China's chip packagers ride AI demand, price hikes, but investment gains, capex cloud the profit picture

China's outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) companies entered the fourth quarter with rising sales, high utilization, and an industry-wide price upturn. Their third-quarter results also show how much reported profit growth rests on investment gains and lower taxes, and how heavily the sector is now spending to close an advanced packaging gap that AI demand has exposed.