Test Advantage Limited Formed To Support European Semiconductor Market

Business Wire,  Nov 9, 2000  

• E-mail
• Print
• Link

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

TEMPE, Ariz.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 9, 2000

Test Advantage, a global test services company, Thursday announced the formation of its U.K. subsidiary, Test Advantage Limited, located on the Alba Centre campus, a high tech research institute in Livingston, 20 miles (32 km) to the west of Edinburgh, Scotland.

The parent company, Test Advantage Holding, LLC, formed the new corporate entity for the purpose of establishing a microelectronics test technology center, which will provide semiconductor test related services and facilities to both local and European companies, as well as providing educational resources to the Institute for System Level Integration at Alba.

The Institute will have access to these resources to support its programs for developing graduates skilled in SOC design and test technology.

The test technology center will accommodate state-of-the-art automatic test equipment plus a team with significant expertise on testing "system on chip" (SOC) and mixed-signal semiconductor devices. Test Advantage Limited will also offer test development, chip debug, prototype characterization, and pre-production test services to the semiconductor design and manufacturing industry.

Gordon Langlands, Technical Director for Test Advantage Limited, will manage the center, which is being launched initially with a staff of five highly experienced local test engineering experts.

Langlands has 28 years of experience in test technology at companies including Wolfson Micro-electronics, National Semiconductor, Burr-Brown, M.E.M. and Raytheon.

Langlands commented, "I am very excited about this opportunity to build a center of excellence in test technology. We intend to build the staffing level to around 15 engineers to satisfy demand for customer projects, and will work closely with the Institute to sponsor and train graduate students to support future growth of this critical skill set in the industry."

Test Advantage Limited will be managed by a board including two internal, and one external director. The two internal directors are Fabrice Dechoux, president and chief executive officer of Test Advantage, and Capri DeModica, Test Advantage's vice president and chief operating officer.

Dechoux has 10 years of experience in supplying the semiconductor industry with test equipment and test services. Dechoux holds a bachelor's degree in Business Administration from the University of Nancy II (France) and a Bachelor of Science from the University of Phoenix.

DeModica's experience includes 11 years of marketing and management experience in the test equipment and test services market segment. DeModica holds a Bachelor of Science, Business Administration, from the University of Arizona.

The company's external director is Ron Leckie, a 30-year semiconductor industry veteran who is a native of Edinburgh, and has resided in Silicon Valley, Calif., for the last 24 years.

After graduating in 1970 from Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh, with a B.Sc. in Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Leckie spent 14 years in the chipmaking industry at Signetics and Philips Corp., both in Scotland and California.

Leckie's experience there included test technology, product engineering, quality/reliability assurance, and test operations on multiple product lines. In 1984, Leckie joined Megatest Corp., where he led the development and marketing of semiconductor test equipment and was part of the team that took the company public in 1993.

In 1995, Leckie left Megatest to enter his current role, where he is chief executive officer of INFRASTRUCTURE, a private research and consulting firm (www.infras.com/). Leckie commented, "I am very pleased to be a part of this venture which brings together two of my passions in life -- semiconductor technology, and my home country, Scotland."

Leckie added, "Engineering talent is one of Scotland's best resources, and by working with the Institute, we can groom and develop test engineering resources that are always in great demand by the semiconductor industry."

Dechoux said in a statement, "We plan to build synergy between the test technology center's commercial success and the education objectives. We already have a strong presence at several European customers, and look forward to adding to these relationships as we increase our local capabilities."

About Test Advantage Limited and the Test Technology Centre

Test Advantage Limited was formed as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Test Advantage Holding, LLC in July, 2000 to build the test technology center in partnership with Scottish Enterprise. The commitment is to provide a key element in the infrastructure to support semiconductor companies not only in Scotland, but also throughout the U.K. and Europe.

The company will be located on the Alba Centre Campus in Livingston, joining other resident companies including Cadence Design Systems Inc. (NYSE: CDN), Epson, and Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT). Alba was developed as a world-class research campus for System-On-Chip (SOC) design and test technology.