ATE vendor Teradyne Inc. and Taiwanese test and assembly subcon Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc. have signed an agreement that integrates test system planning for all ASE sites and includes the volume purchase of more than 90 Teradyne test systems.

The order involves Teradyne¡¯s Tiger and Catalyst test systems, and more than half of the testers involved are already on the Boston-based company's order books. Catalyst is geared primarily for mixed signal testing -- baseband and RF applications, while Tiger is for higher performance applications, such as PCI Express.

The testers will be delivered to ASE's facilities over the next two years. The two companies will work together on ASE's planned capacity expansion, keeping Teradyne's products in sync with ASE's needs, said Jeff Schneider, strategic marketing manager for Teradyne's semi test business. The two companies will indulge in regular discussions about ASE's capacity needs.

The agreement is significant not only for its size, but because of the fact that it involves a test subcontractor. Volume purchase agreements ¨C where the terms and conditions between the two companies are settled in advance and equipment ordering becomes routine ¨C is more common with IDM customers, Schneider said.

But with more and more fabless companies and IDMs as well outsourcing test, the subcon market is growing in importance as a market for equipment. Subcontractors have been steadily growing as market for Teradyne in recent years; in Q1 subcons accounted for half of its chip tester business. The company further anticipates more volume purchase agreements in the subcon market.

By: DocMemory
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