Amkor Technology

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Amkor Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMKR) is a high-tech semiconductor product manufacturer that includes Intel and IBM among its primary customers. Previously headquartered in West Chester, Pennsylvania, United States, Amkor recently announced that it will move to Chandler, Arizona. The company has 20,033 employees worldwide and had $1.9 billion in sales in 2004.

With the majority of its factories in China, Japan, Korea, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, and the United States, Amkor is a leading player in the semiconductor industry. It assembles and tests computer chips (ICs) for chip manufacturers. One of Amkor's product developments is its MicroLeadFrame chip carrier (IC package) technology.

[edit] Insider trading conviction

July 19, 2007, Kevin Heron, Amkor's former General Counsel was convicted of using nonpublic information while buying and selling shares in Amkor and in Neoware Inc., a computer hardware company that was purchased by Hewlett Packard in 2007. Heron made almost $290,000 with over 50 trades in Amkor stock from October 2003 to June 2004. He faces a minimum sentence of five years in prison and a potential fine of up to $20 million. Although they argued that he is innocent, in April 2007 his defense lawyers at Duane Morris and Berkowitz Klein asked the court to let them withdraw from his case. The Court denied the firms' requests, writing that if they dropped out, it would signal to other attorneys the case was a sinkhole. ^[1]