Agilent Expands AOI Capability With MVT Acquisition.

Agilent Technologies Inc. (Palo Alto, CA) has announced the agreement of its subsidiary, Agilent Technologies Ireland Ltd., to acquire MV Technology Ltd. (MVT, Dublin, Ireland), a privately held manufacturer of automated optical inspection (AOI) systems. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

According to 1999 figures from Prime Research Group, MVT is the third-largest supplier of AOI systems worldwide. MVT has over 350 in-line AOI systems installed globally, with a customer portfolio that includes mobile phone manufacturers, electronics manufacturing services (EMS) providers and component placement machine manufacturers.

Agilent's acquisition of MVT includes products, patents, intellectual property and regional offices in Chicago, Singapore, Tokyo and Guadalajara, Mexico. All 140 MVT employees will be offered employment with Agilent. In addition, the two companies have announced that they will establish a worldwide center for AOI in Dublin, called the Irish Imaging Operation. This center will be responsible for all of Agilent's AOI development, manufacturing, marketing and sales.

The transaction was expected to have closed by mid-March, after regulatory approvals and other closing conditions were met. Once the acquisition is complete, MVT will become an operation within the Imaging Division of Agilent's Manufacturing Test Business Unit, part of Agilent's Automated Test Group.

Agilent chose to acquire MVT for several reasons, including customers demanding a best-in-class AOI solution from Agilent. The two companies also have some common and complementary customers, and, according to Kamran Firooz, vice president and general manager of Agilent's Manufacturing Test Business Unit, MVT's employees have an outstanding reputation with their customers, which was "one of the key determining factors in the acquisition."

Firooz stated that the companies' customers would benefit in a number of ways from the acquisition. Advantages include: a single point of contact for all test and inspection needs; global support with development factories in Europe, Asia and the Americas; and a large core imaging development group of more than 125 engineers worldwide.

"MVT is a great fit for Agilent's intelligent test technologies and strategy, with many powerful synergies and almost no overlap in product offerings or technologies," stated John Scruggs, senior vice president of Agilent's Automated Test Group. The acquisition is part of Agilent's plan to provide end-to-end "intelligent test" solutions to electronics and integrated circuit (IC) manufacturers requiring AOI, automated x-ray inspection (AXI) and in-circuit test (ICT).

Prime Research Group expects the worldwide market for automated imaging systems (AOI and AXI) to grow from US $250 million in 1999 to about US $550 million in 2004. On-going miniaturization of components; increased use of advanced packaging such as flip chips, micro ball grid arrays (microBGAs), and 0201s; and the growing pressure to manufacture defect-free products and shorten time-to-market is driving AOI.

"The combined organization will position Agilent to provide process test and inspection solutions anywhere in the printed circuit assembly manufacturing process. This includes solder paste inspection, component placement inspection, solder joint inspection and electrical test." said Peter Conlon, CEO of MVT.

Until close of the transaction, MVT customers should continue to contact MVT for AOI sales, support and product information.

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