Leading Wireless Chipset Developer in China Achieves Dramatic Reduction in Cost-of-Test

CUPERTINO, Calif. – Verigy (NASDAQ: VRGY), a leading semiconductor test company, today announced that Spreadtrum Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: SPRD), one of China’s leading wireless baseband chipset providers, has selected the Verigy Port Scale RF solution for production testing of its devices in Suzhou, China. After evaluating multiple competitive solutions, Spreadtrum chose Port Scale RF for its high-throughput and multi-site test capability which deliver lower cost-of-test (COT), higher performance results, and superior test stability. Since adopting Port Scale RF, Spreadtrum has lowered its cost-of-test for a high-volume RF device over the incumbent solution by about fifty percent.

Spreadtrum develops a range of highly integrated baseband processors with robust multimedia functionality and power management for mobile wireless products. Port Scale RF is effective for testing the full range of RF devices, from low-integration chips such as RF transceivers, to the latest high-integration single-chip devices for next-generation wireless standards. This gives Spreadtrum flexibility as they implement their RF device roadmap, with performance that covers both next generation technologies and varying levels of integration. This is achieved in conjunction with faster test times and higher parallelism, which support the dramatically lower cost-of-test.

“Verigy’s Port Scale RF solution is unique in the market today for its ability to deliver consistently stable test results, which translates into improved yield. It will help us continue to meet our customers’ growing demand for wireless devices,” said Brian Chen, Senior Director of Operations, Spreadtrum. “Since 2001, we have been dedicated to growing the wireless communications market in China. We expect to grow our business in RF applications and believe that working with innovative technology leaders like Verigy will be an important factor in our ability to do so.”

“Spreadtrum has highly-developed expertise in wireless technology, and is clearly one of China’s foremost suppliers of mobile phone chips as shown by the many awards they have won recently (1),” said Pascal Ronde, Vice President of Sales, Service and Support, Verigy. “We’re very pleased that the Port Scale RF solution can provide both the technology for performance and high quality but also the flexibility and unique parallelism that should allow Spreadtrum to continue to produce devices at a low cost-of-test.”

About the Verigy V93000 and Port Scale RF

The Verigy V93000 provides a scalable platform architecture for testing SoCs, systems-in-package (SIPs) and high-speed memory devices. The V93000, with nearly 1,800 RF-ready systems installed worldwide, meets the industry’s demanding performance and cost challenges, whether for at-speed engineering characterization or high-volume production. The test system provides low cost-of-test with massive multi-site capabilities and data rates up to 12.8 Gbps. It supports a full range of digital, mixed-signal, RF and wireless applications, such as cellular, WLAN, WiMAX, and UWB.

The Port Scale RF solution provides the cost-effective, reliable measurement capability required to test emerging high-integration semiconductor devices containing integrated RF, mixed signal, digital, power management and embedded or stacked memory – all with one test system. Port Scale RF is the only solution for 3G, 4G and high-integration RF devices qualified for high-volume manufacturing today that meets the high multi-site parallel efficiency requirements for these high volume devices.