By Wen-Yee Lee

TAIPEI, April 29 (Reuters) - Taiwan’s ASE Technology Holding 3711.TW, the world’s largest chip packaging and testing provider, said on Wednesday it expected revenue from its leading‑edge advanced packaging business to rise 10% to more than $3.5 billion in 2026, as the company sees strong customer demand for AI chips.

CONTEXT AND DETAILS:

• In February, the company said it expected the business to double to $3.2 billion by 2026.

• The holding company's subsidiary Siliconware Precision Industries (SPIL) is a major packaging supplier for Nvidia's NVDA.O AI chips.

• On Wednesday, ASE reported first-quarter revenue of T$173.66 billion ($5.50 billion), up 17.2% from a year earlier, while net income was up 87.3% at T$14.148 billion ($448.22 million).

• ASE's shares have risen 95% so far this year, far outperforming a 36% rise in the broader market .TWII. The company's shares closed down 1.4% on Wednesday ahead of its earnings release.

• In April, ASE broke ground on a new chip testing campus in the southern Taiwan city of Kaohsiung, with an investment of more than T$108.3 billion ($3.43 billion), as demand for high-end chips grows. The first phase is scheduled to begin operations in April 2027, with the second phase set to come online in October 2027.

($1 = 31.5650 Taiwan dollars)