Aehr Receives Follow-On Order from Major Silicon Photonics Customer for Fully Automated Wafer-Level Burn-In System for Hyperscale Data Center Optical Interconnect

Aehr Test Systems, a leading provider of test and burn-in solutions for semiconductor devices used in artificial intelligence (AI), silicon photonics, data center, automotive, and industrial applications, today announced it has received a follow-on production order for a fully automated FOX-XP™ wafer-level burn-in (WLBI) system. The system is configured to test nine wafers in parallel, and includes a fully integrated WaferPak™ Auto Aligner, and a full set of FOX WaferPak Contactors. The system is scheduled for delivery within the next six months.

This customer is a global leader in networking products and solutions and a major supplier to the data center optical transceiver market. The customer is developing advanced silicon photonics–based transceivers for data center networking and optical I/O applications to address the rapidly accelerating demand for high-speed fiber optic communication links in hyperscale AI and cloud data centers. The customer has also provided Aehr with a forecast for additional systems this calendar year as it ramps capacity to support next generation hyperscale data center deployments.

“We are excited to receive this follow-on order for a full production FOX WLBI test cell, which reflects the urgency of the production ramp now underway to support the massive buildout of hyperscale AI and cloud data centers,” said Gayn Erickson, President and Chief Executive Officer of Aehr Test Systems. “This customer is a leading supplier of networking products and solutions for the data center market, and we are pleased to support its capacity expansion plans as it prepares for next-generation hyperscale data center deployments.

“We first engaged with this customer only seven months ago with an objective to move quickly to volume production within six months. Aehr was able to demonstrate the production-ready capabilities of our fully integrated test cell to meet the customer’s performance and throughput requirements in a remarkably short period of time. This enabled us to deliver a full production system and two engineering systems to them by May, meeting their goal. By leveraging our FOX wafer-level systems installed base, which has now been deployed to more than 25 customers, we believe we are well positioned to help customers move efficiently from qualification to production in a very short period.

“Data center architectures are rapidly evolving as AI infrastructure scales, driving a major transition from traditional copper interconnects to fiber optic communication links to meet the increasing requirements for bandwidth, latency, signal integrity, thermal performance, and power efficiency. Silicon photonics-based optical transceivers are a critical enabling technology for this transformation. We believe Aehr is well positioned to participate in what could be a significant multiyear expansion of silicon photonics production driven by the growth of fiber optic interconnects in hyperscale AI data centers.

“This customer engagement further validates wafer-level burn-in as an increasingly important part of silicon photonics manufacturing flow and highlights the potential for silicon photonics to become a meaningful long-term growth driver for Aehr’s WLBI business. With our leadership in WLBI for silicon photonics and our ability to support customers for qualification through high-volume production, we believe Aehr offers the industry’s most cost-effective solution for this rapidly emerging market.”

As data center architectures scale to support AI, cloud computing, and high-performance networking, fiber optic interconnects offer significant advantages over copper wiring, including higher data rates, lower power consumption, longer reach, improved thermal performance, and reduced electromagnetic interference. These advantages are driving rapid adoption of silicon photonics transceivers across hyperscale and enterprise data centers worldwide and increasing demand for cost-effective, production-proven burn-in solutions that can ensure device quality and long-term reliability at volume.

Aehr is the market leader in WLBI for silicon photonics transceivers, with a large installed base at leading global semiconductor and photonics companies. The Company’s FOX-XP platform enables high-parallelism, high-temperature, and high-power WLBI, with the unique ability to precisely maintain devices at the required temperature to enable highly effective burn-in, allowing customers to identify early-life failures before packaging while significantly reducing cost of test.