Since the beginning of this year, the AI supply chain’s frantic demand for capacity expansion has created a new phenomenon in northern Taiwan: the “gentrification” of industrial parks.

Long-established companies in traditional industries are selling factories that have stood for 40 or 50 years to these “AI nouveau riche” at premium prices, with some even exiting the market altogether.

A “Major U.S. Customer” Puts Up $310 Million to Help Unimicron Buy Land

The most closely watched and representative example came in July, when Kuai Kuai（乖乖）, Taiwan’s iconic snack brand, sold its original factory site in the Zhongli Industrial Park to semiconductor assembly and testing leader ASE（日月光） for NT5.7billion(approximatelyUS176 million). The sale sparked protests and strikes by employees.

But the largest transaction, which set a new record, involved Japanese tire giant Bridgestone’s Hukou plant.

After production ceased in July, the factory site, covering 19,000 ping (approximately 62,800 square meters), or roughly half the size of the Taipei Dome complex, was sold for NT10.088billion(approximatelyUS311 million) in late September.

Unimicron（欣興）, a leading IC substrate manufacturer, won the bid after beating competitors including Powertech Technology and Kinsus.

In a regulatory filing, Unimicron said the acquisition was intended to “meet customers’ future demand for expanded advanced substrate capacity and align production arrangements with the company’s medium- and long-term operating strategy.”

Sources familiar with the matter told me that the enormous sum paid for the land, which shattered local market price records, came from generous financial backing provided by a “major U.S. customer.”

This marks a new development.

Nvidia Is Footing Suppliers’ Bills, Starting With Land Purchases

In the highly cyclical electronics industry, it has long been common for companies such as Apple and Intel to share the costs of expanding production lines to reduce risks for suppliers. Perhaps the best-known example is Apple spending hundreds of millions of dollars to purchase dedicated machining equipment for iPhone casing manufacturers.

But extending this kind of “risk sharing” so far upstream, beginning with land acquisition and factory construction, is virtually unheard of.

According to sources familiar with the matter, the main reason is that the customer has been repeatedly pressing Unimicron to accelerate its capacity expansion.

Unimicron has already raised its capital expenditure budget for this year to NT53.7 billion, a160% increase from last year. Although the company raised US1.355 billion through a global depositary receipt (GDR) offering in July, spending another NT$10 billion on land would still have been a considerable burden.

The customer therefore stepped in and said, “We can help.”

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