TOKYO, JAPAN, July 12, 2011
Advantest Corporation (TSE: 6857, NYSE: ATE) has announced completion of its acquisition of Verigy (NASDAQ: VRGY). Verigy will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Advantest. The integration process will transform the Advantest Group into the largest company in the semiconductor test equipment sector, with annual sales, based on last year’s figures, of $1.7 billion, a market share of greater than 40%, and 4,900 employees in 21 countries worldwide, including R&D centers in Japan, the United States, and Europe.
Verigy’s origins in the test and measurement division of Hewlett-Packard, an American tech industry giant founded in 1939, have endowed it with many solutions for semiconductor design verification and evaluation. By merging Verigy into its operations, the Advantest Group, which holds a dominant share in tools for memory test and volume production, has boosted its presence in the nonmemory test and R&D markets where Verigy has traditionally been strong. Geographically, Advantest’s presence in Japan and Asia now will be combined with Verigy’s reach in North America and Europe.
To maximize these new synergies, Advantest has launched a new Strategic Business Unit which will take responsibility for reinforcing marketing efforts, technology integration, and offering optimal solutions to customers. Through the integration process, the new unit will devise detailed business strategies and implement them promptly.
As a leading company in the semiconductor test equipment industry, the Advantest Group will strive to deliver increased corporate value through further enhancement of technology, service, and customer satisfaction. Utilizing its expanded resources, the company also will move into new markets including healthcare, environmental technologies, and energy.
About Advantest
Advantest is a leading producer of ATE for the semiconductor industry and a premier manufacturer of measuring instruments used in the design and production of electronic instruments and systems. Its systems and products are integrated into advanced semiconductor production lines around the world. The company also focuses on R&D for emerging markets that benefit from advancements in nanotech and terahertz technologies and has recently introduced critical dimension scanning electron microscopes essential to photomask manufacturing as well as a 3-D imaging and analysis tool. Founded in Tokyo in 1954, Advantest established its first subsidiary in 1982 in the United States and now has subsidiaries worldwide. www.advantest.com
About Verigy
Verigy provides advanced semiconductor test systems and solutions used by leading companies worldwide in design validation, characterization, and high-volume manufacturing test. Verigy offers scalable platforms for a wide range of system-on-chip test solutions and memory test solutions for Flash, DRAM including high-speed memories, and multichip packages. The Advantest subsidiary also provides advanced analysis tools that accelerate design debug and yield ramp processes. www.verigy.com