ASE Japan purchases the 1,100th Agilent 93000 test system

Leading SCM in Japan to use pin scale-enabled hardware for mixed-signal and logic test

PALO ALTO, Calif., Dec. 13, 2005, Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) today announced that ASE Japan (ASEJ), a subsidiary of ASE, the world’s largest semiconductor subcontract manufacturer, has purchased the 1,100th Agilent 93000 system to meet the company’s growing demand for digital mixed-signal and logic device test.

The 93000 Pin Scale system ASEJ purchased is currently configured to perform final testing on high-precision audio-video ADC/DACs, cellular basebands, 64-bit controllers with high-speed interfaces, and DDR2 memory ports. But the flexibility of the 93000 system allows the hardware to be reconfigured quickly to test set-top boxes, optical disc drives, logic cores and interfaces such as USB 1.1/2.0 and IEEE 1394. The ability of the 93000 Pin Scale system to test the full range of speeds (from 200 to 800 Mbps) gives ASEJ a significant boost in throughput and testing efficiency, reducing the cost of mass production test.

“We have expanded our production facilities to keep pace with the growing demand for mobile, automotive, and communications devices, and we had to move quickly to select and install new equipment for final device test,” said Mitsuhiro Sato, technology manager at ASEJ’s headquarters plant in Takahata. “After our comprehensive evaluation, we concluded that the Agilent 93000 Pin Scale handled the widest range of applications while offering the highest performance and best cost-of-test on a single platform.”

“The 93000 Pin Scale system allows ASEJ to bring a single type of tester online that can work with a variety of applications and test a wide array of consumer electronic devices,” said Pascal Ronde, vice president of Agilent’s Semiconductor Test Solutions. “The flexibility and scalability of the 93000 delivers higher test efficiency, thus lowering the cost of test.”

About the Agilent 93000 SOC Series

The Agilent 93000 is the industry’s fastest-growing scalable platform architecture for testing systems-on-chips (SOCs) and systems-in-packages (SIPs). With more than 1,000 installed systems worldwide, the Agilent 93000 is the system of choice for subcontract manufacturers, integrated device manufacturers and fabless companies. The Agilent 93000 meets the industry’s demanding performance and cost challenges, whether at-speed device characterization or high-volume production. The test system provides massive multi-site capabilities, enables data rates up to 10 Gb/s and supports a full range of digital, mixed-signal and RF applications. The flexibility and performance of the Agilent 93000 provide faster time-to-market, better yields and lower overall cost-of-test.

The Agilent 93000 Pin Scale system includes the first-of-its-kind Agilent InstaPin performance library for optimized speed and memory asset utilization. InstaPin enables immediate software configuration to match the speed and memory performance levels of the device to be tested on a per-pin basis.

More information on the Agilent 93000 and InstaPin is available at www.agilent.com/see/soctest.

About ASE Japan

ASE Japan (ASEJ) is a subsidiary of the ASE Group, the world’s largest provider of independent semiconductor manufacturing services in assembly and test. ASEJ’s world-class packaging and testing facility in Takahata, Yamagata, allows ASE to meet the growing demand for outsourced semiconductor manufacturing services by integrated device manufacturers (IDMs) in Japan. More information is available at www.aseglobal.com/content/asejapan.htm.
About Agilent Technologies

Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) is the world’s premier measurement company and a technology leader in communications, electronics, life sciences and chemical analysis. The company’s 21,000 employees serve customers in more than 110 countries. Agilent had net revenue of $5.1 billion in fiscal year 2005. Information about Agilent is available on the Web at www.agilent.com

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Jana Knezovich

Agilent Technologies Inc.

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