Agilent Technologies Inc. today announced that Shougang NEC Electronics Co. Ltd. (SGNEC), one of China's semiconductor foundries, has purchased the Agilent 93000 SOC Series test system for northern China's first system-on-a-chip (SOC) IC testing production line.

The production line, located in Beijing, is a reference site that will show other Chinese companies how to create advanced testing facilities for high-end SOC IC test. The Agilent 93000 provides sophisticated mixed-signal testing capabilities and is ideal for verifying and testing consumer ICs, an area of high volume for SGNEC. Strong demand for mixed-signal consumer ICs is driving SGNEC to expand its testing capabilities. The overall IC market in China is forecast to grow 20.3 percent this year.

The Agilent 93000 SOC Series is the industry's fastest growing, lowest cost single, scalable platform with more than 600 installed systems worldwide. The Agilent 93000 SOC Series is designed to meet both the demanding performance and cost challenges of SOC testing. Models are configured to span the widest range of applications that may require ultra-high-speed digital data rates, up to 10 Gb/s, and the broadest range of mixed-signal and RF capabilities.