Renowned semicon industry veterans launch Boston Semi Equipment Group

BOSTON, USA: Designed to deliver a unique combination of equipment expertise and innovative financial solutions to the semiconductor industry, senior semiconductor industry veterans Douglas Elder, Bryan Banish, Colin Scholefield and Sandy Garrett announced the launch of Boston Semi Equipment Group LLC (BSE Group).

The privately funded BSE Group aims to set a new benchmark in the semiconductor equipment industry, combining innovative financial solutions with the experience, expertise and infrastructure to enable the lease, sale, repositioning and service of new and pre-owned semiconductor manufacturing equipment.

Traditional capital equipment financing solutions have historically not been able to support customers’ technology and capacity needs, while the traditional original equipment manufacturer (OEM) model often does not offer financial flexibility.

BSE Group provides the financing and equipment expertise that enables its customers to lease, buy, exchange, upgrade, downgrade, service and refurbish semiconductor capital equipment. This gives customers the operational flexibility to manage their capacity and technology needs as well as the financial flexibility to continue operating profitably.

Marking its entry in the automated test equipment (ATE) market, BSE Group also announced the acquisition of Test Advantage Hardware, a leading value-added reseller of ATE and a subsidiary of Test Advantage Inc. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Test Advantage Hardware reconfigures and redistributes ATE systems and accessories, including those from its financial arm, Test Advantage Capital. The acquisition does not impact the ownership of Test Advantage subsidiary Test Advantage Software, which will continue to offer its Streetwise and Express products, among others, without interruption.

“Semiconductor manufacturers are increasingly turning to structured financing, including leasing and short-term rentals, and equipment from the secondary market to better manage their capital,” said Doug Elder, President and CEO of BSE Group. “Test Advantage Hardware allows us to reconfigure assets to customers’ exact specifications, bringing with it a long standing reputation for quality and on-time delivery.”

“This acquisition enables BSE Group to leverage the customer relationships and market presence Test Advantage’s hardware business has developed over the past 14 years with new resources for the future,” commented Fabrice Dechoux, CEO of Test Advantage, Inc. “On the Test Advantage Software side, we will continue to focus on executing against our plans for growth. The ongoing momentum of customer adoption of our technology paves a promising future for the division.”

BSE Group management
Combining well over 100 years of semiconductor equipment expertise, BSE Group is led by Douglas Elder, president and CEO, and Bryan Banish, COO.

Elder and Banish spent most of their careers at Teradyne. Executive VP Colin Scholefield, a former Delta Design executive, heads up worldwide sales and marketing, while Sandy Garrett will serve as the company’s executive VP of Structured Finance and Credit.

Garrett, who founded the Garrett Group in 1987, spent many years managing the private label financial corporations for Credence Capital and KLA-Tencor Capital.