SVTC Technologies & PDF Solutions Collaborate to Expand Customer Capabilities

SVTC Technologies and PDF Solutions, Inc. have formed a strategic agreement to bring leading-edge product development and yield management services to each other's customers, while creating a platform for seeking mutual clients.

SVTC is a leading independent company providing technology development and commercialization services to global clients, with facilities in San Jose, CA and Austin, TX. PDF (NASDAQ: PDFS), headquartered in San Jose, is the leading provider of process-design integration technologies to enhance IC manufacturability.

Under the agreement, PDF and SVTC will provide project specific process optimization and yield enhancement services that leverage PDF's Characterization Vehicle Infrastructure (CVi(TM)), data POWER® yield management system (YMS) and Maestria® fault detection and classification (FDC), as well as SVTC's analytical labs. SVTC's process engineering expertise and PDF's statistical analysis services will be coupled with this broad array of yield enhancement technologies to accelerate development of CMOS-based semiconductors, MEMS and photovoltaics at SVTC.

"This agreement enables SVTC to gather critical data for more rapid process yield improvement," said Dave Bergeron, SVTC CTO. "As a result, we will be able to enhance our baseline yield and equipment monitoring capabilities, particularly for our customers in 200mm wafer manufacturing, and for our MEMS and solar clients as well."

"We are pleased to create this relationship to allow SVTC's customers to enjoy the benefits of PDF's solutions that have previously only been available for high volume manufacturers. They will be able to bring new products to market more quickly, and to manufacture them more cost effectively," said John Kibarian, PDF CEO.

Business development and joint marketing form an important part of the agreement. PDF and SVTC will promote each other's services to their respective clients, and will work together to seek mutual customers that can benefit from the analytical and process development strengths of both companies.

SVTC serves customers in rapidly growing markets such as novel memory, novel transistors, MEMS, biotechnology, image sensors, analog and high-voltage applications. PDF clients include integrated device manufacturers (IDMs), foundries, and fabless IC producers, whose products include application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), memory, communications, and mixed-signal chips.

"Today's economic climate is accelerating technical industries toward a horizontal business model, where manufacturers must outsource key portions of their production and technology development to processing specialists such as PDF and SVTC," said Joe Bronson, SVTC CEO. "We're part of a new equation that will give these industries the flexibility they need to survive and prosper."

About PDF Solutions

PDF Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ: PDFS) is the leading provider of yield improvement technologies and services for the IC manufacturing process life cycle. PDF Solutions offers solutions that are designed to enable clients to lower costs of IC design and manufacture, enhance time to market, and improve profitability by addressing design and manufacturing interactions from product design to initial process ramps to mature manufacturing operations. PDF Solutions' Characterization Vehicle® (CV®) test chips provide the core modeling capabilities, and are used by more leading manufacturers than any other test chips in the industry. PDF Solutions' industry leading yield management system software, dataPOWER®, and fault detection and classification software, maestria®, enhance yield improvement and production control activities at leading fabs around the world. Headquartered in San Jose, Calif., PDF Solutions operates worldwide with additional offices in China, Europe, Japan, Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan. For the company's latest news and information, visit http://www.pdf.com/ .

About SVTC Technologies:

SVTC accelerates the development and commercialization of innovative silicon-based technologies and products, cost-effectively and in an IP-secure manner. Through facilities in San Jose, California, and Austin, Texas, SVTC serves customers in rapidly growing markets such as novel memory, novel transistors, logic, MEMS, biotechnology, image sensors and high-voltage applications. SVTC offers a suite of leading-edge equipment and services, including full-scale 8-inch and 12-inch process capabilities, advanced CMOS equipment, analytical services, development support tools and commercialization services. SVTC is co-owned by Oak Hill Capital Partners and Tallwood Venture Capital along with management. SVTC Technologies is an Equal Opportunity Employer. More information can be found at www.svtc.com .

SVTC Contact: Ashwin Kumar Email Contact 512-356-2312 PDF Solutions contact: David Joseph Email Contact 408-280-7900