ClassOne Equipment,
Inc., a leading supplier of refurbished equipment for the semiconductor
and nanotechnology markets, is making an aggressive push into the KLA-Tencor
marketplace. They have opened a Silicon Valley office and hired former KLA-Tencor
executive Fred Kelley to direct the business push.
Recently, Dean Freeman of technology market research firm Gartner Dataquest
predicted that the refurbished semiconductor equipment market will spike dramatically
in 2010, rising 33% over 2009 figures.
"The time is right to aggressively expand our KLA-Tencor business,"
commented Byron Exarcos, president of ClassOne Equipment. "Having spent
his entire 28-year career at KLA-Tencor, including several years as business
development manager of K-T Certified, Fred has an intimate knowledge of not
only the equipment, but also the market, the customers and the sales cycles.
Who better in the world is there to lead this effort for us?"
"Joining ClassOne Equipment is very exciting for me," said Kelley.
"They have a tremendous industry reputation and the market is asking for
a quality oriented supplier that can deliver fully refurbished systems with
attractive pricing. While at K-T Certified, we offered a quality product but
the customer always gasped at the price. Now I am in a position where I can
easily and comfortably challenge a customer to find a similarly refurbished
system at a lower price and help them with low cost service."
Kelley will head US and Asia sales for ClassOne Equipment from the company's
new Silicon Valley office. K-T Certified is KLA-Tencor's business division for
purchasing, refurbishing and selling used semiconductor inspection equipment.