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Teradyne

Teradyne , a US company, is a supplier of automatic test equipment (ATE). As of 2005, it has the largest marketshare in the SOC market. The company's divisions, Broadband Test, Assembly Test, Semiconductor Test, and Vehicle Diagnostic Solutions, are organized by the products they develop and deliver. ((advert)) In 2003, Teradyne had sales of $US 1.4 billion, and as of 2006, employs about 3800 people worldwide. Teradyne laid off about 50 % of its workforce in the last 10 years.

Current divisions

The Semiconductor Test Division manufactures test equipment used by integrated circuit manufacturers. As of 2006, Teradyne manufactures four principal tester families of testers known as the "Catalyst", "Tiger", "FLEX" and "UltraFLEX". These testers are used by semiconductor manufacturers to test and classify the individual devices ("dies") on a completed semiconductor wafer and then used again to retest the parts once they are enclosed in their final packaging. Tiger testers are capable of testing SOC (Mixed-signal, System on a chip) devices with more than 1600 pins and data rates extending beyond 3.2 GHz. Portions of this division were acquired when Teradyne purchased Megatest.

The Assembly Test Division builds testers that test completed circuit boards (Printed circuit boards/Printed Wiring Boards). This includes both electrical testing, automated optical inspection (AOI) and automated X-ray inspection equipment. This division was substantially expanded when Teradyne purchased GenRad (General Radio).

Deerfield, Illinois's Broadband Test Division sells turnkey services to telephone companies and broadband providers. These solutions allow telephone companies to routinely scan and evaluate their customer's voice circuits and DSL lines, often allowing problems to be detected and corrected before the customer becomes aware of them.

Vehicle Test Solutions sells customized diagnostic equipment to automobile manufacturers worldwide.

Former divisions

Teradyne Connection Systems, based in Nashua, New Hampshire manufactures high-density electronic connectors, complete backplanes, and systems packaging. On 10 October 2005, Teradyne announced that this division was being sold to Amphenol for about US$ 390 million in cash.

History

Teradyne was founded by Alex d’Arbeloff and Nick DeWolf, who were classmates at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the late 1940s. The men founded Teradyne in 1960, and set up shop in rented space above Joe and Nemo’s hotdog stand in downtown Boston. The name, Teradyne, was intended to represent a very forceful presence. 1,000,000,000,000 dynes = 10 meganewtons (2,248,089 pounds-force or 1,019,716 kilograms-force).

In 1961, they sold their first product, a diode tester, to Raytheon. Today, Teradyne operates major facilities in North Reading, Massachusetts; Agoura Hills, California; Tualatin, Oregon; Fridley, Minnesota, Deerfield, Illinois and other locations worldwide.

Upon d'Arbeloff's retirement, George Chamillard assumed the post of President and CEO. He was replaced at his retirement by Mike Bradley (who had been CFO). As of 2007, Bradley remains CEO.

In 2001, in an attempt to cut costs, Teradyne conducts layoffs within its workforce, following the collapse of the tech boom.

In 2006 Teradyne sold its two Boston buildings and consolidated all of its Boston-area staff to the North Reading site. Teradyne also sold off its TCS (Teradyne Connection System)in year 2006 in order to gather cash and focus on its core business to compete with other growing competitors like Advantest, Verigy and Eagle Test Systems.

Teradyne's 2006 relocation to the North Reading site resulted in a new telephone number: 978-370-2700. Their old number, with a Boston area code, remains listed in many of their materials, but leads to an unaffiliated company.

In 2006, Teradyne cut costs to gather cash and buy back some of its shares. In order to cut cost, Teradyne laid off a number of employees in the US and Europe and now tries to relocate its main business unit to Asia (Singpore) and to outsource some of its business units. These steps are meant to increase profitability.(But till today doesn't see any improvement in profit sharing)

In December 2007 Teradyne announced intent to purchase Nextest Systems at a price of U.S. $20.00 per share. This move was intended to allow the company to expand into the flash memory test market.