FREMONT, Calif., May 7, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Aehr Test Systems (Nasdaq:AEHR), a worldwide supplier of semiconductor test and burn-in equipment, today announced it has received over $700,000 in follow-on orders for WaferPak full-wafer contactors for its FOX-15™ multi-wafer burn-in and test system from a leading supplier of automotive and industrial integrated circuits. The WaferPak contactors are expected to ship within the next four to six months.

“As we noted on our last earnings call, our customers have been absorbing capacity that they put in place over the last year,” said Gayn Erickson, President and Chief Executive Officer of Aehr Test Systems. “We are pleased to receive these follow-on orders confirming that additional capacity is now needed at this customer for their latest products.”

“We are excited about the continued activity we are seeing in the automotive market, as this market is very conscious of quality and reliability,” said Carl Buck, Vice President of Marketing at Aehr Test Systems. “This order is further indication of the effectiveness of our FOX wafer-level burn-in and test products. These products are differentiated by our proprietary full-wafer burn-in and test technology and WaferPak contactors, which support processing up to 15 wafers in parallel in a single system.”

According to a report this past November from IC Insights, a leading semiconductor market research company, automotive ICs are forecast to have a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of almost 11% a year over the 2013-2018 period, the largest growth rate of the top six IC markets, almost doubling the forecast of a 5.5% CAGR for the total IC market.

As usage of electronics in automobiles grows, high-density packaging holding multiple die becomes increasingly important. With stacked or multi-die packaging, each of the die in the package must be highly reliable, enabling the multi-die package to meet the stringent reliability demands of the automotive manufacturers. Aehr Test’s FOX system provides full wafer contact parallel test and burn-in solutions for the die before they are assembled into the package. This enables the reliability screening to be done on the die before the assembly of the multi-die package, avoiding the costly scrapping of entire stacked or multi-chip packages when only one of the die fails the reliability screen. The FOX-15 system has a capacity of up to 15 WaferPak single-touchdown full-wafer contactors for burn-in and test of state-of-the-art integrated circuits. As each wafer contains thousands of ICs, the throughput and capacity of the system are quite large and suitable for production as well as reliability qualification applications.

About Aehr Test Systems

Headquartered in Fremont, California, Aehr Test Systems is a worldwide provider of test systems for burning-in and testing logic and memory integrated circuits and has an installed base of more than 2,500 systems worldwide. Increased quality and reliability needs of the Automotive and Mobility integrated circuit markets are driving additional test requirements, capacity needs and opportunities for Aehr Test products in package and wafer level test. Aehr Test has developed and introduced several innovative products, including the ABTS™ and FOX families of test and burn-in systems and the DiePak^® carrier. The ABTS system is used in production and qualification testing of packaged parts for both lower-power and higher-power logic as well as all common types of memory devices. The FOX system is a full wafer contact test and burn-in system used for burn-in and functional test of complex devices, such as leading-edge memories, digital signal processors, microprocessors, microcontrollers and systems-on-a-chip. The DiePak carrier is a reusable, temporary package that enables IC manufacturers to perform cost-effective final test and burn-in of bare die. For more information, please visit the Company’s website at www.aehr.com.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements based on current expectations, forecasts and assumptions that involve risks and uncertainties. These statements are based on information available to Aehr Test as of the date hereof and actual results could differ materially from those stated or implied due to risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements include statements regarding Aehr Test’s expectations, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the FOX products, including statements regarding future market opportunities and conditions, expected product shipment dates and customer orders or commitments. These risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, acceptance by customers of the FOX and WaferPak contactor technologies, acceptance by customers of the FOX system, WaferPak Aligner and WaferPak contactors shipped upon receipt of a purchase order and the ability of new products to meet customer needs or perform as described, as well as general market conditions, customer demand and acceptance of Aehr Test’s products and Aehr Test’s ability to execute on its business strategy. See Aehr Test’s recent 10-K, 10-Q and other reports from time to time filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a more detailed description of the risks facing Aehr Test’s business. Aehr Test disclaims any obligation to update information contained in any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date of this press release.

Contacts:
Aehr Test Systems Vernon Rogers EVP Sales and Marketing (510) 623-9400 x215 vrogers@aehr.com	MKR Investor Relations Inc. Todd Kehrli or Jim Byers Analyst/Investor Contact (213) 277-5550 aehr@mkr-group.com