Credence Systems

Last updated
Credence Systems Corporation
Company type Public
IndustrySemiconductor Equipment & Materials
Headquarters,
Key people
Lavi A. Lev
Number of employees
1,324 [1]
Website www.ltxc.com
Footnotes /references
Datasource: ZenoBank [1]

Credence Systems Corporation was a manufacturer of test equipment for the global semiconductor industry, with a major focus on solving specific challenges facing the fast-growing consumer-driven semiconductor markets. It was headquartered in Milpitas, California and merged with LTX in 2008.

Contents

Customers included integrated device manufacturers (IDMs), wafer foundries, outsource assembly and test (OSAT) suppliers and fabless chip companies.

History

Founded in 1978 by David Mees as Semiconductor Test Solutions, the company changed its name to Credence after acquiring Axiom and ASIX in 1990. The company's initial public offering was completed on October 28, 1993. It was publicly traded on the Nasdaq stock market under the symbol CMOS.

In November 2002, Credence Systems acquired Mountain View, California-based startup Optonics, which made failure analysis systems. [2]

In February 2004, Credence Systems acquired semiconductor-testing company NPTest Holding Corp. in a stock-and-cash deal valued at about $660 million. [3] NPTest was previously part of Fairchild Semiconductor, acquired by Schlumberger in 1979, and was spun off as NPTest Holding in 2003. [4]

On June 22, 2008 competitor LTX signed a merger agreement with Credence Systems Corporation: LTX CEO and President David Tacelli became CEO of the merged company. [5]

On August 29, 2008 LTX and Credence Systems Corporation complete merger to form LTX-Credence Corporation (NASDAQ: LTXC). [3]

On November 18, 2010, Verigy and LTXC agreed on a merger/acquisition operation, the new company will be operated under Verigy name.

On March 27, 2011, the merger agreement with Verigy was terminated as Verigy accepted a merger offer from Advantest. LTXC decided to remain a stand-alone company. [6]

Product Lines

Over the years Credence either produced or acquired many product lines including:

Competition

Before its merger Credence System’s remaining principal competitors in the ATE business (besides LTX) were:

On November 1, 2001, Integrated Measurement Systems, Inc. (IMS) was acquired by Credence Systems Corporation.

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References

  1. 1 2 "Company Profile for Credence Systems Corp (CMOS)" . Retrieved 2008-10-23.
  2. Dar, Zuri (2002-11-28). "Credence buying Israel Niv's Optonics". TheMarker .
  3. McBrideDow, Yolanda E. (2004-02-27). "Credence to Acquire NPTest For $660 Million in Cash, Stock". The Wall Street Journal.
  4. "SCHLUMBERGER TO SELL SEMICONDUCTOR-TESTING UNIT". The New York Times . 2003-06-25.
  5. Credence and LTX Sign Merger Agreement Archived 2008-10-19 at the Wayback Machine
  6. "LTX-Credence Terminates Merger Agreement with Verigy". Business Wire . 2011-03-27.