FCS Fairchild Semiconductor International, Inc. (MM)

Installation on Wafer Probe Floor Highlights Advantest's Capabilities SANTA CLARA, Calif., Oct. 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Advantest Corporation (TSE:6857TSE:NYSE:TSE:ATE), the world's largest supplier of semiconductor test equipment, today announced that Fairchild Semiconductor has selected the Advantest T6573 system-on-chip (SoC) platform for processing high-volume serializer/deserializer (SerDes) ICs used in consumer and ultra portable applications. The SoC platform was recently installed on the wafer testing floor -- a new application for Advantest at Fairchild's South Portland, Maine, facility, where previously purchased Advantest T65XX and T66XX SoC testers are employed in characterization and final package test. "Over the years, Advantest has proved to be a highly valued supplier," said Jean Boisvert, principal engineer in Fairchild's wafer/sort section. "We chose the Advantest tool both for its proven performance and its compatibility with our existing Advantest products. The company's platforms offer high performance and parallel test together with a very small footprint-all capabilities essential to volume wafer probing, where both speed and accuracy are essential." Noted Makoto Nakahara, Advantest America's vice president of sales, "We are very pleased to have this opportunity to further expand our relationship with Fairchild -- until now, we had not installed a tool on their probe floor. Moreover, this application illustrates the breadth of Fairchild's capabilities within the semiconductor industry. While the company is known for its power devices, this application illustrates its strength in other IC markets as well. We look forward to a continued close alliance with this important customer." Advantest's steady climb within the SoC and other complex or high performance IC test sectors, such as volume wafer probing, is evident in the company's continued market gains. At a growth rate of more than 100 percent per year, the company's revenues from SoC tester sales outpaced the overall growth of the SoC tester market over the past two years. In addition to leapfrogging competitors to achieve the number-two slot in the SoC market, Advantest remains the market and technology leader in memory IC test systems and pick-and-place handlers, as well. About Fairchild Fairchild Semiconductor (NYSE:FCS) is the leading global supplier of high-performance power products critical to today's leading electronic applications in the computing, communications, consumer, industrial and automotive segments. As The Power Franchise(R), Fairchild offers the industry's broadest portfolio of components that optimize system power through minimization, conversion, management and distribution functions. Fairchild's 9,000 employees design, manufacture and market power, analog & mixed-signal, interface, logic, and optoelectronics products from its headquarters in South Portland, Maine, and numerous locations around the world. The company has wafer fabrication plants in Maine, Utah, Pennsylvania and South Korea, and assembly facilities in Malaysia, the Philippines, and China. About Advantest Advantest Corporation is the world's largest 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/ DATASOURCE: Advantest Corporation CONTACT: Amy Gold, Advantest America, Inc., +1-212-850-6670, ; Barbara Palmer, Palmer Communications, +1-914-725-8057, Web site: http://www.advantest.com/

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