Teradyne, Inc. (‘Teradyne’) is a global supplier of automated test equipment and robotics solutions.
The company designs, develops, manufactures, and sells automated test systems and robotics products. The company's automated test systems are used to test semiconductors, wireless products, data storage and complex electronics systems in many industries including consumer electronics, wireless, automotive, industrial, computing, communications, and aerospace and defense industries. The company's...
Teradyne, Inc. (‘Teradyne’) is a global supplier of automated test equipment and robotics solutions.
The company designs, develops, manufactures, and sells automated test systems and robotics products. The company's automated test systems are used to test semiconductors, wireless products, data storage and complex electronics systems in many industries including consumer electronics, wireless, automotive, industrial, computing, communications, and aerospace and defense industries. The company's robotics products include collaborative robotic arms and autonomous mobile robots (‘AMRs’) used by global manufacturing, logistics, and industrial customers to improve quality, increase manufacturing and material handling efficiency, and decrease manufacturing and logistics costs.
The company's automated test equipment and robotics products and services include semiconductor test (‘Semiconductor Test’) systems; robotics (‘Robotics’) products; and defense/aerospace (‘Defense/Aerospace’) test instrumentation and systems, circuit-board test and inspection (‘Production Board Test’) systems, and wireless test systems (referred collectively as ‘All Other’).
The market for the company's test products is concentrated, with a limited number of significant customers accounting for a substantial portion of the purchases of test equipment. A few customers drive significant demand for the company's products, both through direct sales and sales to the customers’ supply partners.
In 2024, the company saw strength in its Semiconductor Test business, with memory and compute offerings growing considerably compared to 2023. Beyond AI compute, the company is investing in other areas of the semiconductor test market that offer the opportunity for accelerating long-term growth, including power semiconductors and the shift towards vertically integrated products (‘VIPs’).
In 2024, the company built key OEM, systems integrators, and account strategic partnerships. The introduction of new products, including the MiR 1200 Pallet Jack, was also significant.
On May 27, 2024, the company paid to purchase a combination of previously issued and outstanding shares and shares newly issued by Technoprobe, S.p.A. (‘Technoprobe’). The shares purchased represent 10% of the issued and outstanding shares of Technoprobe. Additionally, as part of the transaction, the company completed the sale of the Device Interface Solutions (‘DIS’) business, a component of its Semiconductor Test segment, to Technoprobe.
The company’s corporate strategy for its test businesses is to profitably grow market share while in Robotics, the company plans to profitably grow revenue through the introduction of differentiated products targeting expanding markets.
Products
Semiconductor Test
The company designs, manufactures, sells, and supports Semiconductor Test products and services and hard disk drives on a worldwide basis. The test systems the company provides are used for wafer level, device package testing, and system level testing of semiconductor devices. These devices are used in automotive, industrial, communications, consumer, smartphones, cloud, computer, and electronic game applications, among others. Semiconductor devices span a broad range of functionality, from very simple low-cost devices, such as appliance microcontrollers, operational amplifiers, or voltage regulators, to complex digital signal processors, Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (‘AI/ML’) training, high-performance computing, and microprocessors, as well as memory devices. Semiconductor Test products and services are sold to integrated device manufacturers (‘IDMs’) that integrate the fabrication of silicon wafers into their business, ‘Fabless’ companies that outsource the manufacturing of silicon wafers, ‘Foundries’ that cater to the processing and manufacturing of silicon wafers, and semiconductor assembly and test providers (‘OSATs’) that provide test and assembly services for the final packaged devices to both Fabless companies and IDMs. Fabless companies perform the design of integrated circuits and use Foundries for wafer manufacturing and OSATs for test and assembly.
The company's FLEX Test Platform architecture advances its core technologies to produce test equipment designed for high-efficiency multi-site testing. Multi-site testing involves the simultaneous testing of many devices in parallel. Leading semiconductor manufacturers are using multi-site testing to significantly improve their ‘Cost of Test’ economics. The FLEX Test Platform architecture addresses customer requirements through the following key capabilities:
A high-efficiency multi-site architecture that reduces tester overhead, such as instrument setup, synchronization, data movement, and signal processing;
The IG-XL software operating system, which provides fast program development, including instant conversion from single to multi-site test; and
Broad technology coverage by instruments designed to cover the range of test parameters, coupled with a universal slot test head design that allows easy test system reconfiguration to address changing test needs.
The company's J750 test system shares the IG-XL software environment with the family of FLEX Test Platform systems. The J750 is designed to handle high-volume semiconductor devices, such as microcontrollers, that are central to the functionality of almost every consumer electronics product, from small appliances to automobiles. J750 test systems combine compact packaging, high throughput, and ease of production test. The company extended the J750 platform technology to create the IP750 Image Sensor test system. The IP750 is focused on testing image sensor devices used in smartphones, automobiles, and other imaging products. The company has continued to invest in the J750 platform with new instrument releases that bring new capabilities to existing market segments and expand the J750 platform to new devices that include high-end microcontrollers and the latest generation of image sensors.
The company's Magnum platform addresses the requirements of mass production test of memory devices for flash and DRAM memory. Flash and DRAM memory are widely used core building blocks in modern electronic products, finding wide application in consumer, industrial, and computing equipment. The Magnum 7 solution is designed for parallel memory test in the flash, DRAM, and multi-chip package markets, while the Magnum platform called Magnum EPIC gives full product coverage of the memory test market.
The ETS platform is used by semiconductor manufacturers and assembly and test subcontractors, primarily in the analog/mixed signal markets that cover cost-sensitive applications. The company's proprietary SmartPin technology enables high-efficiency multi-site testing on an individual test system, permitting greater test throughput. Semiconductors tested by ETS platform systems are incorporated into a wide range of products in historically high-growth markets, including mobile devices, automotive electronics, computer peripherals, and notebook and desktop computers. The Eagle platform includes the ETS-88, which is a high-performance multi-site production test system designed to test a wide variety of high-volume power and precision devices, including Silicon Carbide (‘SiC’) and Gallium Nitride (‘GaN’) power devices used in vehicle electrification. The ETS-800, a high-performance multi-site production test system, is used to test high-complexity power devices in automotive, industrial, and consumer applications.
The Integrated System Test group comprises the company's system level test (‘SLT’) testers and hard disk drive (‘HDD’) testers. The SLT testers for the semiconductor production market are used to test devices following wafer and package test. SLT testers address customer requirements related to factory density, throughput, and thermal performance. HDD products address the high throughput and automated manufacturing test requirements of hard disk drive and semiconductor manufacturers. The company's HDD products address the client and enterprise storage markets. The client market is driven by the needs of desktop, laptop, and external HDD storage products.
Robotics
The company's Robotics segment comprises two business units: Universal Robots and Mobile Industrial Robots.
Universal Robots
Universal Robots is a provider of collaborative robots (‘cobots’) used across various industries, including automotive, food & beverage, metal & machining, electronics, pharmaceutical, and in education.
Universal Robots has recently established global Centers of Excellence for Welding, Palletizing, and Machine Tending applications. These centers, led by subject matter experts, serve as knowledge hubs, offering expert recommendations and guidance on the latest trends in the field to UR partners and key customers worldwide.
Mobile Industrial Robots
MiR is a provider of autonomous mobile robots (‘AMRs’) for the manufacturing and logistics segments. MiR AMRs enhance productivity, offering a high return on investment by streamlining workforce efficiency, reducing lead times, and improving workplace safety. These AMRs operate autonomously, eliminating the need for traditional guidance infrastructure. MiR offers three deckload AMR models, each supporting a different payload capacity—MiR250, MiR600, and MiR1350—as well as a pallet jack AMR—MiR1200 Pallet Jack—all managed by the company's unified fleet management software, MiR Fleet.
System Test
The company's System Test operating segment comprises two business units: Defense/Aerospace and Production Board Test.
Defense/Aerospace
The company is a provider of high-performance test systems, subsystems, instruments, and services for the defense and aerospace markets. The company's test products are used to ensure the readiness of military and commercial aerospace electronics systems. New programs, such as tactical aircraft and missile systems, as well as upgrade programs, continue to fuel the demand for high-performance test systems in this market. The company's test products are well-suited to the demands of defense/aerospace electronics manufacturers and repair depots worldwide. The company in this market is underscored by its success with major Department of Defense programs across all U.S. military service branches and many allied defense services worldwide.
Production Board Test
The company's test systems are used by electronics manufacturers and OEMs worldwide to perform In-Circuit-Test (‘ICT’) and device programming of printed circuit board assemblies. Fast, accurate, and cost-effective test capabilities are hallmark features of the company's Test Station product families. The company offers the Test Station in off-line and automated in-line configurations. The automated in-line configurations address the growing requirements for automating production lines for high-volume applications, such as automotive electronics, computing, and communications.
Wireless Test
The company's Wireless Test operating segment is a business unit run under the LitePoint brand name, providing wireless test solutions for silicon validation, wireless module manufacturing, and wireless end device manufacturing. LitePoint wireless test systems span design verification to high-volume manufacturing and are deployed across the entire production chain from wireless chipset suppliers to consumer brands.
Sales and Distribution
In 2024, the company’s five largest direct customers in aggregate accounted for 36% of its consolidated revenues.
OSAT customers often purchase the company's test systems based upon recommendations from OEMs, IDMs, and Fabless companies. In all cases when an OSAT customer purchases a test system from the company, it considers the OSAT as the customer since credit risk, title, and risk of loss, among other things, are between the company and the OSAT. In 2024, the company estimates consolidated revenues driven by Samsung, a customer of its Semiconductor Test and Wireless Test segments, combining direct and indirect sales, accounted for approximately 12.5% of its consolidated revenues. In 2023, revenues driven by Texas Instruments Inc., a customer of the company's Semiconductor Test segment, accounted for 10% of its consolidated revenues. In 2022, the company estimates consolidated revenues driven by Qualcomm, a customer of its Semiconductor Test, System Test, and Wireless Test operating segments, combining direct and indirect sales, accounted for approximately 11% of its consolidated revenues.
The company has sales and service offices located throughout North America, Central America, Asia, and Europe. It sells in these areas predominantly through a direct sales force, except for Robotics products, which are sold principally through distributors and OEMs. The manufacturing activities for the company's test businesses are primarily conducted through subcontractors and outsourced contract manufacturers with significant operations in Malaysia. The manufacturing activities for the company's Robotics businesses are done primarily in its production facilities in Denmark and the U.S.
Sales to customers outside the United States were 87% of the company’s consolidated revenues in 2024.
Competition
Competitors in the Semiconductor Test segment include, among others, Advantest Corporation, SPEA S.p.A., and Cohu, Inc.
Competitors in the company's Robotics segment include manufacturers of traditional industrial robots, such as KUKA Robotics Corporation, ABB, FANUC, Staubli, and Yaskawa Electric Corporation; companies with emerging collaborative robot offerings, such as Techman, Doosan, Jaka, and AUBO Robotics; and manufacturers of autonomous mobile robots in the material handling space, such as Omron, Rockwell Automation, Junion, HikRobot, Agilox, and KION.
Competitors in the System Test operating segment include, among others, Advantest Corporation and Test Research, Inc.
Competitors in the company's Wireless Test operating segment include, among others, Rohde & Schwarz GmbH & Co. KG, Anritsu Company, National Instruments Corporation, Welzek, and iTest.
Regulatory Environment
The company must comply with the U.S. Department of Commerce export control regulations restricting transactions with certain customers in China.
History
Teradyne, Inc., a Massachusetts corporation, was founded in 1960. The company was incorporated in 1960.