SANTA CLARA, Calif., June 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Advantest Corporation , the world's leading supplier of semiconductor test equipment, announces it has earned a place on VLSI Research Inc.'s 10 BEST list for the 18th consecutive year. Based on direct customer feedback from surveys representing 95 percent of the world's total semiconductor market, VLSI Research, the leading semiconductor market-research firm, ranks Advantest among the 10 BEST companies in two market segments: "Test Equipment" and "Material Handling Equipment." Advantest earned the top rating for Build Quality among all the Test Equipment suppliers. Customers chose Quality of Results and Build Quality as the strongest criteria for Advantest's Material Handling Equipment.
The world's market leader in ATE and the fifth largest IC manufacturing equipment company globally -- and with a long history of prominence in semiconductor test -- Advantest is notable for its ability to sustain product excellence and customer service on a global basis, as evidenced by 18 years of positive customer responses in VLSI Research's 10 BEST survey. Advantest also headed VLSI Research's list of Highest Rated Automated Test Suppliers in Customer Satisfaction in November, 2005.
Advantest develops and manufactures complete test solutions for SoC, logic and memory semiconductor devices, and is the only ATE company to provide completely integrated test cell solutions. Test cells comprised of testers, handlers, device interfaces, and software are designed in-house and offer the industry's highest levels of integrity and compatibility.
Advantest's ability to sustain successful customer relationships over the long-term demonstrates its strengths as an ATE business partner: financial steadiness, which enables aggressive investments in R&D; devotion to superb test product technology; commitment to high engineering and manufacturing standards of excellence; delivering the needed ATE solutions at the right time; diverse, experienced engineering human resources; understanding of semiconductor-industry economics.
"Advantest's ongoing success is a testament to the value that customers derive from working with a stable, innovative company that is committed to R&D and high standards of quality in product development, design, manufacturing and results," said VLSI Research CEO G. Dan Hutcheson. "Equally important, customers appreciate a well-managed company that can maintain R&D, product innovation and high quality in a very cyclical industry, and want to work with a company that is a competent, innovative leader."
"In test and measurement for over fifty years, and the leader in ATE for many years, Advantest has adapted as the industry has evolved, and has been able to thrive in very dynamic market and technology conditions," explains R. Keith Lee, president and CEO of Advantest America, Inc. "This century has already brought the new market dynamic of consumer product dominance, which highlights different semiconductor and semiconductor test challenges, including time-to-market and cost issues, as well as the need for reliable ICs and, therefore, quality test. We're gratified that we've been able to help our semiconductor customers meet these challenges and are very grateful to them for their trust and confidence in our capabilities and for their continued support."
About Advantest
Advantest Corporation is the world's leading supplier of automatic test equipment to the semiconductor industry. Advantest's SoC, logic, memory, mixed-signal and RF testers and device handlers are integrated into the most advanced semiconductor fabrication lines in the world. Founded in Tokyo in 1954, Advantest established its North American subsidiary in 1982 and its European subsidiary in 1984. More information is available at http://www.advantest.com/.
