Taiwan chip tester ASE Technology Holding is investing $12 million in AEM Holdings via a placement of 3.35 million shares at $3.591 each, as part of a broader collaboration to jointly capture the fast-growing market for AI and high performance computing, or HPC.
AEM shares, as at 9.33 am, dropped 5.61% to trade at $3.87. It closed at $.396 for the day, down 3.41%.
AEM shares have nearly doubled in the past month after it guided for higher FY2026 revenue as it gains traction with its other key customer.
As part this deal, ASE will also receive more than 28.11 million free detachable warrants.
Each warrant is exercisable into one ordinary share, with the Tranche 1 exercise price set at 103% of the volume weighted average price (VWAP) of AEM’s shares for the full market day on which the subscription agreement is signed. Tranche 2's exercise price, meanwhile, is set at 105% of such VWAP.
If fully exercised, the warrants would result in an additional 8.935% of the current issued share capital.
See also: ASM’s sales outlook beats estimates as China demand rebounds
According to AEM, the funding from ASE will go towards supporting AEM’s continued expansion in Taiwan and the joint integration of AEM’s test technologies, including highly parallel test architectures and advanced thermal management capabilities, into ASE’s manufacturing and test environments.
The funds will also be used to advance AEM’s product roadmap, enhance its system offerings, and accelerate joint go to market initiatives aimed at supporting next generation AI and HPC applications.
"As compute architectures grow more complex and time-to-production continues to compress, test has become a critical enabler of performance, reliability, and manufacturability for next-generation AI and HPC systems," says Ken Hsiang, CEO of ISE Labs, a subsidiary of ASE.
See also: Smartphone market set to shrink 13% due to memory chip crisis, IDC says
"By combining ISE’s advanced characterisation and production-readiness capabilities with AEM’s scalable, high-parallel test technologies and system-level engineering strengths, this strategic
partnership enables rapid transition from validation to ASE’s high-volume deployment while addressing the increasing complexity of advanced compute testing," he adds.
AEM CEO Samer Kabbani calls this partnership with ASE "an important step" in AEM’s strategy to work closely with industry leaders to advance the state of AI and HPC testing.
"ASE’s forward-looking approach and global scale make them an ideal partner as test requirements continue to intensify across advanced compute platforms. By combining our respective strengths, we aim to develop and deploy next-generation test solutions that help customers improve performance, scalability, and time-to-market," he adds.
