Advantest Corporation (NYSE: ATE, TSE: 6857) is the world’s largest manufacturer of automatic test equipment (ATE) for the semiconductor industry, and a leading manufacturer of measuring instruments used in the design, production and maintenance of electronic systems including fiber optic and wireless communications equipment and digital consumer products.  Based in Tokyo, Advantest is by far the leading global producer of semiconductor test systems for memory semiconductors and a leading supplier of test systems to the fast growing SoC segment with approximately 25% of that market.  For the year ended March 31, 2010, the company reported revenues of ¥53.2 billion, or US$572 million. 

For 22 consecutive years, Advantest has been ranked among VLSI Research’s 10 BEST semiconductor equipment companies.  The ranking is based on customer satisfaction in terms of technical leadership, product performance, process and software support, and service.  In SoC test, Advantest achieved the industry’s highest rating in cost-of-ownership, while in memory test, the company led the industry with the highest rating in the categories of uptime and usable throughput. 

Advantest was founded in Japan in 1954 as Takeda Riken Industry Co., Ltd., and was a leading maker of electronic measuring instruments.  The company entered the semiconductor testing business in 1972, began trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in 1983 and changed its name to Advantest Corporation in 1985.  The company’s stock began trading on the New York Stock Exchange in 2001.

Expanding its semiconductor test business, Advantest established its North American subsidiary, Advantest America, in 1982, and its European operations in Munich in 1983, to locate its sales and service operations closer to its North American and European customers.  The company also has subsidiaries throughout Asia, operates in 13 countries and currently has approximately 3,500 employees worldwide.

 
Semiconductor and Component Test System Segment

Automatic test equipment is used to verify that a semiconductor functions properly during and after the semiconductor manufacturing process.  Advantest is the only automatic test equipment company that manufactures complete test solutions consisting of test systems, test handlers, device interfaces and software.  Test systems are available for testing system-on-chip (SoC) and memory devices.  Test handlers are used to load and unload mass-produced chips from test systems, and to sort the chips by quality.  Advantest’s test handlers are capable of working with other manufacturers’ semiconductor test systems. Advantest develops device interfaces that can be integrated into existing automatic test equipment, which lower the cost to manufacturers associated with varying product lines. Advantest also offers products used in the design, production and maintenance of electronic systems, including fiber optic and wireless communications equipment and digital consumer products.  The customers are electronic equipment and products manufacturers and communications network operators.

Electronic measuring instruments are essential in the development of next-generation wireless and fiber optic networks, as well as a wide variety of consumer and industrial electronics – everything from DVDs to aviation equipment.  For example, Advantest manufactures optical spectrum analyzers, which measure wavelengths and levels of optical signals transmitted through wavelength division multiplex (WDM) transmission systems. 

In FY2009, net sales reached ¥53.2 billion or approximately US$572 million.  Of the three reportable business segments, automatic test equipment is Advantest’s most significant.  Overseas sales as a percentage of total sales are approximately 78%.

Another exciting business direction to come out of the new product concept initiative is the E3620 CD-SEM system, an advanced mask metrology tool which enables photomask manufacturers to measure the critical dimension of the miniature-sized patterns in a photomask.  These systems offer the precision and linewidth repeatability required to provide continuous yield improvement at the 65nm and 45nm production nodes, as well as support for 32nm and 22nm process development.