Nidec to acquire SV Probe in sign that electronics manufacturing is heating up

Industrial technology company Nidec is to acquire SV Probe, which manufactures what are called “probe cards” and testing equipment for semiconductors. 

The deal would give Nidec subsidiary Nidec-Read 100 per cent of SV Probe’s shares.

Nidec-Read’s main business is the development, manufacturing and sales of inspection equipment for semiconductor package substrates and printed circuit boards, as well as inspection fixture. 

In recent years, it has expanded its product portfolio into small capacitance measurement equipment for touch screen panels and optical inspection equipment for semiconductor wafers.

Embedded electronic active/passive components in smartphones and IoT devices are required to be increasingly small and power efficient.

Also, new semiconductor packaging technologies that created embedded electronic component substrates and Fan Out Wafers Level Packages are diversifying and tightening inspection requirements.

Nidec-Read has sought for a new inspection method that responds to the foregoing development in semiconductor packaging and that ensures its mid- to long- term growth target.

The acquisition of SV Probe is Nidec-Read’s important step in that direction, says Nidec.

SV Probe was established in the United States in 1994 as a manufacturer of probe cards for semiconductor wafer inspection, with footholds in Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, China and Vietnam.

Through the transaction, Nidec-Read expects to gain competitiveness in the inspection market by applying its MEMS spring probe technology to the vertical probe cards manufactured by SV Probe.

In addition, by mutually sharing its cutting-edge processing and assembly technology with SV Probe, Nidec-Read will be able to reduce manufacturing costs and improve investment efficiency.

Nidec-Read also expects to sell its inspection equipment through SV Probe’s sales channel to the leading semiconductor manufactures.