit agreement. Holders of ADSs will not be able to exercise voting rights on an individual basis. If holders representing at least 51% of the ADSs outstanding at the relevant record date instruct the depositary to vote in the same manner regarding a resolution, including the election of directors, the depositary will cause all common shares represented by the ADSs to be voted in that manner. If the depositary does not receive timely instructions representing at least 51% of the ADSs outstanding at the relevant record date to vote in the same manner for any resolution, including the election of directors, holders of ADSs will be deemed to have instructed the depositary or its nominee to authorize all our common shares represented by the ADSs to be voted at the discretion of our chairman or his designee, which may not be in the interest of holders of ADSs. Moreover, while shareholders who own 1% or more of our outstanding shares are entitled to submit one proposal to be considered at our annual general meetings of shareholders, only holders representing at least 51% of our ADSs outstanding at the relevant record date are entitled to submit one proposal to be considered at our annual general meetings of shareholders. Hence, only one proposal may be submitted on behalf of all ADS holders.

The right of holders of ADSs to participate in our rights offerings is limited, which could cause dilution to your holdings.

We may from time to time distribute rights to our shareholders, including rights to acquire our securities. Under the deposit agreement, the depositary will not offer holders of ADSs those rights unless both the distribution of the rights and the underlying securities to all our ADS holders are either registered under the Securities Act or exempt from registration under the Securities Act. Although we may be eligible to take advantage of certain exemptions under the Securities Act available to certain foreign issuers for rights offerings, we can give no assurances that we will be able to establish an exemption from registration under the Securities Act, and we are under no obligation to file a registration statement for any of these rights. Accordingly, holders of ADSs may be unable to participate in our rights offerings and may experience dilution of their holdings.

If the depositary is unable to sell rights that are not exercised or not distributed or if the sale is not lawful or reasonably practicable, it will allow the rights to lapse, in which case holders of ADSs will receive no value for these rights.

For example, in March 2017, we granted rights to the record holders of our existing common shares to subscribe for an aggregate of 240,000,000 of our common shares (the “New Shares”), while the holders of ADSs were not given rights to subscribe for new ADSs and do not have the right to instruct the depositary to subscribe for the New Shares on their behalf. If a holder of ADSs wants the rights corresponding to the common shares underlying such ADSs to be exercised, such holder needs to surrender the ADSs to the depositary and instruct the depositary to deliver the underlying common shares to a securities brokerage account in Taiwan specified by such holder.

Changes in exchange controls, which restrict your ability to convert proceeds received from your ownership of ADSs, may have an adverse effect on the value of your investment.

Under current R.O.C. law, the depositary, without obtaining approvals from the Central Bank of the Republic of China (Taiwan) or any other governmental authority or agency of the R.O.C., may convert NT dollars into other currencies, including U.S. dollars, for:

In addition, the depositary may also convert into NT dollars incoming payments for purchases of common shares for deposit in the ADS facility against the creation of additional ADSs. The depositary may be required to obtain foreign exchange approval from the Central Bank of the Republic of China (Taiwan) on a payment-by-payment basis for conversion from NT dollars into foreign currencies of the proceeds from the sale of subscription rights for new common shares. Although it is expected that the Central Bank of the Republic of China (Taiwan) will grant this approval as a routine matter, we cannot assure you that in the future any approval will be obtained in a timely manner, or at all.

Under the R.O.C. Foreign Exchange Control Act, the Executive Yuan of the R.O.C. government may, without prior notice but subject to subsequent legislative approval, impose foreign exchange controls in the event of, among other things, a material change in international economic conditions. We cannot assure you that foreign exchange controls or other restrictions will not be introduced in the future.

The value of your investment may be reduced by possible future sales of common shares or ADSs by us or our shareholders.

While we are not aware of any plans by any major shareholders to dispose of significant numbers of common shares, we cannot assure you that one or more existing shareholders or owners of securities convertible or exchangeable into or exercisable for our common shares or ADSs will not dispose of significant numbers of common shares or ADSs. In addition, several of our subsidiaries and affiliates hold common shares, depositary shares representing common shares and options to purchase common shares or ADSs. They may decide to sell those securities in the future. See “Item 7. Major Shareholders and Related Party Transactions—Major Shareholders” for a description of our significant shareholders and affiliates that hold our common shares.

We cannot predict the effect, if any, that future sales of common shares or ADSs, or the availability of common shares or ADSs for future sale, will have on the market price of our common shares or the ADSs prevailing from time to time. Sales of substantial numbers of common shares or ADSs in the public market, or the perception that such sales may occur, could depress the prevailing market prices of our common shares or the ADSs.

Item 4. Information on the Company

HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE COMPANY

ASE Technology Holding Co.,Ltd. was jointly established on April 30, 2018 as a company limited by shares under the R.O.C. Company Law, by the combination of Advanced Semiconductor Engineering, Inc., which was incoporated on March 23, 1984, and Siliconware Precision Industries Co., Ltd., which was incoporated on May 17, 1984.

ASEH directly controls ASE Group, SPIL Group and USI Group. ASEH’s manufacturing facilities are located in Taiwan, China, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Mexico, America and Poland. Our principal executive offices are located at 26 Chin Third Road, Nantze Export Processing Zone, Nantze, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, R.O.C. and our telephone number at the above address is (886) 7-361-7131. Our common shares have been listed on the TWSE under the symbol “3711” and ADSs representing our common shares have been listed on the NYSE under the ticker symbol “ASX” since April 2018.

SPIL Acquisition

In August 2015, ASE announced an offer to purchase 779,000,000 common shares (including those represented by American depositary shares) of SPIL through concurrent tender offers in the R.O.C. and the United States, at a price of NT$45 per SPIL common share and NT$225 per SPIL American depositary share. The Initial SPIL Tender Offer expired on September 22, 2015, with 1,147,898,165 common shares (including those represented by American depositary shares) validly tendered and not validly withdrawn, exceeding the offer cap, and as a result, after proration, 725,749,060 SPIL common shares and 10,650,188 SPIL American depositary shares were accepted for purchase. On October 1, 2015, ASE became a shareholder holding approximately 24.99% of the issued and outstanding share capital in SPIL.

In December 2015, following an announcement by SPIL that it plans to issue 1,033 million shares, if approved by SPIL shareholders, to a third party pursuant to a share placement agreement, ASE submitted a written proposal to SPIL’s board proposing to acquire all SPIL shares not otherwise owned by ASE, contingent upon the termination of the share placement agreement. The board of directors of SPIL did not respond to our acquisition proposal. Subsequently, ASE launched an offer to purchase 770,000,000 common shares (including those represented by American depositary shares) of SPIL through concurrent tender offers in the R.O.C. and the United States, at a price of NT$55 per SPIL common share and NT$275 per SPIL American depositary share. The Second SPIL Tender Offer expired on March 17, 2016. Because the TFTC did not render a decision before the expiration of the Second SPIL Tender Offer, resulting in the failure to satisfy one of the tender offer conditions, the Second SPIL Tender Offer was not successful. The TFTC subsequently suspended its review on March 23, 2016.

Notwithstanding the failure of the Second SPIL Tender Offer, ASE continued to seek control of SPIL, with the purpose of effecting an acquisition of 100% of the common shares and American depositary shares of SPIL. Simultaneously with the acquisition of SPIL, ASE planned to establish a holding company in Taiwan that would hold 100% of the equity interests of both ASE and SPIL such that ASE and SPIL would be wholly owned subsidiaries of such holding company, which would maintain all current operations of ASE and SPIL.

In March and April 2016, ASE acquired an additional 258,300,000 common shares of SPIL (including those represented by American depositary shares) through open market purchases.

In June 2016, ASE entered into the Joint Share Exchange Agreement with SPIL, pursuant to which ASEH was formed by means of a statutory share exchange pursuant to the laws of the Republic of China, and ASEH (i) acquired all issued shares of ASE in exchange for shares of ASEH, and (ii) acquired all issued shares of SPIL using cash consideration.

The Share Exchange was conditionally approved by the Anti-Monopoly Bureau under the State Administration for Market Regulation on November 23, 2017. Among other restrictive conditions imposed by the Anti-Monopoly Bureau, ASE and SPIL had to maintain independent operations for 24 months.

On January 16, 2018, ASE converted 9,690,452 American depositary shares of SPIL that it owned into 48,452,260 common shares.

On February 12, 2018, ASE and SPIL, respectively, held extraordinary general shareholders’ meetings and each approved the proposed Joint Share Exchange, pursuant to which, ASEH acquires 100% of both ASE and SPIL shares.

The Share Exchange consummated on April 30, 2018, and ASE and SPIL became privately held and wholly owned subsidiaries of ASEH concurrently. The common shares of ASE and SPIL were delisted from the TWSE and their respective ADSs were delisted from NYSE and NASDAQ.

On March 25, 2020, the Anti-Monopoly Bureau officially lifted all restrictive conditions imposed on the Share Exchange.

USI Group and USI Group Restructuring

USI Group engages primarily in EMS in relation to computers and storage, consumer electronics, communications, industrial and automotive, among other services and businesses. We purchased 22.6% of the outstanding shares of Universal Scientific Industrial in 1999. We subsequently increased our holding to 23.3% in 2000. As of December 31, 2009, we held approximately 18.1% of Universal Scientific Industrial’s outstanding equity shares, which allowed us to exercise significant influence over Universal Scientific Industrial and therefore accounted for this investment by the equity method. In February 2010, we, along with our two subsidiaries, J&R Holding Limited and ASE Test, through a cash and stock tender offer, acquired 641,669,316 common shares of Universal Scientific Industrial at NT$21 per share, amounting to NT$13,475.1 million in total, resulting in our controlling ownership over Universal Scientific Industrial.

As a result, Universal Scientific Industrial became our subsidiary. The shares of Universal Scientific Industrial were delisted from the TWSE on June 17, 2010, where they were previously listed under the symbol “2350.” In August 2010, we acquired an additional 222,243,661 shares of Universal Scientific through another tender offer at NT$21 per share, amounting to NT$4,667.1 million in total. In September 2012, as part of our internal business restructuring, our subsidiaries transferred their shareholdings in Universal Scientific Industrial to ASE.

In February 2012, USI Shanghai completed its IPO on the Shanghai Stock Exchange. The total proceeds from the IPO was approximately RMB811.7 million prior to deducting underwriting discounts and commissions. In November 2014, USI Shanghai completed its capital increase by way of domestic private placements through a bidding process, raising a total of RMB2,063.0 million prior to deducting underwriting discounts and commissions. The issue price per share was RMB27.06.

On February 2, 2015, Universal Scientific Industrial’s shareholders passed a resolution at the shareholders’ meeting to spin off and assign Universal Scientific Industrial’s investment businesses with a then estimated value of NT$35,537.8 million to USI Inc. In April 2015, Universal Scientific Industrial completed a spin-off of its subsidiaries to USI Inc., a company incorporated under R.O.C. law. As part of our business realignment effort, we acquired 990.1 million shares in USI Inc. on the spin-off record date, which resulted in us holding 99.2% of the total then outstanding shares of USI Inc. Following Universal Scientific Industrial’s spin-off of its investment businesses to USI Inc., Universal Scientific Industrial carried out a capital reduction plan reducing its capital from NT$16,413.0 million to NT$400.0 million. As a result of such spin-off, as of April 1, 2015, we held approximately 99.0% of the outstanding common shares of Universal Scientific Industrial.

On September 24, 2015, as part of our corporate reorganization to align each business function to different legal entity groups, the board of directors of ASE passed a resolution to announce our intention to carry out the Universal Scientific Industrial Share Transfer. The Universal Scientific Industrial Share Transfer was approved by the MOEAIC on February 3, 2016. The majority of shares were transferred in March 2016, and the remaining shares were transferred in May 2016. Following the completion of the Universal Scientific Industrial Share Transfer, USI Group will operate under the legal entities directly and indirectly held under USI Inc.

In January 2017, Universal Scientific Industrial completed a cash capital increase of NT$1,000 million, and ASE’s shareholdings of Universal Scientific Industrial increased to 75.7%.

In January 2018, USI Enterprise Limited resolved during its shareholders’ meeting to repurchase its outstanding 3,738,000 ordinary shares at the price of US$17.49 per share and, as a result, ASE’s shareholdings of USI Enterprise Limited increased from 96.9% to 98.6%. In July 2018, the board of directors of ASE and UGTW approved the acquisition of the outstanding ordinary shares of USI Inc. and Universal Scientific Industrial at NT$35 and NT$18 per ordinary shares, respectively, as well as the purchase of ordinary shares from dissenting shareholders in August 2018. ASE and UGTW have completed the acquisition of USI Inc. and Universal Scientific Industrial in September 2018 and December 2018, respectively.

In August 2018, in order to advance our global supply system and expand our commercial reach in Europe, our subsidiary, Universal Global Electronics Co., Ltd., entered into an equity transfer agreement with Chung Hong Electronics (Suzhou) Co., Ltd., intending to acquire the entire 60.0% equity in its Polish subsidiary, UGPL, in Eastern Europe for a consideration of RMB78.0 million. This agreement also stipulated that within six months after the audit of financial statements of the Polish subsidiary for the year ending 2020, Universal Global Electronics Co., Ltd. can acquire the remaining equity in such subsidiary at 10 times the static P/E ratio. In October 2019, UGPL became our subsidiary.

In October 2018, to enhance operational flexibility through organizational restructure, ASE’s board of directors resolved to spin off ASE’s investment department, which is responsible for managing the ordinary shares and assets of USI Inc., into USI Global, a newly established company. USI Global issued new ordinary shares to us as consideration for the spin-off. The spin-off consummated in November 2018 and we obtained control over ASE and USI Global. In December 2018, our board of directors and the board of director of USI Global resolved to merge USI Global and ASE Technology Holding Co., Ltd.. The merger consummated in January 2019 and ASE Technology Holding Co., Ltd. became the surviving entity after the merger and USI Global was thereby dissolved. Our financial position or financial performance was not materially affected by USI Global’s spin-off from ASE Inc. or USI Global’s merger with ASE Technology Holding Co., Ltd.

On December 12, 2019, USIFR, FAFG and the shareholders of FAFG entered into a share purchase agreement (the “FAFG Share Purchase Agreement”), and USI Shanghai andASDI, one of the shareholders of FAFG and privately held company owned by FAFG’s founder, entered into a framework agreement for purchasing asset through issuing shares, pursuant to which USIFR and USI Shanghai will ultimately acquire 100.0% of the share capital (79,847,636 shares) of FAFG by way of a share purchase (the “FAFG Transaction”). The FAFG Transaction is a two-step transaction. In the first step, USIFR will directly purchase 89.6% of FAFG’s share capital in exchange for a cash payment. In the second step, USI Shanghai will acquire the remaining 10.4% of FAFG’s share capital from ASDI in exchange for newly issued shares (25,595,725 shares) of USI Shanghai at the issue price of RMB12.81 per share. At the conclusion of both steps, USI Shanghai will directly or indirectly own 100% of the share capital of FAFG. The base equity value of FAFG that USIFR and USI Shanghai have agreed to pay in the FAFG Transaction is US$450.0 million. The completion of this transaction remains subject to customary closing conditions precedent and applicable regulatory approvals, including, among others, clearance from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy in Germany and the French Ministry for Economy and Finance. On March 26, 2020, the issuance of new shares for the FAFG Transaction was approved unconditionally by the M&A and Restructuring Committee of China Securities Regulatory Commission. As of the date of this filing, there can be no assurance that these conditions will be satisfied or the completion of the transaction will be achieved on a timely basis or at all. For details about the FAFG Share Purchase Agreement, see “Item 10. Additional information—Material Contract.”

Capital Expenditures

Our principal capital expenditures for the years ended December 31, 2017, 2018 and 2019 have been for machinery and equipment procurements and investments in buildings and improvement in connection with the expansion of our capacity expansion, for which we spent NT$23,677.7 million, NT$39,092.2 million and NT$63,073.9 million (US$2,108.8 million), respectively. We had commitments for capital expenditures of approximately NT$25,119.4 million (US$839.8 million), of which NT$5,145.3 million (US$172.0 million) had been prepaid as of December 31, 2019, mainly in connection with the expansion of our packaging and testing services operations primarily in the R.O.C. and the P.R.C. Any future expansion of our operating activities could result in additional capital expenditures. We anticipate our capital expenditures in 2020 will be financed through our existing cash, expected cash flow from operations and existing credit lines under our loan facilities and will consist of, among other things, additional machinery and equipment procurements for our capacity expansions. See “Item 5. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects—Liquidity and Capital Resources” for more information. Other than the SPIL Acquisition, there was no significant financial investments or divestitures in 2017, 2018 and 2019. See “—SPIL Acquisition” for information.

For more information on our history and development, see “—Organizational Structure.”

BUSINESS OVERVIEW

ASEH is a leading provider of semiconductor manufacturing services in assembly and testing. Our services include semiconductor packaging, production of interconnect materials, front-end engineering testing, wafer probing and final testing services, as well as integrated solutions for EMS in relation to computers and storage, peripherals, communications, industrial, automotive and server applications.

We believe that, as a result of the following strengths, we are able to compete effectively to meet customers’ requirements across a wide range of end-use applications:

We believe that it is still the trend for semiconductor companies to outsource their packaging, testing and manufacturing requirements as semiconductor companies rely on independent providers of foundry, packaging and testing and EMS. In response to the increased pace of new product development and shortened product life and production cycles, semiconductor companies are increasingly seeking both independent packaging and testing companies that can provide turnkey services in order to reduce time to market and electronic manufacturing companies with proactive original design capabilities that can provide large-scale production. We believe that our technological expertise and scale and our ability to integrate our broad range of solutions into turnkey services and EMS allow us to benefit from the accelerated outsourcing trend and better serve our existing and potential customers.

We believe that we have benefited, and will continue to benefit, from our geographic location in Taiwan. Taiwan is currently the largest center for outsourced semiconductor manufacturing in the world and has a high concentration of EMS providers. Our close proximity to foundries and other providers of complementary semiconductor manufacturing services is attractive to our customers who wish to take advantage of the efficiencies of a total semiconductor manufacturing solution by outsourcing several stages of their manufacturing requirements. We believe that, as a result, we are well positioned to meet the advanced semiconductor engineering and manufacturing requirements of our customers.

Industry Background

General

Semiconductors are the building blocks used to create an increasing variety of electronic products and systems. Continuous improvements in semiconductor process and design technologies have led to smaller, more complex and more reliable semiconductors at a lower cost per function. These improvements have resulted in significant performance and price benefits to manufacturers of electronic products. As a result, semiconductor demand has grown substantially in our primary end-user markets for communications, computing and consumer electronics, and has experienced increased growth in other markets such as automotive products and industrial automation and control systems.

The semiconductor industry is characterized by strong long-term growth, with periodic and sometimes severe cyclical downturns. The Semiconductor Industry Association reported that worldwide sales of semiconductors increased from approximately US$51.0 billion in 1990 to approximately US$412.1 billion in 2019. We believe that overall growth and cyclical fluctuations will continue over the long-term in the semiconductor industry.

EMS

EMS providers typically achieve large economies of scale in manufacturing by pooling together product design techniques and also provide value-added services such as warranties and repairs. Companies who do not need to manufacture a constant supply of products have increasingly outsourced their manufacturing to these service providers so that they can respond quickly and efficiently to sudden spikes in demand without having to maintain large inventories of products.

EMS are sought by companies in a wide range of industries including, among others, information, communications, computers and storage, consumer electronics, automotive electronics, medical treatment, industrial applications, aviation, navigation, national defense and transportation. Although affected by global economic fluctuations, we expect the EMS industry to continue to grow in the long-term, and we have enhanced our presence in the industry through USI Group since 2010.

Outsourcing Trends in Semiconductor Manufacturing

Historically, semiconductor companies designed, manufactured, packaged and tested semiconductors primarily within their own facilities. However, there is a clear trend in the industry to outsource the manufacturing process. Virtually every significant stage of the manufacturing process can be outsourced. Wafer foundry services, semiconductor packaging and testing services, and EMS are currently the largest segments of the independent semiconductor manufacturing services market.

The availability of technologically advanced independent manufacturing services has also enabled the growth of “fabless” semiconductor companies that focus on semiconductor design and marketing, while outsourcing their wafer fabrication, packaging and testing requirements to independent companies. We believe that the growth in the number and scale of fabless semiconductor companies that rely solely on independent companies to meet their manufacturing requirements will continue to be a driver of growth for us. Similarly, the availability of technologically advanced independent manufacturing services has encouraged integrated device manufacturers, which traditionally have relied on in-house semiconductor manufacturing capacity, to increasingly outsource their manufacturing requirements to independent semiconductor manufacturing companies.

We believe the outsourcing of semiconductor manufacturing services will increase in the future for many reasons, including the following:

Some semiconductor companies with in-house operations are under increasing pressure to rationalize these operations by relocating to locations with lower costs or better infrastructure, in order to lower manufacturing costs and shorten production cycle time. We expect semiconductor companies to increasingly outsource their requirements to take advantage of the advanced technology and scale of operations of independent packaging and testing companies and EMS providers.

Trends of Mergers and Acquisitions in the Semiconductor Industry

The global semiconductor industry is highly competitive, and such competitive landscape is changing as a result of a trend toward consolidation within the industry. In particular, packaging and testing service providers in the semiconductor industry have engaged in cross-border mergers and acquisitions in recent years as part of their expansion strategy, which has gradually changed the ecosystem of the semiconductor industry. Examples of mergers and acquisitions in recent years include mergers and acquisitions by and among semiconductor design companies or integrated device manufacturers, including Intel Corporation’s acquisition of Altera Corporation, ON Semiconductor Corporation’s acquisition of Fairchild Semiconductor International, Inc., NXP Semiconductors N.V.’s acquisition of Freescale Semiconductor, Inc., Avago Technologies Ltd.’s acquisition of Broadcom Corporation, several acquisitions of semiconductor design companies by MediaTek, Inc., Bain Capital’s acquisition of Toshiba Corporation’s memory chip business, Microchip Technology Inc.’s acquisition of Atmel Corporation and Microsemi Corporation, Qualcomm Incorporated’s attempted acquisition of NXP Semiconductors, Broadcom Limited’s attempted acquisition of Qualcomm Incorporated, Infineon’s acquisition of Cypress, NXP Semiconductors N.V.’s acquisition of Marvell’s Wi-Fi Connectivity Business, ON Semiconductor Corporation’s acquisition of Quantenna. Examples of mergers and acquisitions by and among semiconductor packaging and testing companies, including Jiangsu Changjiang Electronics Technology Co., Ltd.’s acquisition of STATS ChipPAC Ltd., Nantong Fujitsu Microelectronics Co., Ltd.’s acquisition of the packaging and testing factory of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., and Amkor Technology, Inc.’s acquisition of J-Devices Corporation.

As a result of the aforementioned mergers and acquisitions, our competitors were able to further strengthen their competitive position by expanding their product offerings and combining their financial resources. We expect this consolidation trend to continue.

Overview of Semiconductor Manufacturing Process

The manufacturing of semiconductors is a complex process that requires increasingly sophisticated engineering and manufacturing expertise. The manufacturing process can be generally divided into the following stages:

We are involved in all stages of the semiconductor manufacturing process except circuit design and wafer fabrication.

Strategy

Our objective is to provide integrated solutions that set industry standards, including packaging, testing services, interconnect materials design and production capabilities, and to lead and facilitate the industry trend toward outsourcing semiconductor manufacturing requirements. The principal elements of our strategy are to:

Grow Our Packaging Services and Expand Our Range of Offerings

We believe that an important factor to attract leading semiconductor companies as our customers has been our ability to fulfill demand for a broad range of packaging solutions on a large scale. We intend to continue to develop process and product technologies to meet the packaging requirements of clients. Our expertise in packaging technology has enabled us to develop sophisticated solutions such as flip chip packaging, bump chip carrier packaging, stacked die packaging and fine-pitch wire bonding. We are continuously investing in research and development in response to and in anticipation of migrations in technology and intend to continue to acquire access to new technologies through strategic alliances and licensing arrangements.

The increasing miniaturization of semiconductors and the growing complexity of interconnect technology have also resulted in the convergence of assembly processes at different levels of integration: chip, module, board and system. In response to this miniaturization and growing complexity, we have focused on providing module assembly services and, in addition, our subsidiary USI Group has provided us with access to process and product technologies at the levels of module, board and system assembly and testing, which helps us to better anticipate industry trends and take advantage of potential growth opportunities. We expect to continue to combine our packaging, testing and materials technologies with the expertise of USI Group at the systems level to develop our SiP business.

Strategically Expand and Streamline Production Capacity

To capitalize on the growing demand for packaging and testing services, we intend to strategically expand our production capacity, both through internal growth and selective acquisitions and joint ventures, with a focus on providing cost competitive and innovative packaging and testing services.

We intend to invest in trends that are essential to the development of the industry. We plan to expand our capacity with respect to, but not limited to, bumping, FC-CSP, SiP products, Fan-Out technology, and 2.5D/3D packaging to meet demand for smaller form factors, higher performance and higher packaging density.

In addition, we intend to promote our copper wire solutions to our customers in addition to gold wire. Gold wire is a significant raw material for us. Gold prices, however, are subject to intense fluctuations and have in the past impacted our profitability. We believe that replacing gold wire in some of our packages with copper wire technology will not only improve our profitability but will also enable us to provide more value to our customers by providing lower cost solutions, which could enhance our competitiveness and market share. We are currently the industry leader in terms of copper wire capacity. We thus plan to capitalize on the overall industry trend of copper conversion by maintaining our leadership and focusing on integrating copper wire into a wider range of traditional leadframe-based packages and higher-end substrate-based packages.

We expect to focus our packaging and testing on providing cost-competitive services through better management of capacity utilization and efficiency improvements and offer our services on a large scale with the intention of driving more integrated device manufacturer outsourcing in the long run. Before the consummation of the Share Exchange, SPIL entered into an agreement to sell 30.0% of its equity interest in SZ to Tibet Zixi Electronic Technology Co., Ltd. In 2018, we also sold 30.0% of our equity interest in ASEN to Beijing Unis Capital Management Co., Ltd. Although we repurchased equity interest from Tibet Zixi Electronic Technology Co., Ltd. and Beijing Unis Capital Management Co., Ltd., respectively, in 2019, we still believe our strategic relationships with China-based companies will enable us to expand our commercial reach in the P.R.C.’s fast-growing semiconductor market.

We evaluate acquisition and joint venture opportunities on the basis of access to new markets and technology, the enhancement of our production capacity, improvement of research and development capabilities, economies of scale and management resources, and closer proximity to existing and potential customers. In 2010, we acquired controlling interests in USI Group to broaden our offerings to include integrated solutions for EMS in relation to computers and storage, peripherals, communications, industrial, automotive and server applications. In 2015, we entered into a joint venture agreement with TDK Corporation to invest in ASEEE and obtained control over ASEEE in April 2019 to further expand our business in embedded substrates. During the period from 2015 to 2018, we completed the step acquisition of SPIL to further broaden semiconductor packaging and testing service. In July 2016, we invested in DECA to advance our fan-out wafer level packaging technologies.In February 2018, we entered into a joint venture agreement with Qualcomm Incorporated to form Semicondutores Avancados do Brasil S.A. to expand our SiP business. In August 2018, we also entered into an equity transfer agreement with Chung Hong Electronics (Suzhou) Co., Ltd. to acquire its 60.0% equity in its Polish subsidiary UGPL to set up production base and to expand our business in Europe to build a much more complete global supply system. In August 2018, we also entered into a joint venture agreement with Cancon Information Industry Co., Ltd. to establish SUMA-USI Electronics Co., Ltd. to integrate the industrial resources to cooperate deeply in the field of secure and controllable high-performance server products for customers. In September 2018, we acquired whole shares of USI Inc. to consolidate the resources within ASEH and enhance operational efficiency. In January 2019, we entered into a project investment agreement with China Merchants Group of Huizhou Daya Bay Economic and Technological Development Zone of Guangdong Province to set up a subsidiary, Huanrong Electronics (Huizhou) Co., Ltd., in Huizhou Daya Bay Economic and Technological Development Zone to address the growing needs of our capacity expansion and the development of our business in South China. In April 2019, we obtained control over Advanced Microelectronic Products Inc. to diversify our business in manufacturing of integrated circuit. In Auguest 2019, we indirectly acquired 42.2% interest of Memtech International Ltd. by our equity method investee, M-Universe Investments Pte. Ltd., to enhance supply chain dynamics and raise competitiveness in mechanical components. In December 2019, we entered into the FAFG Share Purchase Agreement to further enhance our manufacturing capabilities, expand our EMS customer base and capture a wider range of opportunities throughout the product development lifecycle.

Continue to Leverage Our Presence in Key Centers of Semiconductor and Electronics Manufacturing

We intend to continue leveraging our presence in key centers of semiconductor and electronics manufacturing to further grow our business. We have significant packaging, testing and EMS operations in Taiwan, currently one of the leading centers for outsourced semiconductor and electronics manufacturing in the world. This presence enables our engineers to work closely with our customers as well as wafer foundries and other providers of complementary semiconductor and EMS early in the design process, enhances our responsiveness to the requirements of our customers and shortens production cycles. In addition, as a turnkey service provider, we are able to offer our products to our customers and complementary service providers within relatively close geographic proximity. Besides our current operations in Taiwan, we intend to expand our operations in our other subsidiaries.

We have primary operations in the following locations in addition to our locations in Taiwan:

Strengthen and Develop Strategic Relationships with Our Customers and Providers of Complementary Semiconductor Manufacturing Services

We intend to strengthen existing and develop new strategic relationships with our customers and providers of other complementary semiconductor manufacturing services, such as wafer foundries, as well as equipment vendors, raw material suppliers and technology research institutes, in order to offer our customers total semiconductor manufacturing solutions covering all stages of the manufacturing of their products from design to shipment. In addition, we are working with our customers to co-develop new packaging technologies and designs.

Since 1997, we have maintained a strategic alliance with TSMC, currently one of the world’s largest dedicated semiconductor foundries, which designates us as their nonexclusive preferred provider of packaging and testing services for semiconductors manufactured by TSMC. Through our strategic alliance with and close geographic proximity to TSMC, we are able to offer our customers a total semiconductor manufacturing solution that includes access to foundry services in addition to our packaging, testing and direct shipment services.

Principal Products and Services

We offer a broad range of semiconductor packaging and testing services. In addition, we have provided EMS through USI Group since 2010. Our package types generally employ either leadframes or substrates as interconnect materials. The semiconductors we package are used in a wide range of end-use applications, including communications, computing, consumer electronics, industrial, automotive and other applications. Our testing services include front-end engineering testing, which is performed during and following the initial circuit design stage of the semiconductor manufacturing process, wafer probe, final testing and other related semiconductor testing services. We focus on packaging and testing semiconductors. We offer our customers turnkey services, which consist of packaging, testing and direct shipment of semiconductors to end users designated by our customers. Our EMS are used in a wide range of end-use applications, including, but not limited to, computers and storage, peripherals, communications, industrial applications, automotive electronics, and server applications. In 2019, our revenues generated from packaging, testing and EMS accounted for 48.2%, 10.3% and 40.1% of our operating revenues, respectively.

Packaging Services

We offer a broad range of package types to meet the requirements of our customers, including flip chip BGA, flip chip CSP, aCSP (advanced chip scale packages), quad flat packages (QFP), thin quad flat packages (TQFP), bump chip carrier (BCC), quad flat no-lead (QFN) packages, aQFN (advanced QFN) and Plastic BGA. In addition, we provide 3D chip packages, such as aMAP POP (advanced, laser ablation type), which enable our customers to mount packages more easily, and HB PoP (High-Band package on Package) for higher performance orientation and marketing requirement. We also offer other forms of stacked die solutions in different package types, e.g., stacked die QFN, hybrid BGAs containing stacked wire bond and FC die. Meanwhile, we are developing the cost-effective solutions to 3D packages, such as 2.1D (substrate layer modification) and 2.5D (substrate interposer), to fulfill current low-cost and high-performance requirements in parallel with 3D packages with TSV (Through Silicon Via) technology. Our first product has been a CMOS image sensor with TSV to minimize the form factor. In addition, to meet current trends toward low-cost solutions, we provide copper wire bonding solutions which can be applied to current gold wire products. We also provide a high-volume manufacturing experience with silver wire bonding for FCCSP Hybrid packages. Furthermore, we are one of the key providers of IoT (Internet of Things), server and automotive services. We believe we are among the leaders in such packaging processes and technologies and are well positioned to lead the technology migration in the semiconductor packaging industry.

To address the new demands of 5G wireless technology, we survey new material and structure based on developed package structures and focus our efforts on developing more integration solutions, such as AP (Application Processor) module and RFFE (RF front end) with customized SiP services.

Advanced Packages.The semiconductor packaging industry has evolved to meet the requirements of high-performance electronics products. We believe that there will continue to be growing demand for packaging solutions with increased input/output density, smaller size and a better heat dissipation characteristic.

We have focused on developing our capabilities in certain packaging solutions, such as aCSP (wafer-level chip scale package), flip chip BGA, Heat-Spreader FCBGA, flip-chip CSP, Hybrid FCCSP (Flip Chip + W/B), Flip Chip PiP (Package in Package), Flip Chip PoP (Package on Package), aS 3™ (Advanced Single Sided Substrate), HB POP (High-Bandwidth POP), Fan-Out Wafer-Level Packaging, SESUB and 2.5D. Flip-chip BGA technology replaces wire bonding with wafer bumping for interconnections within the package. Wafer bumping involves the placing of tiny solder balls, instead of wires, on top of dies for connection to substrates. As compared with more traditional packages, which allow input/output connection only on the boundaries of the dies, flip chip or wafer-level package solutions significantly enhance the input/output flow by allowing input/output connections over the entire surface of the dies.

Chip scale packages typically have an area no greater than 120% of the silicon die. For wafer level package, the electrical connections are plated or printed directly onto the wafer itself, resulting in a package very close to the size of the silicon die. Wafer-level packages do not include an interposer so they are unlike substrate-based packages, where the die is usually mounted on an interposer which contains electrical connections in the form of small bumps or balls.

aEASI (Advance Embedded Assembly Substrate Integration) is a technology which allows the embedding thin chips into substrate build-up layers. aEASI can be used in various technologies tailored to clients’ demand, such as package solution of miniaturization, and has also been proven to have better electrical/thermal performance. It also provides flexibility in design (such as for MicroSiP), and the electrical contacts to the chips are realized by laser-drilled and metallized micro-vias to replace the traditional wire bonding process. aEASI is mainly used in power management applications.

WL MEMs (Wafer-Level MEMs) is advanced assembly for MEMs in wafer-level type instead of current LGA or leadframe types using TSV or chip-to-wafer technology. WL MEMs are mainly used in applications such as pressure, temperature, humidity and gyroscope sensors, among others.

FOWLP (Fan-Out Wafer-Level Packages) provides an extended solution and package type to integrate different functional chips or packages and to have good reduction in resistance and inductance over FCCSP, better thermal performance and smaller form factors of packages. FOWLP can be applied for different stack and SiP solutions.

We provide numerous technologies to meet various customer demands. The following table sets forth our principal advanced packages.

IC Wirebonding. We provide IC wirebonding, including leadframe-based packages and substrate-based packages. Leadframe-based packages are packaged by connecting the die, using wire bonders, to the leadframe with gold wire or copper wire. As packaging technology improves, the number of leads per package increases. In addition, improvements in leadframe-based packages have reduced the footprint of the package on the circuit board and improved the electrical performance of the package. To have higher interconnected density and better electrical performance, semiconductor packages have evolved from leadframe-based packages to substrate-based packages. The key differences of these package types are the size of the package; the density of electrical connections the package can support; flexibility at lower costs; the thermal and electrical characteristics of the package; and environmentally conscious designs. Substrate-based packages generally employ the BGA design. Whereas traditional leadframe technology places the electrical connection around the perimeter of the package, the BGA package type places the electrical connection at the bottom of the package surface in the form of small bumps or balls. These small bumps or balls are typically distributed evenly across the bottom surface of the package, allowing greater distance between individual leads and higher pin-counts. Our expertise in BGA packages also includes capabilities in stacked-die BGA, which assembles multiple dies into a single package.

3D packaging has recently gained a lot of publicity because of the advent of TSV (Through Silicon Via) based chip stacking. Chip stacking has been implemented for many years, albeit without TSVs. Wire bond die is routinely stacked on leadframes as well as BGA substrates. A more recent implementation is the stacking of packages as package on package (PoP) and the more specialized package in package (PiP). We have advanced PoP by the invention of aMAPPoP which provides the package interconnects by exposing a molded in solder ball with a laser via. Aside from being cost effective due to block molding, this PoP also has much lower warpage, greatly improving the stacking yield.

The following table sets forth our principal IC wirebonding packages.

Heterogeneous Integration.Heterogeneous Integration refers to the integration of separately manufactured components into a higher-level assembly that, in the aggregate, provides enhanced functionality and improved operating characteristics:

The drive towards semiconductor miniaturization and integration is expanding the commercial potential of SiP, a package or module containing a functional electronic system or subsystem that is integrated and miniaturized through IC greater assembly technologies. With attributes that deliver higher performance, cost-effectiveness, and shorter time to market, SiP technology is enabling functionality and creating more commercial opportunities across a broader variety of electronics applications.

ASEH is a market leader in SiP technologies from design to assembly and high-volume manufacturing. SiP involves the integration of multiple components from IC chips and components including ASICs, Memory, Analog & mixed signals devices, passives, MEMs, sensors, antennas and other devices into one single package. SiP and Modules products are gaining significant traction within the industry, given growing demand for miniaturized electronic devices that deliver more functions and higher performance, lower power, greater speed and increased bandwidth. ASEH’s SiP portfolio includes flip chip and wirebond multichip packaging, embedding technologies such as SESUB and aEASI, and wafer-level technologies including fan-out and IPD. IPD uses a wafer-level process to integrate passive components on an individual substrate. Recent IPD innovation involves the extension of the RDL (Redistribution) process to build a high-quality factor (Q) inductor and RF circuits on top of silicon wafers. It can be used in the following three approaches to enhance product performance: several solutions to replace discrete components such as Balun and Filter, or to integrate other passive components and act as interposer, or to replace PWB and act as a substrate of the module. In addition, we leverage some of our SMT-based technologies, such as compartment shielding, double-sided module and antenna integration.

We also offer module assembly services, which combine one or more packaged semiconductors with other components in an integrated module to enable increased functionality for system-level assembly. End-use applications for modules include cellular phones and wireless LAN applications, Bluetooth applications, camera modules, automotive applications, toys, networking, storage and power management.

Fan-out packaging continues to gain major prominence within the industry, based on significant technical advantages that have led to its broad commercialization. This advanced packaging platform is evolving to meet application demands for smaller form factors and improved electrical and thermal performance.

With the packaging done on singulated die formed into a reconstituted molded wafer or panel, fan-out packaging enables multi-die packages, through partitioning with different nodes and functionality. Fan-out can be done either chip first or chip last, with both options resulting in much higher-density interconnect and improved cost efficiency. Initially fan-out was used primarily for smaller, lower I/O count packages, until we introduced a very high-density fan-out alternative to 2.5D Interposer packages, fan-out on Substrate (FOCoS), a hybrid fan-out/FCBGA package. Today, fan-out is in high-volume applications for a wide variety of products, including PMICs, RF packages, Baseband processors and high-end networking systems. Key attributes include:

·       Parallel Manufacturing Process in Wafer Form

·       Smallest Package in X,Y and Z

·       Excellent Mechanical, Electrical and Thermal Performance

As 5G, AI, and high-performance computing continue to make inroads into our world, we believe there is an increased demand for semiconductor devices that deliver enhanced performance, lower latency, increased bandwidth and greater power efficiency. ASEH strives to meet this demand by innovating 2.5D & 3D technologies that we believe are becoming more central within the semiconductor industry. We have established ourselves as a leader in 2.5D technology through our successful pioneering of 2.5D solutions that helped bring advanced ASIC and HBM products to the marketplace. In addition, ASEH is introducing high-density fan-out technology for die stacking and multi-die solutions to achieve high bandwidth & high-performance across the market landscape, addressing demand from high density data centers to consumer and mobile space. 

Automotive Electronics. We assemble automotive electronic products based on our leading technology, good quality systems and automation. We provide a variety of products, such as leadframe base, substrate base, Flip Chip and Wafer-Level packages. We also provide robust package solutions to customers and end-users, including most types of industrial package solutions together with tailor-made solutions to meet customers’ and end-users’ requirements on automotive specifications.

Having accumulated production experience in using gold wire for automotive devices over several years, we collaborate with certain customers to develop and release copper wire for advanced wafer process (65nm for QFP and 40 nm for BGA) development that will fulfill criteria in AEC-G100 and in the early development of the 28 nm wafer process with hybrid packaging structure (FC bonding + wirebonding). In addition, we offer the FOWLP solution for radar products according to requests from some tier 1 customers.

Interconnect Materials. Interconnect materials connect the input/output on the semiconductor dies to the printed circuit board. Interconnect materials include substrate, which is a multilayer miniature printed circuit board, and is an important element of the electrical characteristics and overall performance of semiconductors. We produce substrates for use in our packaging operations.

The demand for higher-performance semiconductors in smaller packages will continue to spur the development of IC substrates that can support the advancement in circuit design and fabrication. As a result, we believe that the market for substrates will grow and the cost of substrates as a percentage of the total packaging process will increase. In the past, substrates we designed for our customers were produced by independent substrate manufacturers. Since 1997, we have been designing and producing a portion of our interconnect materials in-house. In 2019, our interconnect materials operations supplied approximately 10.0% of our consolidated substrate requirements by value.

The following table sets forth, for the periods indicated, the percentage of our packaging revenues accounted for by each principal type of packaging products or services. 

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Testing Services

We provide a complete range of semiconductor testing services, including front-end engineering testing, wafer probing, final testing of logic/mixed-signal/RF/(2.5D/3D) module and SiP/MEMS/Discrete and other test-related services.

The testing of semiconductors requires technical expertise and knowledge of the specific applications and functions of the semiconductors tested as well as the testing equipment utilized. We believe that our testing services employ technology and expertise which are among the most sophisticated in the semiconductor industry. In addition to maintaining different types of testing equipment, which enables us to test a variety of semiconductor functions, we work closely with our customers to design effective testing solutions on multiple equipment platforms for particular semiconductors.

In recent years, complex, high-performance logic/mixed-signal/RF/(2.5D/3D) module and SiP/MEMS semiconductors have accounted for an increasing portion of our testing revenues.

Front-End Engineering Testing. We provide front-end engineering testing services, including customized software development, electrical design validation, and reliability and failure analysis.

Wafer Probing. Wafer probing is the step immediately before the packaging of semiconductors and involves visual inspection and electrical testing of the processed wafer for defects to ensure that it meets our customers’ specifications. Wafer probing services require expertise and testing equipment similar to that used in final testing, and most of our testers can also be used for wafer probing.

Logic/Mixed-signal/RF/(2.5D/3D) Module and SiP/Discrete Final Testing. We conduct final tests of a wide variety of logic/mixed-signal/RF/(2.5D/3D) module and SiP/MEMS/discrete semiconductors, with the number of leads or bumps ranging from the single digits to over 10 thousand and operating frequencies of over 32 Gbps for digital semiconductors and mmWave for radio frequency semiconductors, which are at the high end of the range for the industry. The products we test include semiconductors used for wired, wireless and mobile communications, automotive, home entertainment, personal computer, artificial intelligence, and high-performance computing applications, as well as a variety of consumer and application-specific integrated circuits for various specialized applications.

Other Test-Related Services. We provide a broad range of additional test-related services, such as:

Drop Shipment Services. We offer drop shipment services for shipment of semiconductors directly to end users designated by our customers. Drop shipment services are provided mostly in conjunction with logic/mixed-signal/RF/3D IC/discrete testing. We provide drop shipment services to a significant percentage of our testing customers. A substantial portion of our customers at each of our facilities have qualified these facilities for drop shipment services. Since drop shipment eliminates the additional step of inspection by the customer before shipment to the end user, quality of service is a key consideration. We believe that our ability to successfully execute our full range of services, including drop shipment services, is an important factor in maintaining existing customers as well as attracting new customers.

The following table sets forth, for the periods indicated, the percentage of our testing revenues accounted for by each type of testing service.

EMS. We provide integrated solutions for EMS in relation to computers and storage, peripherals, communications, industrial, automotive and server applications through USI Group since 2010. The key products and services we offer to our customers, for instance, include:

Seasonality

See “Item 5. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects—Operating Results and Trend Information—Quarterly Operating Revenues, Gross Profit and Gross Margin.”

Sales and Marketing

Sales and Marketing Presence

We maintain sales and marketing offices in Taiwan, the United States, Belgium, Singapore, the P.R.C., Korea, Malaysia, Japan and a number of other countries. We also have sales representatives operating in certain other countries in which we do not have offices. Our sales and marketing offices in Taiwan are located in Hsinchu, Taichung and Kaohsiung. We conduct marketing research through our customer service personnel and through our relationships with our customers and suppliers to keep abreast of market trends and developments. We also provide advice in the area of production process technology to our major customers planning the introduction of new products. In placing orders with us, our customers specify which of our facilities these orders will go to. Our customers conduct separate qualification and correlation processes for each of our facilities that they use. See “—Qualification and Correlation by Customers.”

Customers

Our five largest customers together accounted for approximately 46.4%, 46.2% and 51.1% of our operating revenues in 2017, 2018 and 2019, respectively. One customer accounted for more than 10.0% of our operating revenues in 2017 and 2018. For our operating revenues in 2019, two of our customers individually accounted for more than 10.0% of our operating revenues.

We package and test for our customers a wide range of products with end-use applications in the communications, computing and consumer electronics/industrial/automotive sectors. The following table sets forth a breakdown of the percentage of our operating revenues generated from our packaging and testing services, for the periods indicated, by the principal end-use applications of the products that we packaged and tested.

Our EMS provide a wide range of products with end-use applications. The following table sets forth a breakdown of the percentage of our operating revenues generated from our EMS for the periods indicated by the principal end-use applications.

 We categorize our operating revenues geographically based on the country in which the customer is headquartered. The following table sets forth, for the periods indicated, the percentage breakdown by geographic regions of our operating revenues.

 Qualification and Correlation by Customers

Customers generally require that our facilities undergo a stringent qualification process during which the customer evaluates our operations and production processes, including engineering, delivery control and testing capabilities. The qualification process typically takes up to several weeks, but can take longer depending on the requirements of the customer. In the case of our testing operations, after we have been qualified by a customer and before the customer delivers semiconductors to us for testing in volume, a process known as correlation is undertaken. During the correlation process, the customer provides us with sample semiconductors to be tested and either provides us with the test program or requests that we develop a conversion program. In some cases, the customer also provides us with a data log of results of any testing of the semiconductors that the customer may have conducted previously. The correlation process typically takes up to two weeks, but can take longer depending on the requirements of the customer. We believe our ability to provide turnkey services reduces the amount of time spent by our customers in the qualification and correlation process. As a result, customers utilizing our turnkey services are able to achieve shorter production cycles.

Pricing

We price our packaging services and EMS, taking into account the actual costs, with reference to prevailing market prices. We price our testing services primarily on the basis of the amount of time, measured in central processing unit seconds, taken by the automated testing equipment to execute the test programs specific to the products being tested, as well as the cost of the equipment, with reference to prevailing market prices. Prices for our packaging, testing and EMS are confirmed at the time orders are received from customers, which is typically several weeks before delivery.

Raw Materials and Suppliers

Packaging

The principal raw materials used in our packaging processes are interconnect materials such as leadframes and substrates, gold wire and molding compound. The silicon die, which is the functional unit of the semiconductor to be packaged, is supplied in the form of silicon wafers. Each silicon wafer contains a number of identical dies. We receive the wafers from the customers or the foundries on a consignment basis. Consequently, we generally do not incur inventory costs relating to the silicon wafers used in our packaging process.

We do not maintain large inventories of leadframes, substrates, gold wire or molding compound, but generally maintain sufficient stock of each principal raw material based on blanket orders and rolling forecasts of near-term requirements received from customers. In addition, several of our principal suppliers dedicate portions of their inventories as reserves to meet our production requirements. However, shortages in the supply of materials experienced by the semiconductor industry have in the past resulted in occasional price adjustments and delivery delays. For example, in the first half of 2000, the industry experienced a shortage in the supply of IC substrates used in BGA packages, which, at the time, were only available from a limited number of suppliers located primarily in Japan. In order to reduce the adverse impact caused by the price fluctuations of raw materials, we have developed substitute raw materials, such as copper wire, the cost of which is much cheaper than that of gold wire. However, we cannot guarantee that we will not experience shortages or price increase in the near future or that we will be able to obtain adequate supplies of raw materials in a timely manner and at a reasonable price or to develop any substitute raw materials. In the event of a shortage and/or price increase, we generally inform our customers and work together to accommodate changes in delivery schedules and/or the price increase of raw materials.

We produce substrates for use in our packaging operations. In 2019, our interconnect materials operations supplied approximately 10.0% of our consolidated substrate requirements by value. See “—Principal Products and Services—Interconnect Materials.”

As a result of the “Directive 2002/95/EC on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment,” or RoHS, which became effective on July 1, 2006, we have adjusted our purchases of raw materials and our production processes in order to use raw materials that comply with this legislation for part of our production. This legislation restricts the use in the EU, of certain substances that the EU deems harmful to consumers, including certain grades of molding compounds, solder and other raw materials that are used in our products. Manufacturers of electrical and electronic equipment must comply with this legislation in order to sell their products in an EU member state. Any failure by us to comply with regulatory environmental standards such as Directive 2002/95/EC may have a material adverse effect on our results of operations.

Testing

For the functional and burn-in testing of semiconductors, no other raw materials are needed. However, we often design and outsource the manufacturing of test interface products such as load boards, probe cards and burn-in boards.

EMS

Our manufacturing processes use many raw materials in our EMS. For 2019, raw materials costs accounted for 81.3% of our operating revenues from EMS. Our principal raw materials include, among others, printed circuit boards, integrated chips, ink, semiconductor devices, computer peripherals and related accessories and electronic components. Our principal raw materials varied in the past, depending on the end-use products we provided.

To ensure quality, on-time delivery and pricing competitiveness, we have established both a standardized supplier assessment system and an evaluation mechanism, continued to maintain close working relationships with our suppliers and jointly created a stable and sustainable supply chain. In addition, we adjusted the procurement strategy in line with industry trends as well as the nature of raw materials, and we decentralized the sources of raw materials to lower our supply concentration risk. However, we cannot assure you that we will not experience any shortages or price increases in the near future. See “Item 3. Key Information—Risk Factors—Risks Relating to Our Business—Our revenues and profitability may decline if we are unable to obtain adequate supplies of raw materials in a timely manner and at a reasonable price.”

Equipment

Packaging

The wire bonding process is important for routing signal out of die to the system for the IC wire-bonding solutions. Thus, wire bonder is the important equipment used for such process. As products become finer and finer pitch, bumping process will replace wire bonding process for the signal routing purpose. Thus, sputter and plater will be the crucial equipment for this type of process.

Wire bonders connect the input/output terminals on the silicon die using extremely fine gold or copper wire to leads on leadframes or substrates. Typically, a wire bonder may be used, with minor modifications, for the packaging of different products. As of January 31, 2020, we operated an aggregate of 24,906 wire bonders, of which 24,853 were fine-pitch wire bonders. As of the same date, 21 of the wire bonders operated by us were consigned by customers and 5 of the wire bonders were leased. For the packaging of certain types of substrate-based packages, die bonders are used in place of wire bonders. The number of bonders at a given facility is commonly used as a measure of the packaging capacity of the facility. In addition to bonders, we maintain a variety of other types of packaging equipment, such as wafer grind, wafer mount, wafer saw, heat sink placement, automated molding machines, laser markers, solder plate, pad printers, dejunkers, trimmers, formers, substrate saws and scanners. We purchase our packaging equipment from major international manufactures, including KLA Corporation, Canon Semiconductor Equipment Inc., Tokyo Electron Limited, Grand Process Technology Corporation and TOWA Corporation.

Testing

Testing equipment is the most capital-intensive component of the testing process. We generally seek to purchase testers from different suppliers with similar functionality and acquire the ability to test a variety of different semiconductors. We purchase testers from major international manufacturers, including Teradyne, Inc., Advantest Corporation, K-shine Technology Corporation, Tokyo Electron Limited, and Hon Precision, Inc. Upon acquisition of new testers, we install, configure, calibrate, perform burn-in diagnostic tests on and establish parameters for the testers based on the anticipated requirements of existing and potential customers and considerations relating to market trends. As of January 31, 2020, we operated an aggregate of 5,438 testers, of which 1,701 were consigned by customers and 84 were leased. In addition to testers, we maintain a variety of other types of testing equipment, such as automated handlers and probers (special handlers for wafer probing), scanners, reformers and computer workstations for use in software development. Each tester may be attached to a handler or prober. Handlers attach to testers and transport individual packaged semiconductors to the tester interface. Probers similarly attach to the tester and align each individual die on a wafer with the interface to the tester.

For the majority of our testing equipment, we often base our purchases on prior discussions with our customers about their forecast requirements. The balance consists of testing equipment on consignment from customers, and which is dedicated exclusively to the testing of these customers’ specific products.

Test programs, which consist of the software that drives the testing of specific semiconductors, are written for a specific testing platform. We sometimes perform test program conversions that enable us to test semiconductors on multiple test platforms. This portability between testers enables us to allocate semiconductors tested across our available test capabilities and thereby improve capacity utilization rates. In cases where a customer requires the testing of a semiconductor product that is not yet fully developed, the customer may provide computer workstations to us to test specific functions. In cases where a customer has specified testing equipment that was not widely applicable to other products that we test, we have required the customer to furnish the equipment on a consignment basis.

EMS

The SMT assembly line is the key facility of our electronic manufacturing operations, and generally includes a printer and one or two high-speed mounters and/or a multifunction mounter. The SMT assembly process primarily consists of the following three manufacturing steps: (i) solder paste stencil printing, (ii) component placement and (iii) solder reflow. High-speed SMT assembly systems offer both economic and technical advantages that may reduce both production cost and time while meeting quality requirements. Thus, SMT has become the most popular assembly method for sophisticated electronic devices. We had 145 SMT lines as of January 31, 2020.

Intellectual Property

As of January 31, 2020, we held 2,440 Taiwan patents, 1,689 U.S. patents, 1,545 P.R.C. patents and 33 patents in other countries related to various semiconductor packaging technologies and invention, utility and design on our EMS. In addition, as of January 31, 2020, we also had a total of 1,473 pending patent applications, 154 in Taiwan, 503 in the United States, 786 in P.R.C. and 30 patents in other countries. Moreover, we filed several trademarks applications in Taiwan, the United States, China and the EU. For example, “ASE,” “aCSP,” “ a-EASI,” “a-fcCSP,” “aQFN,” “a-QFN,” “a-S³, ” “a-TiV,” “aWLP,” “a-WLP,” “iSiP,” “iWLP,” “aSiM,” “SiP-id” and “SPIL” have been registered in Taiwan.

We have also entered into various nonexclusive technology license agreements with other companies involved in the semiconductor manufacturing process, including Fujitsu Limited, Flip Chip International, L.L.C., Infineon Technologies AG, TDK Corporation and DECA. The technology we license from these companies includes solder bumping, redistribution, ultra CSP assembly, advanced QFN assembly, wafer-level packaging and other technologies used in the production of package types, such as BCC, flip chip BGA, film BGA, aQFN and chip embedding. Our license agreements with Flip Chip International, L.L.C. will not expire until the expiration of the patents licensed by the agreement. Our license agreement with Infineon Technologies AG will expire on November 5, 2020. Our license agreement with Fujitsu Limited renews automatically each year unless the parties to the agreement agree otherwise. Our license agreement with TDK Corporation will remain in effect until expiration of the TDK’s patents licensed by the agreement. Our license agreement with DECA will expire on January 13, 2026.

In addition, we improve our technological platform by licensing innovative package technologies. For example, through wafer bumping and redistribution technology, we are able to form and redistribute bumps on the chip to make a silicon die by directly attaching the substrate using bumps rather than wire bonding and through wafer level CSP technology, we are able to produce a chip scale package at the stage of wafer level.

Our success depends in part on our ability to obtain, maintain and protect our patents, licenses and other intellectual property rights, including rights under our license agreements with third parties.

Quality Control

We believe that our process technology and reputation for high quality and reliable services have been important factors in attracting and retaining leading international semiconductor companies as customers for our services and/or products. We maintain a quality control staff at each of our facilities. Our quality control staff typically includes engineers, technicians and other employees who monitor the processes in order to ensure high quality. Our quality assurance systems impose strict process controls, statistical in-line monitors, supplier control, data review and management, quality controls and corrective action systems. Our quality control employees operate quality control stations along production lines, monitor clean room environments and follow up on quality through outgoing product inspection and interaction with customer service staff. We have established quality control systems that are designed to ensure high-quality products/service to customers, high-testing reliability and high production yields at our facilities. We also have established an environmental management system in order to ensure that we can comply with the environmental standards of our customers and the countries within which they operate. See “—Raw Materials and Suppliers—Packaging.” In addition, our facilities have been qualified by all of our major customers after satisfying stringent quality standards prescribed by these customers.

Our packaging and testing operations are undertaken in clean rooms where air purity, temperature and humidity are controlled. To ensure stability and integrity of our operations, we maintain clean rooms at our facilities that meet U.S. Federal Standard 209E class 1,000, 10,000 and 100,000 standards.

ISE Labs’ testing facilities in Fremont, California, are considered suitably equipped by the Defense Logistics Agency to perform the MIL-STD-883 tests on monolithic microcircuits in accordance with the requirements of military specification MIL-PRF-38535.

We have also obtained many certifications on our packaging, testing and interconnect materials facilities. Some of these certifications are required by some semiconductor manufacturers as a threshold indicator of a company’s quality control standards or needed by many countries in connection with sales of industrial products. The table below sets forth the certifications we have for our packaging, testing and interconnect materials. 

_____________________

We also have strict process controls in our EMS business. UGTW’s facilities in Nantou, Taiwan, are considered suitably equipped by the Defense Logistics Agency to perform the MIL-STD-883 tests on assemble, seal, and test hybrid microcircuits in compliance with MIL-PRF-38534 Classes H and K. UGPL is in compliance with VDA 6.3 audit, which focuses on process audit for planning and manufacturing of products and services, and VDA 6.5, which is a qualification for product audit. The table below sets forth the certifications we have obtained for our EMS facilities.

In addition, we have received several vendor awards from our customers for the quality of our products and services.

Competition

The global market for semiconductor packaging and testing markets is highly competitive. We face competition from a number of sources and integrated device manufacturers with in-house packaging and testing capabilities and fabless semiconductor design companies with their own in-house testing capabilities. Some of these integrated device manufacturers have commenced, or may commence, in-house packaging and testing operations in Asia. Substantially all of packaging and testing companies that compete with us have established operations in Taiwan and across the region.

Integrated device manufacturers that use our services continuously evaluate our performance against their own in-house packaging and testing capabilities. These integrated device manufacturers may have access to more sophisticated technologies and greater financial and other resources than we do. We believe, however, that we can offer greater efficiency at lower cost while maintaining equivalent or higher quality for several reasons. First, as we benefit from specialization and economies of scale by providing services to a large base of customers across a wide range of products, we are better able to reduce costs and shorten production cycles through high-capacity utilization and process expertise. Second, as a result of our customer base and product offerings, our equipment generally has a longer useful life. Third, as a result of the continuing reduction of investments in in-house packaging and testing capacity and technology at integrated device manufacturers, we are better positioned to meet their packaging and testing requirements on a large scale.

Our packaging and testing business also faces actual and potential competition from companies at other levels of the supply chain, which have the financial resources and technical capabilities to enter and compete effectively with us. For example, TSMC has launched integrated fan-out (“InFO”) technology, which put into mass production in 2016. InFO is expected to further intensify the competition in the packaging and testing industry.

Our EMS business faces significant competition from other EMS providers, such as Hon Hai Precision Ind. Co., Ltd., with comprehensive integration, wide geographic coverage and large production capabilities that enable them to achieve economies of scale. We believe, however, that we can still achieve satisfactory performance in the market given that we have been able to provide products with high quality and we are capable of designing new products by cooperating with our customers.

Environmental Matters

Our operations of packaging, interconnect materials and EMS generate both hazardous and non-hazardous wastes. We have installed various types of anti-pollution equipment for the treatment of liquid and gaseous chemical waste. We have adopted comprehensive anti-pollution measures for the effective management of environmental protection that we believe are consistent with international standards. In addition, we believe we are in compliance in all material respects with present environmental laws and regulations applicable to all our operations and facilities.

Furthermore, in order to demonstrate our commitment to environmental protection, in December 2013, our board of directors approved contributions to environmental protection efforts in Taiwan in a total amount of not less than NT$3,000.0 million, to be made in the following 30 years. For each of the year ended December 31, 2017, 2018 and 2019, ASE has made contributions in the amount of NT$100.0 million (US$3.3 million), respectively, through ASE Cultural and Educational Foundation to fund various environmental projects, and ASE’s board of directors have resolved in a resolution in January 2020 to contribute NT$100.0 million (US$3.3 million) through ASE Cultural and Educational Foundation in environmental projects in 2020. Our estimated environmental capital expenditures for 2020 will be approximately US$24.3 million, of which 24.59% will be used in climate change adaptation.

In October 2019, we issued unsecured international corporate bonds in the aggregate amount of US$300.0 million with par value of US$1.0 million. The proceeds from this bonds offering were used to subscribe for a total of 465,360,000 new shares of ASE at NT$20 per share issued through a private placement to support ASE’s investment in green projects.

ASE Inc. Kaohsiung Facility

Our operations involving wafer-level process and requiring wastewater treatment at our K7 Plant have been subject to scrutiny by the Kaohsiung City Environmental Protection Bureau and the Kaohsiung District Prosecutors office as a result of alleged wastewater disposal violations that occurred on October 1, 2013.

On December 20, 2013, the Kaohsiung Environmental Protection Bureau (the “KEPB”) imposed an administrative fine of NT$102.0 million (the “Original Fine”) upon us for violation of the Water Pollution Control Act. After we sought administrative remedies against the Original Fine, the Original Fine was revoked by final judgment of the Supreme Administrative Court on June 8, 2017, and KEPB was ordered to refund the Original Fine to us. On December 27, 2019, KEPB refunded NT$55.1 million (US$1.8 million) to us. On February 10, 2020, KEPB re-imposed an administrative fine of NT$47.0 million (US$1.6 million) (the “New Fine”) upon us and offset the New Fine by the remaining amount which shall be refunded to us. On March 12, 2020, we filed an administrative appeal to the Kaohsiung City Government to revoke the New Fine. As of the date of this annual report, there is no additional payment outstanding for the New Fine.

In connection with the same alleged violations at our K7 plant, in October 2014, the Kaohsiung District Court ruled that we were in violation of the R.O.C. Waste Disposal Act and imposed upon us a criminal penalty of NT$3.0 million. In November 2014, we filed an appeal with the Taiwan High Court Kaohsiung District Branch against the Kaohsiung District Court’s ruling. On September 29, 2015, the Taiwan High Court Kaohsiung District Branch overturned the decision made by Kaohsiung District Court and found us to be not guilty. The criminal penalty that the Kaohsiung District Court imposed on us was thereby revoked. The Taiwan High Court Kaohsiung District Branch’s verdict was final and not appealable. For additional details of these administrative actions and judicial proceedings related to our K7 Plant, see “Item 8. Financial Information—Consolidated Statements and Other Financial Information—Legal Proceedings.” Defending against any of the pending or future actions will likely be costly and time-consuming and could significantly divert our management team’s efforts and resources.

Any future suspension of operations at K7 Plant or our other facilities may adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. See “Item 3. Key Information—Risk Factors—Risks Relating to Our Business—Any environmental claims or failure to comply with any present or future environmental regulations, as well as any fire or other industrial accident, may require us to spend additional funds and may materially and adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.”

Waste Disposal Discharge

There were five employees and a waste disposal supplier of a subsidiary in China accused by China People’s Procuratorate ( the “Procuratorate”) for committing the crime of environmental pollution in 2018. During the trial, the Procuratorate claimed that the subsidiary should also be charged with corporate crime which caused the subsidiary received a change and addition indictment in October 2019. As of the date that the consolidated financial statements were authorized for issue, the trial proceeding is pending Procuratorate’s judgments and, therefore, the final results could not be reliably measured.

Climate Change Management

To strengthen our focus on low-carbon development in response to climate change, we have established the Corporate Sustainability Committee (the “CSC”) as the highest level of management for sustainability management. The CSC is chaired by our chief operating officer and comprises of senior management executives, including six directors. The CSC is responsible for supervising corporate-wide sustainability affairs and reports directly to the board of directors. The CSC is driven by five sustainability taskforces, among which, the environmental and green innovation taskforce monitors climate change and water-related issues.

We are committed to reducing the emission of greenhouse gases from our business operations. We aim to address and integrate climate change into our business strategies by (i) establishing an overall carbon management system to implement low-carbon strategies and policies in accordance with our three guiding principles of energy saving, green energy and energy storage; (ii) investing in renewable energy; (iii) innovating and promoting low-carbon products and services; (iv) identifying our vulnerabilities to climate change and developing adaptation strategies; and (v) cultivating a “green” corporate culture and becoming a leading provider of low-carbon solutions.

We believe that there are opportunities associated with climate change related risks and have implemented the following strategies to evaluate the risks and identify the opportunities:

Transition to low-carbon economy

We are committed to establishing leadership in providing low carbon, sustainable solutions through a climate-friendly and cost effective approach. We actively monitor the financial implications of the risks and opportunities brought about by climate change as well as the implementation results of our climate change management.

We also explore potential pathways with environmental specialists to achieve carbon reduction targets and establish response systems to adapt to climate change. We are dedicated to providing high efficiency products as well as investing in the research and development of eco-friendly design. Starting from the product design stage, we actively incorporate environmentally friendly materials into production processes. We have also maintained a multi-site certification for ISO 14001 and ISO 50001, which regularly examines the effectiveness of our environment and energy management systems

We believe proactively engaging in supplier development is key to the sustainable development of our supply chain. We provide trainings, workshops, seminars and face-to-face consultation to reinforce our suppliers' capabilities to address sustainability issues and enhance their awareness of best practices for sustainability. In 2015, we joined the Responsible Business Alliance (RBA, previously known as the Electronic Industry Citizens Coalition) and every year, all of ASE’s facilities complete the RBA’s Self-Assessment Questionnaire to identify the labor, environmental, and ethical risks in their respective operations. For internal management, we have adopted the guidelines set out by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and encourage all our sites to submit their own self-initiated goals that are set according to their respective operation scale and capabilities.

Insurance

We have insurance policies covering property damage and damage to our production facilities, buildings and machinery. In addition, we have liability insurance policies, including but not limited to general liability insurance policies, product liability insurance policies for specified clients and products and directors’ and officers’ insurance policies.

We are not insured against the loss of key personnel.

ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE

The following chart illustrates our corporate structure, including our principal manufacturing subsidiaries as of January 31, 2020. The following chart does not include wholly owned intermediate holding companies, internal trading companies and those companies without active operations and under construction.

Our Consolidated Subsidiaries

ASE Group

ASE Inc.

ASE Inc., which was established on March 23, 1984, is our wholly owned subsidiary. It is incorporated in Taiwan and is dedicated to providing packaging and testing services, wafer sort testing, final testing service, substrate design and manufacturing.

ASE Test Taiwan

ASE Test Taiwan, which was acquired in 1990, is our wholly owned subsidiary. It is incorporated in Taiwan and is engaged in the testing of integrated circuits.

ASE Malaysia

ASE Malaysia, which was established in 1991, is our wholly owned subsidiary. It is incorporated in Malaysia and is engaged in the packaging and testing of integrated circuits.

ISE Labs

ISE Labs is our wholly owned subsidiary. It is a semiconductor company specializing in front-end engineering testing that is incorporated in the United States and has its principal facilities located in Fremont, California. We acquired 70.0% of the outstanding shares of ISE Labs in 1999 through ASE Test, and increased our holding to 100.0% through purchases made in 2000 and 2002.

ASE Singapore Pte. Ltd.

ASE Singapore Pte. Ltd., our wholly owned subsidiary, is incorporated in Singapore and provides packaging and testing services. We acquired ASE Singapore Pte. Ltd., which was wholly owned by ISE Labs, through our acquisition of ISE Labs in 1999. In January 2011, ASE Singapore II Pte. Ltd. (formerly, EEMS Test Singapore) merged into ASE Singapore Pte. Ltd. after we acquired ASE Singapore II Pte. Ltd. in August 2010.

ASE Electronics

ASE Material was established in 1997 as an R.O.C. company for the production of interconnect materials, such as substrates, used in the packaging of semiconductors. We initially held a majority stake in ASE Material, but acquired the remaining equity by means of a merger of ASE Material with and into us in August 2004. In August 2006, we spun off the operations originally conducted through ASE Material into our wholly owned subsidiary ASE Electronics. ASE Electronics currently supplies our packaging operations with a substantial portion of our substrate requirements. The facilities of ASE Electronics are primarily located in the Nantze Export Processing Zone near our packaging and testing facilities in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. 

ASE Chung Li and ASE Korea

In July 1999, we purchased Motorola’s Semiconductor Products Sector operations in Chung Li, Taiwan and Paju, South Korea for the packaging and testing of semiconductors, thereby forming ASE Chung Li and ASE Korea. In August 2004, we acquired the remaining outstanding shares of ASE Chung Li that we did not already own and merged ASE Chung Li into us.

ASE Japan

ASE Japan, which we acquired from NEC Electronics Corporation in May 2004, is our wholly owned subsidiary. It is incorporated in Japan and is engaged in the packaging and testing of semiconductors.

ASE Shanghai

ASE Shanghai was established in 2001 as a wholly owned subsidiary of ASE Inc. and began operations in June 2004. ASE Shanghai primarily manufactures and supplies interconnect materials for our packaging operations.

ASESH AT

We acquired 100.0% equity interest in GAPT, now known as ASESH AT, in January 2007 for a purchase price of US$60.0 million. ASESH AT is a P.R.C. company based in Shanghai, China that provides packaging and testing services for a wide range of semiconductors.

ASEN

In September 2007, we acquired 60.0% equity interest in ASEN, formerly known as NXP Semiconductors Suzhou Ltd., from NXP Semiconductors for a purchase price of US$21.6 million. In March 2018, we acquired the remaining 40.0% equity interest in ASEN for a purchase price of US$127.1 million. In August 2018, we sold 30.0% equity interest in ASEN to Beijing Unis Capital Management Co., Ltd. at US$95.3 million. In November 2019, we repurchased 30.0% equity interest from Beijing Unis Capital Management Co., Ltd. at US$97.7 million. We held 100.0% equity interest in ASEN, which is based in Suzhou, China and is engaged in semiconductor packaging and testing.

ASEWH

In May 2008, we acquired 100.0% of the shares of ASEWH from Aimhigh Global Corp. and TCC Steel. ASEWH is based in Weihai, Shandong, China and is engaged in semiconductor packaging and testing.

ASEKS

ASEKS was set up in 2004 and began operating in 2010. ASEKS is based in Kunshan, China and is engaged in semiconductor packaging and testing.

Wuxi Tongzhi

In May 2013, we, through our subsidiary ASESH AT, acquired 100.0% of the shares of Wuxi Tongzhi from Toshiba Semiconductor (Wuxi) Co, Ltd. Wuxi Tongzhi is based in Wuxi, China and is engaged in semiconductor packaging and testing.

ISE Shanghai

ISE Shanghai was established in 2018 and began operating in 2019. ISE Shanghai is based in Shanghai, China and is engaged in semiconductor testing.

SPIL Group

SPIL is a provider of semiconductor packaging and testing services. SPIL offers a full range of packaging and testing solutions, including advanced packages, substrate packages and leadframe packages, as well as testing for logic and mixed signal devices. SPIL also provides turnkey services, from packaging and testing to shipment service. The principal operating subsidiaries under SPIL Group are Siliconware Precision Industries Co., Ltd., SZ and SF.

SPIL and ASE entered into a Joint Share Exchange Agreement on June 30, 2016, pursuant to which ASE established ASEH through a statutory exchange and ASEH acquired all issued and outstanding shares of both ASE and SPIL. For details about the Joint Share Exchange Agreement, see “Item 10. Additional information—Material Contract.”

The Share Exchange consummated on April 30, 2018, and SPIL’s shares concurrently delisted from TWSE and NASDAQ on April 30, 2018. On April 30, 2018, ASE and SPIL became privately held wholly owned subsidiaries of ASEH. For details about the SPIL Acquisition, see “Item 4. Information on the Company— SPIL Acquisition.”

USI Group

USI Group engages primarily in EMS in relation to computers and storage, consumer electronics, communications, industrial and automotive, among other services and businesses.

As of January 31, 2020, we held 75.3% interest in USI Shanghai through our subsidiaries USI Inc. and ASE Shanghai and held 74.5% interest in Universal Scientific Industrial and 100.0% interest in USI Inc. See “Item 4. Information on the Company—Information on the Company—History and Development of the Company— USI Group and USI Group Restructuring” for more information.

PROPERTY, PLANTS AND EQUIPMENT

We operate a number of packaging, testing and electronic manufacturing facilities in Asia, the United States and Europe. Our facilities provide varying types or levels of services with respect to different end-product focus, customers, technologies and geographic locations. With our diverse facilities we are able to tailor our packaging, testing and electronic manufacturing solutions closely to our customers’ needs. The following table sets forth the location, commencement of operation, primary use, approximate floor space and ownership of our principal facilities as of January 31, 2020.

We have leased land in the Kaohsiung Nantze Export Processing Zone from the Export Processing Zone Administration (the “EPZA”) with different lease terms for several years that will expire in January 2049. We have leased land from the Central Taiwan Science Park Administration in Taichung with 20-year terms that will expire in November 2038. We have leased land from Hsinchu Science Park Administrations in Hsinchu with 14-year to 40-year terms that will expire in December 2034. No sublease or lending of the land is allowed. The EPZA, the Central Taiwan Science Park Administration and the Hsinchu Science Park Administrations have the right to adjust the rental price in the event the government revalues the land. The leases are typically renewable with one-month to three-month notice prior to the termination date.

ASE Inc. Kaohsiung Facility

ASE Inc. Kaohsiung Facility is our operation headquarters and houses our industry-leading R&D center, which is dedicated to providing world-class assembly, wafer bumping and test services and also offers full turnkey services, including substrate design and manufacturing capabilities.

For administrative actions and judicial proceedings related to our ASE Inc. Kaohsiung Facility K7 Plant, see “—Environmental Matters” and “Item 8. Financial Information—Consolidated Statements and Other Financial Information—Legal Proceedings.”

We currently do not have plans for significant expansion, but will reevaluate our need for future expansion based on market condition and future demand requirements to meet our expected future growth. For information on the aggregate capacity of our facilities we operate, see “—Business Overview—Equipment.”

Item 4A. Unresolved Staff Comments

None.

Item 5. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects

OPERATING RESULTS AND TREND INFORMATION

The following discussion of our business, financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements, which are included elsewhere in this annual report. This discussion contains forward-looking statements that reflect our current views with respect to future events and financial performance. Our actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of any number of factors, such as those set forth under “Item 3. Key Information—Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this annual report. See “Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements.” Please refer to our Form 20-F dated April 26, 2019 (File No. 001-16125) for our discussion of financial information and operating results for 2018.

Overview

The following sections discuss our business, financial condition and results of operations. Our financial information for 2018 comprises operating results of: (a) ASE Technology Holding Co., Ltd. and SPIL for the period from April 30, 2018 through December 31, 2018; and (b) ASE, the predecessor entity of ASEH, for the 12 months ended December 31, 2018. Our financial information for 2019 reflects combined operations following the completion of SPIL Acquisition.

We offer a broad range of semiconductor packaging and testing services and we also offer EMS through USI Group since 2010. In addition to offering each service separately, we also offer turnkey services, which include integrated packaging, testing and direct shipment of semiconductors to end users designated by our customers and solution-based proactive original design manufacturing, for our customers. In addition, we have been generating revenues from our real estate business since 2010 and from the manufacturing of integrated circuits since 2019. Our operating revenues increased from NT$371,092.4 million in 2018 to NT$413,182.2 million (US$13,814.2 million) in 2019.

Discussed below are several factors that have had a significant influence on our financial results in recent years.

Pricing and Revenue Mix

We price our services taking into account the actual costs involved in providing these services, with reference to prevailing market prices. The majority of our prices and revenues is denominated in U.S. dollars. Any significant fluctuation in exchange rates, especially between NT dollars and U.S. dollars, will affect our costs and, in turn, our revenues.

In the case of semiconductor packaging, the cost of the silicon die, typically the most costly component of the packaged semiconductor, is usually not reflected in our costs (or revenues) since it is generally supplied by our customers on a consignment basis.

The semiconductor industry is characterized by a general trend toward declining prices for products and services of a given technology over time. In addition, during periods of intense competition and adverse conditions in the semiconductor industry, the pace of this decline may be more rapid than in other years. The average selling prices of our packaging and testing services have experienced sharp declines during such periods as a result of intense price competition from other market participants that attempt to maintain high-capacity utilization levels in the face of reduced demand.

Declines in average selling prices have been partially offset historically by changes in our revenue mix, and typically the selling price is largely dependable on the complexity of the services. In particular, revenues derived from more advanced package types, such as flip chip BGA, higher-density packages with finer lead-to-lead spacing, or pitch, and testing of more complex, high-performance semiconductors have increased as a percentage of total revenues. We intend to continue to focus on package types such as bumping, flip chip BGA and SiP, developing and offering new technologies in packaging and testing services and expanding our capacity to achieve economies of scale, as well as improving production efficiencies for older technologies, in order to mitigate the effects of declining average selling prices on our profitability.

Our profitability for a specific package type does not depend linearly on its average selling price. Some of our more traditional package types, which typically have low average selling prices, may well command steadier and sometimes higher margins than more advanced package types with higher average selling prices.

High Fixed Costs

Our operations, in particular our testing operations, are characterized by relatively high fixed costs. We expect to continue to incur substantial depreciation and other expenses especially from our acquisitions of packaging and testing equipment and facilities. Our profitability depends in part not only on absolute pricing levels for our products/services, but also on utilization rates on equipment, commonly referred to as “capacity utilization rates.” In particular, increases or decreases in our capacity utilization rates could have a significant effect on gross margins since the unit cost of our products and/or services generally decreases as fixed costs are allocated over a larger number of units. The capacity utilization rates of the machinery and equipment installed at our production facilities typically depend on factors such as the volume and variety of products, the efficiency of our operations in terms of the loading and adjustment of machinery and equipment for different products, the complexity of the different products to be packaged or tested, the amount of time set aside for the maintenance and repair of the machinery and equipment, and the experience and schedule of work shifts of operators.

In 2018 and 2019, our depreciation, amortization and rental expenses included in operating costs as a percentage of operating revenues was 10.9% and 11.2%, respectively. The increase in depreciation, amortization and rental expenses as a percentage of operating revenues in 2019 compared to 2018 was primarily a result of an increase in capital expenditures in 2019. We begin depreciating our equipment when the machinery is placed into service. There may sometimes be a time lag between when our equipment is available for use and when it achieves high levels of utilization. In periods of depressed industry conditions, such as the fourth quarter of 2008, we experienced lower than expected demand from customers, resulting in an increase in depreciation relative to operating revenues. In particular, the capacity utilization rates for our testing equipment are more severely affected during an industry downturn as a result of a decrease in outsourcing demand from integrated device manufacturers, which typically maintain larger in-house testing capacity than in-house packaging capacity.

In addition to purchasing testers, we also lease a portion of our testers, which we believe allows us to better manage our capacity utilization rates and cash flow. Since leased testers can be replaced with more advanced testers upon the expiration of the lease, we believe that these leases have enabled us to improve our capacity utilization rates by allowing us to better align our capacity with changes in equipment technology and the needs of our customers. For more information about our testers, including the number of testers under lease, see “Item 4. Information on the Company—Business Overview—Equipment—Testing.”

Raw Material Costs

Substantially all of our raw material costs are accounted for by packaging, the production of interconnect materials and EMS. In particular, our EMS require more significant quantities of raw materials than our packaging and production of interconnect materials. In 2019, raw material costs accounted for 81.3% of our operating revenues from EMS, and our revenues generated from EMS contributed to 40.1% of our operating revenues. In 2018 and 2019, raw material cost as a percentage of our operating revenues was 49.1% and 49.3%, respectively.

We have developed copper wire to gradually replace gold wire in the packaging processes in order to benefit from the lower material cost of copper. However, gold wire is still and will continue to be one of the principal raw materials for us in our packaging processes. It may be difficult for us to adjust our average selling prices to account for fluctuations in the price of gold. Thus we expect our raw material costs to continue to be affected by fluctuations in the price of gold.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

Adopted Standards for Current Period

In the current year, we have applied the following new, revised or amended standards and interpretations that have been issued and effective: Amendments to IFRSsAnnual Improvements to IFRSs 2015-2017 Cycle, Amendments to IFRS 9Prepayment Features with Negative Compensation, IFRS 16Leases, Amendments to IAS 19Plan Amendment, Curtailment or Settlement, Amendments to IAS 28Long-term Interests in Associate and Joint Venture, and IFRIC 23Uncertainty over Income Tax Treatments. Except for the following, the initial application of the aforementioned new, revised or amended standards and interpretations did not have effect on our accounting policies. Please refer to note 3 to our consolidated financial statements included in this annual report for more information.

IFRS 16 “Leases”

IFRS 16 provides a comprehensive model for the identification of lease arrangements and their treatment in the financial statements of both lessee and lessor. It supersedes IAS 17 “Leases,” IFRIC 4 “Determining whether an Arrangement contains a Lease,” and a number of related interpretations. Please refer to note 4 to our consolidated financial statements included in this annual report for information relating to the relevant accounting policies.

Definition of a lease

We elect to apply the guidance of IFRS 16 in determining whether contracts are, or contain, a lease only to contracts entered into (or changed) on or after January 1, 2019. Contracts identified as containing a lease under IAS 17 and IFRIC 4 are not reassessed and are accounted for in accordance with the transitional provisions under IFRS 16.

As a lessee

We recognize right-of-use assets or investment properties if the right-of-use assets meet the definition of investment properties, and lease liabilities for all leases on the consolidated balance sheets except for those whose payments under low-value asset and short-term leases are recognized as expenses on a straight-line basis. On the consolidated statements of comprehensive income, we present the depreciation expense charged on right-of-use assets separately from the interest expense accrued on lease liabilities; interest is computed using the effective interest method. On the consolidated statements of cash flows, cash payments for the principal portion of lease liabilities are classified within financing activities; cash payments for the interest portion are classified within operating activities.

Prior to the application of IFRS 16, payments under operating lease contracts, including property interest qualified as investment properties, were recognized as expenses on a straight-line basis. Prepaid lease payments for land use rights were recognized as long-term prepayments for lease. Cash flows for operating leases were classified within operating activities on the consolidated statements of cash flows. Leased assets and finance lease payables were recognized on the consolidated balance sheets for contracts classified as finance leases.

We elect to apply IFRS 16 retrospectively with the cumulative effect of the initial application of this standard recognized in retained earnings on January 1, 2019. Comparative information is not restated.

Lease liabilities were recognized on January 1, 2019 for leases previously classified as operating leases under IAS 17. Lease liabilities were measured at the present value of the remaining lease payments, discounted using the lessee’s incremental borrowing rate on January 1, 2019. Right-of-use assets are measured at an amount equal to the lease liabilities, adjusted by the amount of any prepaid or accrued lease payments. We apply IAS 36 to all right-of-use assets.

We also apply the following practical expedients:

a) We account for those leases for which the lease term ends on or before December 31, 2019 as short-term leases.

b) We exclude initial direct costs from the measurement of right-of-use assets on January 1, 2019.

c)  We use hindsight, such as in determining lease terms, to measure lease liabilities.

For leases previously classified as finance leases under IAS 17, the carrying amounts of right-of-use assets and lease liabilities on January 1, 2019 are determined as at the carrying amounts of the respective leased assets and finance lease payables on December 31, 2018.

The weighted average lessee’s incremental borrowing rate applied to lease liabilities recognized on January 1, 2019 is 1.35%.

As a lessor

As a lessor, the application of IFRS 16 starting from January 1, 2019 did not have a material impact on our accounting treatments.

Amendments to IAS 19 “Plan Amendment, Curtailment or Settlement”

The amendments stipulate that, if a plan amendment, curtailment or settlement occurs, the current service cost and the net interest for the remainder of the annual reporting period are determined using the actuarial assumptions used for the remeasurement of the net defined benefit liabilities (assets). In addition, the amendments clarify the effect of a plan amendment, curtailment or settlement on the requirements regarding the asset ceiling. We applied the above amendments prospectively.

Standards Not Yet Adopted

Among the new, revised or amended standards and interpretations that have been issued but are not yet effective, except for the Amendments to IAS 1 “Classification of Liabilities as Current or Non-current,” we continue in evaluating the impact on our financial position and financial performance as a result of the initial application of the new, revised or amended standards and interpretations: Amendments to IFRS 10 and IAS 28Sale or Contribution of Assets between an Investor and Its Associate or Joint Venture, Amendments to IFRS 3Definition of a Business, Amendments to IFRS 9, IAS 39 and IFRS 7Interest Rate Benchmark Reform, Amendments to IAS 1 and IAS 8Definition of Material, Conceptual FrameworkAmendments to References to the Conceptual Framework in IFRS Standards and Amendments to IAS 1Classification of Liabilities as Current or Non-current. The related impact will be disclosed when we complete the evaluation.

Amendments to IAS 1 “Classification of Liabilities as Current or Non-current”

The amendments clarify that for a liability to be classified as non-current, we shall assess whether it has the right at the end of the reporting period to defer settlement of the liability for at least 12 months after the reporting period. If such rights are in existence at the end of the reporting period, the liability is classified as non-current regardless of whether we will exercise that right. The amendments also clarify that, if the right to defer settlement is subject to compliance with specified conditions, we must comply with those conditions at the end of the reporting period even if the lender does not test compliance until a later date.

The amendments stipulate that, for the purpose of liability classification, the aforementioned settlement refers to a transfer of cash, other economic resources or our own equity instruments to the counterparty that results in the extinguishment of the liability. However, if the terms of a liability that could, at the option of the counterparty, result in its settlement by a transfer of our own equity instruments, and if such option is recognized separately as equity in accordance with IAS 32: Financial Instruments: Presentation, the aforementioned terms would not affect the classification of the liability.

Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

Preparation of our consolidated financial statements requires us to make estimates and judgments in applying our critical accounting policies that have a significant impact on the results we report in our consolidated financial statements. Our principal accounting policies and critical accounting judgments and key sources of estimation uncertainty are set forth in detail in note 4 and note 5, respectively, to our consolidated financial statements included in this annual report. We continually evaluate these estimates and assumptions. Actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions and conditions. Significant accounting policies are summarized as follows.

Revenue Recognition

Before 2018

Revenue is measured at the fair value of the consideration received or receivable and takes into account of estimated customer returns, rebates and other similar allowances. Revenue from the sale of goods and real estate properties is recognized when the goods and real estate properties are delivered and titles have passed, at the time all the following conditions are satisfied:

Service income is recognized when services are rendered.

Our customers bear the title and risk of loss for bare semiconductor wafers that we receive and package into finished semiconductors and/or those packaged semiconductors that we receive and test for performance specifications. Accordingly, the cost of customer-supplied semiconductor materials is not included in our consolidated financial statements.

A sales discount and return allowance is recognized in the period during which the sale is recognized, and is estimated based on historical experience, the management’s judgment and relevant factors.

Starting from 2018

We identify contracts with customers, allocate transaction prices to performance obligations, and when performance obligations are satisfied, recognize revenues at fixed amounts as agreed in the contracts with taking estimated volume discounts into consideration.

For contracts where the period between the date on which we transfer a promised good or service to a customer and the date on which the customer pays for that good or service is one year or less, we do not adjust the promised amount of consideration for the effects of a significant financing component. Our duration of contracts with customers is expected to be one year or less, and the consideration from contracts with customers is included in transaction price and, therefore, can apply the practical expedient not to disclose the performance obligations, including (i) the aggregate amount of the transaction price allocated to the performance obligations that are not fully satisfied or have partially completed at the end of the reporting period, and (ii) the expected timing for recognition of revenue. Our operating revenues include revenues from sale of goods and services as well as sale and leasing of real estate properties. When customers control goods while they are manufactured in progress, we measure the progress on the basis of costs incurred relative to the total expected costs as there is a direct relationship between the costs incurred and the progress of satisfying the performance obligations. Revenue and contract assets are recognized during manufacture and contract assets are reclassified to trade receivables when the manufacture is completed or when the goods are shipped upon customer’s request. The adoption of IFRS 15 did not result in any material changes in our daily accounting tasks, our internal controls and our commercial terms with customers. We continue to deliver goods or render services and invoice to customers based on the same commercial terms as we did before the adoption of IFRS 15. The adoption of IFRS 15 did not create a material impact on our financial condition and results of operations because packaging services and testing services generally have a short production cycle and the inventory levels of work in process and finished goods are not significant to our consolidated financial statements due to industry characteristics.

For the revenues from EMS and sale of substrates, we recognize revenues and trade receivables when the goods are shipped or the goods are delivered to the customers’ specific locations because it is the time when customers have full discretion over the manner of distribution and price to sell the goods, have the primary responsibility for sales to future customers, and bear the risks of obsolescence.

The revenues from sale of real estate properties are recognized when customers purchase real estate properties and complete the transfer procedures. The revenues from leasing real estate properties are recognized during leasing periods on a straight-line basis.

Impairment of Tangible and Intangible Assets Other Than Goodwill. At each balance sheet date, we review the carrying amounts of the tangible and intangible assets, excluding goodwill, to determine whether there is any indication that those assets have suffered an impairment loss. If any such indication exists, the recoverable amount of the asset is estimated in order to determine the extent of the impairment loss. Recoverable amount is the higher of fair value less cost of disposal and value in use. If the recoverable amount of an asset or cash-generating unit is estimated to be less than its carrying amount, the carrying amount of the asset or cash-generating unit is reduced to its recoverable amount. The process of evaluating the potential impairment of tangible and intangible assets other than goodwill requires significant judgment. We are required to make subjective judgments in determining the independent cash flows, useful lives, expected future revenue and expenses related to a specific asset group, taking its usage patterns and the nature of the semiconductor industry into consideration. Any changes in our estimates caused by changing economic conditions or business strategies could result in significant impairment charges in future periods.

In 2017, 2018 and 2019, we recognized impairment losses of NT$289.6 million, NT$133.1 million and NT$201.0 million (US$6.7 million), respectively, on property, plant and equipment. See note 15 to our consolidated financial statements included in this annual report.

Business Combinations and Acquisition of Associate and Subsidiary. When we acquire businesses, goodwill is measured as the excess of the sum of the consideration transferred, the amount of any non-controlling interests in the acquiree, and the fair value of the acquirer’s previously held equity interest in the acquiree (if any) over the fair value of the identifiable assets and liabilities at the acquisition date. The allocation of the purchase price requires management to make significant estimates in determining the fair values of assets and liabilities at the acquisition date, especially with respect to intangible assets. These estimates are based on historical experience, information obtained from the management of the acquired companies and independent external service providers’ reports. These estimates can include, but are not limited to, the cash flows that an asset is expected to generate in the future, the appropriate weighted-average cost of capital, and the synergistic benefits expected to be derived from the acquired business. These estimates are inherently uncertain and unpredictable. In addition, unanticipated events and circumstances may occur, which may affect the accuracy or validity of such estimates.

For the associate accounted for using the equity method, goodwill is included within the carrying amount of the investment as the excess of cost of investments over the fair value share acquired at the respective investment dates. It involves critical accounting judgment and estimates when determining aforementioned fair values. We have engaged an independent external appraiser to assist us in identifying and evaluating the associate’s identifiable tangible assets, intangible assets and liabilities. The scope of such evaluation includes assumptions as current replacement cost of tangible assets, the categories of intangible assets and their expected economic benefits, growth rates for operating revenue and discount rates used in cash flow analysis. The amounts of differences between fair value of identified tangible and intangible assets and the carrying amount at each respective investment dates are depreciated or amortized over their remaining useful lives or expected future economic benefit lives and recognized immediately in profit or loss.

For example, we acquired shareholdings of a subsidiary and its associates in 2016 and identified the differences between the cost of the investment and our share of the net fair value of a subsidiary and its associates’ identifiable assets and liabilities in 2017. We retrospectively adjusted the comparative financial statement for the year ended December 31, 2016.

For the acquisition of a subsidiary, we identify the difference between investment cost and our share of net fair value of the subsidiary’s identifiable assets and liabilities after the acquisition of a subsidiary. It involves critical judgments and estimations when determining aforementioned net fair values. The management engaged independent external appraiser to assist them in identifying and evaluating the subsidiary’s identifiable tangible assets, intangible assets and liabilities. The scope of such evaluation includes the type of intangible assets that may be identified and the related estimated cash flow or relief cost expenses.

The excess of the fair value over the carrying amount of identified tangible assets and intangible assets on the acquisition date will be depreciated or amortized over their remaining useful lives or expected future economic benefit lives. The management believes the related estimation and assumption appropriately reflect the net fair value of identifiable assets acquired and liabilities assumed. The total PPA effect, however, may still fluctuate due to shifts in general economic conditions of the semiconductor manufacturing industry.

As a result of the SPIL Acquisition, we identified the difference between investment cost and our share of net fair value of SPIL’s identifiable assets and liabilities, which caused the increase in the total of NT$5,918.2 million (US$197.8 million), of which an increase of NT$4,797.3 million (US$160.4 million) to depreciation and amortization in operating costs NT$1,012.7 million (US$33.8 million) to amortization in operating expenses and NT$108.2 million (US$3.6 million) to other operating income and expenses, net in 2019.

Goodwill. We did not monitor goodwill for internal management purpose but for financial reporting purpose only. Therefore, goodwill is allocated to the following cash-generating units for evaluation of impairment: packaging segment, testing segment, EMS segment and other segment. We perform evaluation of goodwill for impairment annually, or whenever there is an event that occurs or circumstances change that would indicated that the segment may be impaired. Determining whether goodwill is impaired requires an estimation of the recoverable amounts of the cash-generating units to which goodwill has been allocated. Recoverable amounts are assessed by value in use, which requires management to estimate the future cash flows expected to arise from cash-generating units and suitable discount rates in order to calculate its present value. When the actual future cash flows are less than expected, a material impairment loss may arise. In conducting the future cash flow valuation, we make assumptions about future operating cash flows, the discount rate used to determine present value of future cash flows, and capital expenditures. Future operating cash flows assumptions include sales growth assumptions, which are based on our historical trends and industry trends, and gross margin and operating expenses growth assumptions, which are based on the historical relationship of those measures compared to sales and certain cost-cutting initiatives. An impairment charge is incurred to the extent the carrying amount exceeds the recoverable amount. As of December 31, 2018 and 2019, we had goodwill of NT$49,974.4 million and NT$50,198.4 million (US$1,678.3 million), respectively. Our conclusion could, however, change in the future if actual results differ from our estimates and judgments are made under different assumptions and conditions. See note 18 to our consolidated financial statements included in this annual report.

Valuation of Investments. We hold investments in the shareholdings of public and nonpublic entities. We evaluate these investments periodically for impairment based on market prices, if available, the financial condition of the investees and economic conditions in the industry and estimate of future cash inflows from disposal (net of transaction cost). These assessments usually require a significant amount of judgment, as a significant decline in the market price may be a short-term drop and may not be the best indicator of impairment. Whenever triggering events or changes in circumstances indicate that an investment may be impaired and a carrying amount may not be recoverable, we measure the impairment based on the market prices, if available, or using a market approach based on the financial result of the investments and estimate of future cash inflows from disposal (net of transaction cost). Several of the investments held by us are recognized as equity method investments or financial assets. Any significant decline in the estimated future cash flows of the investments or financial assets could affect the value of the investment and indicate that an impairment charge may occur. In 2017, 2018 and 2019, we recognized impairment losses of NT$50.2 million, NT$521.0 million and NT$400.2 million (US$13.4 million), respectively, on our investments. See note 26 to our consolidated financial statements included in this annual report.

Results of Operations

ASEH was formed pursuant to the consummation of the Share Exchange on April 30, 2018. The financial information for 2018 consists of the results of: (a) ASE Technology Holding Co., Ltd. and SPIL for the period from April 30, 2018 through December 31, 2018; and (b) ASE, the predecessor entity of ASEH for the 12 months ended December 31, 2018. The financial information for 2019 reflects combined operations following the completion of SPIL Acquisition.

The following table sets forth, for the periods indicated, financial data from our consolidated statements of comprehensive income, expressed as a percentage of operating revenues.

The following table sets forth, for the periods indicated, the gross margins for our packaging, testing services and EMS and our total gross margin. Gross margin is calculated by dividing gross profits by operating revenues.

The following table sets forth, for the periods indicated, a breakdown of our total operating costs and operating expenses, expressed as a percentage of operating revenues.

Year Ended December 31, 2019 Compared to Year Ended December 31, 2018

Operating Revenues. Operating revenues increased 11.3% to NT$413,182.2 million (US$13,814.2 million) in 2019 from NT$371,092.4 million in 2018, primarily due to the SPIL Acquisition and an increase in revenue from our EMS business. Packaging revenues increased 11.6% to NT$198,916.9 million (US$6,650.5 million) in 2019 from NT$178,308.2 million in 2018, primarily due to an increase in demand of Bumping, Flip Chip, WLP & SiP products. Testing revenues increased 18.8% to NT$42,658.7 million (US$1,426.2 million) in 2019 from NT$35,903.2 million in 2018, primarily due to an increase in sales volume for our testing business. Revenues from our EMS business increased 9.2% to NT$165,789.5 million (US$5,542.9 million) in 2019 from NT$151,890.4 million in 2018, primarily due to an increase in orders for SiP communications products.

Gross Profit. Gross profit increased by 5.1% to NT$64,310.8 million (US$2,150.2 million) in 2019 from NT$61,163.0 million in 2018. Our gross profit as a percentage of operating revenues, or gross margin, was 15.6% in 2019 compared to 16.5% in 2018. The decrease was primarily driven by softer loading in our packaging services and an increase in our EMS business, which had a lower gross margin and partially offset by higher test product mix. Raw material costs in 2019 were NT$203,504.7 million (US$6,803.9 million) compared to NT$182,062.0 million in 2018. As a percentage of operating revenues, raw material costs increased to 49.3% in 2019 from 49.1% in 2018. Labor costs in 2019 were NT$51,179.0 million (US$1,711.1 million) compared to NT$46,656.6 million in 2018. As a percentage of operating revenues, labor cost decreased to 12.4% in 2019 from 12.6% in 2018. Depreciation, amortization and rental expenses were NT$46,218.0 million (US$1,545.2 million) in 2019 compared to NT40,471.8 million in 2018, primarily related to the investment in our capacity and PPA effects. As a percentage of operating revenues, depreciation, amortization and rental expenses increased to 11.2% in 2019 from 10.9% in 2018. Our gross margin for packaging business decreased to 17.4% in 2019 from 18.9% in 2018 and our gross margin for testing business decreased to 34.1% in 2019 from 34.2% in 2018, primarily due to softer loading in our packaging services and PPA effects. The PPA effects included in our gross profit were NT$3,212.7 million and NT$4,797.3 million (US$160.4 million) in 2018 and 2019, respectively. Our gross margin for EMS business decreased to 8.7% in 2019 from 9.4% in 2018, primarily due to an increase in the sale of products with lower gross margins.

Profit from Operations. Profit from operations decreased 13.9% to NT$23,257.8 million (US$777.6 million) in 2019 compared to NT$27,019.3 million in 2018. Our profit from operations as a percentage of operating revenues, or operating margin, decreased to 5.6% in 2019 from 7.3% in 2018, primarily due to an increase in operating expenses which increased 18.2% to NT$40,784.4 million (US$1,363.6 million) in 2019 compared to NT$34,515.3 million in 2018. The increase in operating expenses was primarily due to an increase in general and administrative expense, as well as research and development expense. General and administrative expenses increased 13.8% to NT$16,637.9 million (US$556.3 million) in 2019 from NT$14,618.9 million in 2018, primarily due to an increase in our professional fees incurred in relation to various investment strategies and an increase in salary expenses in connection with the cost related to stock options granted in the fourth quarter of 2018 and recognized in 2019 as well as an increase in the average number of employees and a small impact of the PPA effects. General and administrative expenses as a percentage of our operating revenues was 4.0% in 2019, compared to 3.9% in 2018. The PPA effects included in our general and administrative expenses were NT$8.5 million and NT$12.7 million (US$0.4 million), respectively, in 2018 and 2019. Research and development expenses increased 22.9% to NT$18,395.3 million (US$615.0 million) in 2019, compared to NT$14,962.8 million in 2018, accounting for 4.5% and 4.0% of operating revenues in 2019 and 2018, respectively. This increase in the research and development expense was primarily due to an increase in new advanced research projects costs and salary expenses in relation to stock options that granted in the fourth quarter of 2018 and recognized in 2019 as well as an increase in the average number of employees. Selling expenses increased 16.6% to NT$5,751.2 million (US$192.3 million) in 2019 from NT$4,933.6 million in 2018, primarily due to the PPA effects. The PPA effects included in our selling expenses were NT$666.7 million and NT$1,000.0 million (US$33.4 million), respectively, in 2018 and 2019. Selling expenses as percentages of operating revenues were both 1.4% in 2019 and 2018. We had a net other operating expense of NT$268.6 million (US$9.0 million) in 2019 compared to a net other operating income of NT$371.6 million in 2018. The decrease in net other operating income and expenses was primarily due to loss on damages and claims, which increased by NT$435.4 million (US$14.6 million) and loss on disposal of property, plant and equipment and other assets which increased by NT$149.5 million (US$5.0 million) in 2019 due to the PPA effects.

Non-Operating Income and Expenses. We had a net non-operating income of NT$22.0 million (US$0.7 million) in 2019 compared to a net non-operating income of NT$4,918.4 million in 2018. The decrease of NT$4,896.4 million (US$163.7 million) was primarily due to a gain of NT$7,421.4 million from the remeasurement of investments in SPIL under the equity method in 2018 whereas similar transaction occurred in 2019, but the gain on remeasurement decreased to NT$319.7 million (US$10.7 million) and partially offset by foreign exchange gains, which increased by NT$2,141.3 million (US$71.6 million) in 2019.

Net Profit. Net profit, excluding non-controlling interests, decreased by 34.9% to NT$17,060.6 million (US$570.4 million) in 2019 compared to NT$26,220.7 million in 2018. Our diluted earnings per ADS decreased to NT$7.82 (US$0.26) in 2019 compared to diluted earnings per ADS of NT$12.14 in 2018. Our income tax expenses increased by 11.0% to NT$5,011.2 million (US$167.5 million) in 2019 compared to NT$4,513.4 million in 2018. This increase is primarily due to the reversal of the surtax imposed on unappropriated earnings under the amended Income Tax Law in 2018 and the decrease in the tax-exempt income which mainly comes from the gain on remeasurement of investments in SPIL under the equity method in 2018, which was partially offset by the decrease of profit in 2019.

Year ended December 31, 2018 Compared to Year Ended December 31, 2017

For a detailed description of the comparison of our operating results for the year ended December 31, 2018 to the year ended December 31, 2017, please refer to “Item 5. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects— Operating Results and Trend Information—Results of Operations—Year Ended December 31, 2018 Compared to Year Ended December 31, 2017” of our annual report on Form 20-F filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 26, 2019.

Quarterly Operating Revenues, Gross Profit and Gross Margin

ASEH was formed pursuant to the consummation of the Share Exchange on April 30, 2018. ASE is the predecessor entity of ASEH. The financial results for the first quarter of 2018 reflect the operations of ASE prior to the establishment of ASEH. The financial results for second quarter of 2018 reflect the operations of ASE starting from April 1, 2018 and the operations of ASEH starting from April 30, 2018. The financial results including and after the third quarter of 2018 reflect combined operations of the business combination. As a result, the financial results of interim periods may not be comparable.

The following table sets forth our unaudited consolidated operating revenues, gross profit and gross margin for the quarterly periods indicated. The unaudited quarterly results reflect all adjustments, consisting of normal recurring adjustments that, in the opinion of management, are necessary for a fair presentation of the amounts, on a basis consistent with the audited consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this annual report. You should read the following table in conjunction with the audited consolidated financial statements and related notes included elsewhere in this annual report.

Our operating revenues, gross profit and gross margin for any quarter are not necessarily indicative of the results for any future period. Our quarterly operating revenues, gross profit and gross margin may fluctuate significantly.