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Amkor Technology recently announced a $300 million share-buyback program, marking the semiconductor packaging and test services company’s first such program in more than a decade. The WSJ Leadership Institute’s Mark Maurer writes for today’s newsletter:
Chief Financial Officer Megan Faust told me she advocated for the program, primarily to offset dilution from stock-based compensation, which Amkor increasingly is using to attract and retain talent.
The Tempe, Ariz.-based company previously held off on a buyback program to avoid spending money while also applying for a federal Chips Act grant, Faust said. But several investors have pushed for Amkor to implement a program to manage dilution, she said. Amkor reached a $407 million funding agreement with the U.S. Commerce Department in 2024.
“Now that our equity compensation is maturing, I feel like this is the combination with the other tool that we need in our toolbox, to be able to manage that,” she said.
About a year ago, Amkor viewed it a “fantastic time” to buy back shares when its stock price fell into the teens, but it didn’t have an authorized program, Faust said. The company’s stock price has more than tripled over the past year, to around $66 as of Friday.
At the same time, the company is stepping up its capital expenditures, with $2.5 billion to $3 billion planned for this year, compared with $905 million last year. The spending is largely going toward Amkor’s new advanced manufacturing buildout in Arizona, the company said.
When the CIO reports to you: Amkor is early in its AI deployment and expects to see the biggest benefits on the manufacturing side, using it for tasks like optical inspection and predictive maintenance on equipment, Faust said. The coming Arizona facility is slated to be Amkor’s most automated plant to date, she said.
At Amkor, the chief information officer reports to Faust, who said they have a collaborative partnership. The company’s biggest AI hurdle is a lack of workforce readiness to safely and effectively use new technologies, Faust said.
“In my interactions with the CIO, it's all about how do we identify a small number of tools, get them deployed, get people using them rather than trying to boil the ocean and maybe not get as much impact,” Faust said.
—Mark Maurer
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