SCOTTS VALLEY, Calif., June 1, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- Carsem, a leading provider of turnkey packaging and test services to the semiconductor industry, announced today that they are expanding the manufacturing space dedicated to the test services operation at the Carsem S-Site facility. The current expansion from 40,000 sq. ft. to 66,000 sq. ft. is in the final phase of completion and, by the end of 2005, the area will be increased to 96,000 sq. ft. Combined with the current 14,000 sq. ft. test operation at the Carsem M-site this will bring the total area for wafer probe and final test services from the current 54k sq. ft. to 110k sq. ft.
According to Allan Calamoneri, Carsem's Vice President of Test Business Development, "As a result of escalating pressure to reduce cycle times and costs, we are seeing a tremendous increase in our customer's desire to outsource their wafer probe and final test requirements. For example, due to several key customers' increasing demands, we recently added 50 wafer probe systems along with the associated testers and expect to add another 45 final test systems by the end of this year."
Mr. David Comley, Carsem's Group Managing Director, stated, "The turnkey test services segment of our business is growing at a significantly faster rate that any other segment and we see this trend continuing for quite some time. Carsem is fully committed to providing our customers with the test infrastructure and engineering support services they require in order for them to meet their competitive demands."
About Carsem
Carsem is a leading provider of turnkey packaging and test services to the semiconductor industry, and offers one of the widest ranges of package and test portfolios in the world. To meet the growing demands of the telecommunications and wireless markets for smaller, faster, thermally-efficient devices, Carsem's portfolio includes several advanced technologies, such as the Micro Leadframe Package (MLP), Small Scale Ball Grid Array (SSBGA), Flip Chip On Leadframe (FCOL), and a SiP (System-in-Package) capability. Carsem also offers a full range of turnkey test services for RF, mixed-signal, linear, digital and power devices. Our Malaysian factories maintain world-class quality standards having achieved SAC Level 1, ISO-9001, ISO-14001, QS-9000, TS16949 certifications, and are supported with a global network of sales and engineering support offices. Carsem is a member of the Hong Leong Group with factories located in Ipoh, Malaysia, Suzhou, China and sales offices across the USA, plus the UK and Taiwan. Carsem, Inc. sales headquarters is located at 269 Mt. Hermon Road, Suite 104, Scotts Valley, CA 95066, phone (831) 438-6861, fax (831) 438-6863, web site: www.carsem.com.