Antares conTech Enhances Growth Strategies with UMD Merger.

GILBERT, Ariz. and VANCOUVER, Wash. -- Antares conTech, the world's largest supplier of high-end sockets and connectors today announced that it has completed its merger with UMD Advanced Test Technologies, the first back-end IC test consumables manufacturer to offer a single point of contact for burn-in sockets, ATE consumables and thermal management. The new company is headquartered in Vancouver, Washington and will go to market as Antares Advanced Test Technologies. The combined company is strengthened by complimentary technologies, manufacturing capabilities, portfolio synergies and talented employees and will focus on reducing customers' total cost of test.

The company will be led by Chief Executive Officer Matt Bergeron, formerly UMD's CEO. Majority ownership is held by Investcorp Technology Ventures, which acquired the package test business from Kulicke & Soffa in March 2006. Investcorp Technology Ventures is focused on venture buyout, corporate spinout and growth capital financing transactions in technology companies in North America and Europe.

Matt Bergeron, Chief Executive Officer said, "Antares Advanced Test Technologies will have the resources and scale to continue to meet the market's tireless drive to reduce the overall cost of semiconductor test. Combining UMD's product portfolio depth with Antares' capability for high-volume manufacturing will allow us to immediately provide value to our customers as we strive to deliver smarter, more innovative solutions. We also expect that the creation of our new company will serve as a catalyst for further consolidation of the semiconductor testing industry."

In today's semiconductor environment of rapidly increasing device complexity, only those companies that can continually improve cost of ownership are likely to survive.

Antares will target high-sensitivity areas like yield and the integration of like disciplines to significantly reduce the cost of test and get new devices to market faster.

"The semiconductor package test industry is at an important point in its development," said Oded Lendner, Antares conTech's former CEO and the new Chief Operating Officer of Antares Advanced Test Technologies. "True value comes by addressing total cost of test. Combining our two companies represents a major milestone for the semiconductor back-end consumable industry. The combined company is now better positioned to develop cutting edge solutions supporting and aligning with our customers' technology and cost roadmaps. As a single point of contact, our customers can also expect consistent and expert service over a range of test disciplines.

The newly formed company provides an unrivaled global customer support infrastructure with local technology centers strategically located around R & D and high-volume manufacturing for back-end operations. The technology centers provide applications and design support, and are coupled with a scalable high-capacity manufacturing capability and global supply chain network.

About Antares Advanced Test Technologies

Antares Advanced Test Technologies is reducing the cost of semiconductor test, with concentration on high-sensitivity areas like yield and integration of test disciplines, by focusing on customer support, delivering innovative technologies and offering a single point of contact for semiconductor test cell requirements including burn-in, ATE consumables and thermal management solutions. Antares is headquartered in Vancouver, Washington and has design, development and manufacturing locations in Suzhou, China; Yokohama, Japan; Phoenix and Gilbert, Arizona; Milpitas and Santa Clara, California; Aman, Jordan. For more information on Antares, visit www.umdtech.com.