Cascade Microtech

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Cascade Microtech is a publicly traded semiconductor test equipment manufacturer based in Beaverton in the Portland metropolitan area of the United States. Founded in 1983, the Oregon-based company employs nearly 400 people. Michael Burger is the chief executive officer, with the company generating $96 million in annual sales.

History

In the early 1980s Eric W. Strid and K. Reed Gleason, employees at Tektronix (Tek), attempted to get their bosses to make a microwave wafer probe for testing microchips.[3] Management declined, but did license the technology to the two, leading to the formation of Cascade Microtech in 1982 on a part-time basis.[3][4] Dale E. Carlton joined the company as well, and in 1983 they produced their first product.[3] The founders had also worked for Tek spin-off of TriQuint Semiconductor.[5] The company turned profitable in 1984, and all left Tektronix by 1985.[3] In May 1986, the young company leased a 1,200-square-foot (110 m2) office in the Beaverton Tech Center.[6]

File:Cascade Microtech headquarters in Amberglen - Hillsboro, Oregon.JPG
Former company headquarters in Hillsboro

By 1989, the company had grown to 55 employees and were based in Beaverton, Oregon, near the Tek headquarters.[3] The owners went without compensation the first three years the company was in business as they self-financed the venture before receiving $2.7 million in venture capital from Hewlett Packard in 1990.[5] Cascade began working towards an initial public stock offering (IPO) as early as 1997.[7] At that time, they expected to file for the IPO in 1998 and would use the money in part to help expand production.[7] As of March 1997, the company employed 185 people and their biggest customers were Fujitsu, National Semiconductor, and Texas Instruments.[7]

In 1999, the company received another $16 million in funding, which at that time the company had annual sales of $52 million.[5] The company raised additional $10 million in capital in 2000 by selling equity to Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association.[8] By 2001 the company employed 330 people and was still preparing for an initial public offering on its stock.[5] The company then filed to go public in 2000, but dropped the plans in 2002.[9]

By 2001 Cascade had signed on to move into a new headquarters in Hillsboro's AmberGlen Business Center[10] where they occupied 100,000 square feet (9,300 m2) by 2004.[11] The company was originally located at the offices of TriQuint, their former employer.[5] Cascade opened offices in Singapore in 2003, followed by offices in Taiwan and China in 2006.[12]

After years of delay, Cascade Microtech filed for an IPO with the United States Securities & Exchange Commission in March 2004, hoping to raise $85 million.[13][14] The company employed 243 and had revenues of $50.6 million when they filed for the IPO, and major customers included Intel and Infineon.[13] Besides offering new shares, shares held by existing owners such as Agilent Technologies were also offered, for a total of 5.3 million shares being offered to the public.[15] On December 15, 2004, the company started trading on the NASDAQ market, with an initial price of $14 per share under the ticker symbol CSCD.[16] The offering raised $72 million, of which $43 million went to Cascade with the reminder to existing shareholders.[16][17]

File:Cascade Microtech probe station.jpg
A probe station manufactured by Cascade

Cascade purchased socket maker Gryphics, Inc. in 2007 for $13.7 million and nearly 850,000 in Cascade Microtech stock.[18][19]

Chief executive officer (CEO) and co-founder Eric Strid stepped down as CEO, but remained as the company chairman and became the chief technical officer in January 2008.[4] Geoff Wild took over as CEO at that time,[4] but resigned in December 2009.[20][21] Interim CEO Paul Carlson led the company until former Merix Corp. CEO Michael Burger was hired in June 2010 and took office in July.[21][22]

In January 2010, Cascade purchased SUSS MicroTec AG’s chip-testing division for $9.8 million.[23] That division had been Cascade’s largest rival.[23] The company’s revenue for the third quarter in 2010 was $25.3 million, a record for the company.[24] However, Cascade still had a net loss of $400,000.[24] Cascade posted revenues of $113 for fiscal year 2012 and had its first profit that year since 2007.[1] In October 2013, the company bought ATT Advanced Temperature Test Systems in a cash and stock deal valued at $27.7 million.[1] The company announced it was sold to FormFactor in February 2016 for $352 million.[25]

Products

Cascade Microtech manufactures testing equipment for the semiconductor industry.[5] These probes test the chips before the chips are cut from the wafers (silicon or gallium arsenide), ensuring the chips do what they are designed to accomplish.[3][8] Production is performed at the company's facilities in Beaverton, Dresden, and Brooklyn Park, Minnesota.[2]

See also

References

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