ST Assembly Test Services has been selected by NEC for a three-year manufacturing agreement to provide full turnkey test and assembly services for its ICs for hard disk drives.
ST Assembly Test Services (STATS) has been selected by NEC Corp of Japan for a three-year manufacturing agreement to provide full turnkey test and assembly services for its ICs for hard disk drives. The agreement is expected to generate about US$20m for STATS over the three years. NEC qualified STATS in record time and volume production began in late 2000, making STATS one of the key suppliers for NEC’s outsourced hard disk drive business.

“Given its mixed signal leadership, STATS was able to match the stringent standards of our inhouse testing process”, said Toshifumi Misono, Planning Department Manager, 1st System LSI Division, NEC Corp.

Under the agreement, STATS will provide complete high-end mixed-signal testing and assembly for NEC’s ICs used in the hard disk drives of personal computers.

The long-term agreement guarantees NEC regularity in its supply chain and quick cycle time in the fast moving electronics and PC industry.

“We’re extremely pleased to be working with NEC, one of the world’s top semiconductor companies, and particularly as Japanese IDMs are known for their high standard of quality and manufacturing best practices”, said Tan Bock Seng, STATS Chairman and CEO.