Editors' Choice Best Product Award Presented to Advantest for Semiconductor Manufacturing Excellence

SANTA CLARA, Calif., July 5 /PRNewswire/ -- In developing a product that is truly making a difference in semiconductor manufacturing, Advantest Corporation (TSE: 6857) received the prestigious Editors' Choice Best Product Award, presented annually by Semiconductor International magazine, for its T2000 open architecture SoC test platform, which is based on OPENSTAR(R) open architecture specifications. In a ceremony July 12 in San Francisco, Semiconductor International announced 20 winners whose products are making a difference in semiconductor manufacturing.

Long a leader in memory test, Advantest has made rapid advances in the SoC test market thanks to the success of the T2000 and is now the leading supplier of SoC test systems. "Our SoC market leadership is also a mark of our technology leadership," says R. Keith Lee, president and CEO of Advantest America. "OPENSTAR(R) is the industry's first truly non-proprietary test architecture, which means that its specifications are totally public, allowing unlimited, unrestricted third-party module development. Designing our T2000 test system around OPENSTAR involved some risk, because truly open architecture is a very innovative concept, but we believe it is the best solution given the current business and market pressures on the semiconductor industry." OPENSTAR hardware and software specifications were developed by the Semiconductor Test Consortium, a global non-for-profit organization of semiconductor, equipment and instrumentation companies.

"We are gratified to win the Editor's Choice Best Product Award from Semiconductor International and it's a tribute to Advantest's forward-looking executive management and terrific engineering team," Lee acknowledges. "We believe that the viability of the semiconductor industry rests considerably on open test architecture. Open test architecture makes sense in a consumer- market driven, SoC world, where the business model is accelerated and the technological demands of Test Instrument Modules (TIMs) require great variety."

"Advances in semiconductor technology are only possible because of the kinds of products being honored in this year's Editors' Choice Best Product Awards program," said Pete Singer, Editor-in-Chief of Semiconductor International. "Chipmakers rely on these products to create electronics that are smarter, smaller, faster, less expensive and more reliable. We congratulate the people and the companies that have had the insight and fortitude to bring these products to the market."

Semiconductor International, published by Reed Business Information and a part of Reed Elsevier's global array of information products, is the leading technical publication reaching and covering the global semiconductor manufacturing industry. SI boasts the industry's most experienced full-time technical editorial team, and has the largest circulation to semiconductor manufacturers of any industry publication. Additional information about SI and its many products and activities are available at http://www.semiconductor.net/.

About Advantest

Advantest Corporation is the world's leading 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/.