I don't have expertise, but here is the competiton section
from the annual report. I like to think CRPB is undiscovered.
Competition
Cerprobe competes with several well-established domestic companies in
the IC probe card market, including Probe Technology Corporation, Wentworth
Laboratories, Inc., and Micro-Probe, Incorporated, as well as numerous smaller
competitors, and is becoming increasingly subject to significant competition
internationally as the Company expands into foreign markets. Such competitors
manufacture and market epoxy ring probe cards, which represent the significant
majority of the domestic and international markets, and metal blade probe cards,
which represent only a small portion of those markets. Cerprobe also encounters
competition in the manufacture and sale of ceramic blade probe cards, although
ceramic blade probe cards currently are produced by Cerprobe and only to a
limited extent by Wentworth Laboratories, Inc. and Accuprobe, Inc. and represent
only a small portion of the total market for probe cards. Competition may
increase in the future as integrated circuitry and probing technology become
more sophisticated. Cerprobe competes primarily on the basis of price,
performance, and delivery.
Cerprobe believes that ESH is the only other domestic manufacturer of
ATE interface assemblies with complete in-house design, fabrication, and
assembly capabilities. Other competitors currently provide only one or two of
these services (usually design and assembly) but could acquire other
capabilities and compete with Cerprobe in the future. In design services,
Cerprobe competes with small design houses, such as Dolphin Designs, as well as
the in-house design groups of its customers. Competition may increase in the
future as test equipment and testing technology become more sophisticated.
The Company competes with a variety of companies engaged in each facet
of the ATE test board market, including design, fabrication, and assembly
services. In design services, the Company competes not only with companies such
as Automated Circuit Design ("ACD") and ESH, but also with the in-house design
groups of its customers. Although the Company's customers have outsourced an
increasing amount of design work to outside vendors such as the Company during
the past two years, there can be no assurance that this trend will continue. In
addition, there are numerous PCB fabricators in the U.S., any one of which may
compete directly with the Company. Specifically, MulTech Engineering Consultants
and UniCircuits, Incorporated specialize in high layer count ATE PCBs such as
those manufactured by the Company. Cerprobe believes, however, that ESH is the
only other PCB fabricator specializing in the semiconductor ATE market with
in-house design, fabrication, and assembly capability. Other companies, however,
could acquire this capability and compete with the Company in the future.
The Company does not believe it has any material direct competition for
its wafer prober refurbishment and reconfiguration services, although the prober
manufacturers, such as Electroglas, Inc., Tokyo Electron Labs, and Tokyo
Semitsu, do provide some limited refurbishment services. These wafer prober
manufacturers have greater financial, engineering, and manufacturing resources
than the Company and larger service organizations and long-standing customer
relationships. There can be no assurance that levels of competition in the
market for wafer prober refurbishing and reconfiguration services will not
intensify in the future. |
