Davis Polk & Wardwell is advising Taiwan’s Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc (ASE) on its plan to purchase up to 25 percent of shares in Siliconware Precision Industries Co (SPIL) for about T$30 billion ($919 million).

The Taiwan-based businesses are among the world’s biggest chip testers and packagers. Market leader ASE is looking to acquire common shares and/or American depositary shares of SPIL until late September, depending on approval from regulators. The purchase would be an investment with no bearing on SPIL's operations, ASE said.

Davis Polk’s corporate team is representing ASE, led by partners George Bason in New York and James Lin in Hong Kong. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett in the U.S. and Jones Day in Taiwan are advising SPIL.

“In the face of intensifying global competition and the rise of new contenders, the drive for consolidation of the semiconductor industry is becoming increasingly apparent,” said ASE, a key supplier for Apple Inc's Apple Watch.

SPIL, the third-largest semiconductor supplier, has formed a review committee tasked to assess ASE’s unsolicited tender offer.