The global memory testing market will remain weak for all of 2010 as capex budgets for the purchase of memory testing equipment are increasing slowly, according to Mark Allison, vice president of strategic marketing at Verigy, which mainly supplies automated test equipment.
Though memory chipmakers will have significant increases in their capex, new capacity for DDR3 chips and graphics DRAM products may not be created significantly until 2011, Allison pointed out.
Allison also expressed concerns that some memory foundries choose their older machines or used equipment instead of buying new ones, as they still intend to maintain higher cash positions.
Verigy is now readying new tester series, the HSM6800 and HSM3G, respectively for the production of GDDR5 and DDR4 memory devices, Allison said. The HSM6800 system has already been installed and qualified at the facility of an unspecified customer in Korea, Allison added.
Allison also noted that Verigy is now waiting for the verification of its test HSM2300 system, with parallel test capability of up to 256 DDR3 devices, from several DRAM customers.
According to a report issued in June 2010, the global automated test equipment market fell to very low levels in 2009, with the memory test segment declining below the US$200 million mark. However, 2010 will mark the market's first growth year since 2006.