Business

Advantest to establish U.S. marketing arm for sales of electronic measuring instruments

May 22, 2002

May 22, 2002--Advantest Corp. and Tektronix Inc. will terminate their nine-year distribution arrangement as of June 30, 2002, under mutual agreement and in pursuit of individual market strategies.

Advantest Corp., supplier of semiconductor test equipment and electronic measurement solutions, has announced that Advantest and Tektronix Inc. will terminate their nine-year distribution arrangement as of June 30, 2002, under mutual agreement and in pursuit of individual market strategies.

Advantest will commence direct sales of its electronic measuring instrument products in North America, through a newly-formed U.S. subsidiary. Advantest currently markets its semiconductor test equipment through its Advantest America subsidiary.

The new Advantest subsidiary, Advantest America Measuring Solutions Inc., will be established as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Advantest America Corp., the holding company for Advantest's U.S. operations.

As the industry enters a "borderless" era where the line between measuring devices and ATE devices is becoming unclear, Advantest sees the integration of product lines under the company banner as critical to a seamless business process, explain company representatives. This move will enable the company to market its entire product line more effectively in North America and be more responsive to customer needs on a global basis.

In this environment, the Advantest group companies are moving to a new model that calls for providing services--marketing, sales, maintenance and even post-sales applications-- to end users in a comprehensive package.

Consistent with this approach, the establishment of Advantest America Measuring Solutions Inc., will permit Advantest to establish closer ties with the end users of its measurement instruments, beginning from the product development stage.

Advantest's measuring instruments are used in the design, development, and manufacture of electronic products relating to optical communication, wireless communication, and radio frequency (RF). With optical communications experiencing robust growth in the U.S. and elsewhere, Advantest has its sights on expanding its market share by developing application-focused "solutions" specifically in the in the area of optical WMT (Wizard of Module Test) measuring equipment.

For more information about Advantest Corp. (Tokyo), visit the company's Web site at www.advantest.co.jp