PALO ALTO, CA -- Agilent Technologies today announced that Tessolve Inc., an independent semiconductor-test engineering service provider in Bangalore, India, has purchased the first Agilent 93000 Pin Scale system sold in that country.

Tessolve is using the system to test digital and mixed-signal devices for its major integrated device manufacturers and fabless customers as well as for emerging local customers in India.

The system was chosen for its ability to test ICs, SOCs and SIPs within bandwidths of 200 Mbps to 3.6 Gbps.

India has already become a world leader in software services, and is poised to do the same in the semiconductor industry. According to Bryan Wang, an analyst at In-Stat, India will have the world's fastest-growing electronics industry over the next several years, outpacing even China. The Indian electronics market, worth $11.5 billion in 2004, will hit a compound annual growth rate of 23% to reach $40 billion by 2010, said Wang.

Many top semiconductor companies including Intel, Texas Instruments, IBM, Samsung, Freescale, Toshiba and Infineon, have design and manufacturing centers in India, which presents a clear opportunity for Tessolve.

"We opened our 50,000 sq. ft. chip testing center in Bangalore to put an end to India's testing limitations for SOC designs coming out of India," said Raja Manickam, chief executive of Tessolve. "Now, with our purchase of the Agilent 93000, Tessolve is positioned to become India's leading independent semiconductor test house. Eighty percent of India's semiconductor design houses are already based in Bangalore, and the Agilent Pin Scale test system allows us to offer them a low-cost, scalable platform that can be employed from characterization to high-volume manufacturing."