ProMOS to sell fab by year-end, become fabless

Josephine Lien, Taipei; Jessie Shen, DIGITIMES [Tuesday 6 November 2012]

ProMOS Technologies has announced plans to sell its 12-inch wafer plant and related facilities through open bidding by the end of 2012, in a move to become a fabless memory-IC company.

The starting bid is set at NT$19.5 billion (US$666.9 million), ProMOS revealed. The firm added that the auction of its 12-inch plant and production equipment located at the Central Taiwan Science park (CTSP) will end at the end of November, with the sale scheduled to finalize by the end of December.

ProMOS reiterated that the bidder should resume operations at the CTSP plant prior to the Lunar New Year, and most of ProMOS' staff currently stationed at the facility will be able to return to work.

Meanwhile, ProMOS plans to keep only dozens of its present employees after transformation to a fabless company.

ProMOS previously disclosed that the firm would lay off as many as 1,300 employees as part of its restructuring project.

ProMOS to become fabless
Digitimes file photo