October 29, 2001 – Singapore and Milpitas, CA – ST Assembly Test Services Ltd. (STATS) and ST Assembly, an independent semiconductor test and advanced packaging service provider, have established a wholly owned subsidiary, FastRamp Test Services Inc., to provide high-end engineering and pre-production test services in Silicon Valley.
Scheduled to operate at its new built-to-suit premises in January 2002, FastRamp will have a variety of advanced testers available and will provide test hardware and software development, pre-production volume testing services, and a unique customer-to-lab-to-factory relay for fast production offloads and capacity coordination. The fully equipped engineering test facility will offer STATS’ industry-leading mixed-signal test development solutions and production know-how to help customers move quickly into production.
“Test hardware, software and the manufacturing procedures are often developed in a setting that does not match the offshore volume testing environment,” said Mark Kelley, GM of FastRamp. “Our concept is to create in the US a microcosm of our elite-class test facilities in Singapore by offering a similarly configured and comprehensive array of advanced tester platforms, handlers, probers, interface hardware and manufacturing processes. High-end tester platforms such as the Teradyne Tiger, Teradyne Catalyst – RF, Teradyne J750, Agilent 93K and Credence Quartet will be made available at FastRamp so that our customers can offload production locally and leave the offshore transfer to us.”
Added Kelly, “Initial customer response to our concept has been very positive, and we are supporting immediate demands by staging additional testers at STATS’ current Test Development Center in San Jose until our new facility is ready in January.”
The new 34,000 square-foot facility in Milpitas, CA, will house the new test facility, STATS’ existing Silicon Valley Test Development Center, as well as sales support. The FastRamp team designed the facility to offer customers an atmosphere ideally configured for uninterrupted engineering development activities, integrating services such as on-site test development, on-site loadboard and probe card design and 100% lab-to-factory hardware compatibility for smooth transition to production.
The facility will also accommodate the pre-production volume testing needs of customers locally.