Chroma ATE Inc. was founded by four electrical engineering graduates from the National Chiao Tung University in Taiwan and was originally a trading company named “Ko Mao Technology”. However, during the first year of operation the business was greatly affected by the Oil Crisis. The founders then decided to transform their business to focus on niche products with a higher margin and ultimately becoming a measuring instrument supplier. It was right around the time that personal computers started to bloom, a phenomenon that significantly increased the demand for monitors and gave the founders the idea of entering the industry.
To avoid competition from major foreign measuring instrument suppliers, the founders decided to develop a product with a lower production cost while having high technical requirements. They specifically chose to develop the video pattern generator (VPG), an extremely technical product for testing monitors with yet no competitors in Taiwan. “Chroma 100” was their very first product. The phrase “Chroma” was derived from the colored graphics generated though the process of testing monitors using the video pattern generator, also known as “Chroma”. The number 100 came from the fact that the founders only expected to sell 100 machines, but lastly sold more than three thousand units in the next generation Chroma 1000. The Chroma 100 and 1000 models started the rollout of the testing equipment empire, and “Chroma” became the brand name of company’s solutions.
At the time, electronics companies located in Taiwan mainly used highly priced measuring instruments imported from the United State and Japan, which Chroma took as an optimal growing opportunity. When the cost of production became a major concern for monitor manufacturers, Chroma’s affordable yet highly precise self-developed VPG started to stand out from the crowd. Slowly, Chroma became famous in the industry and the founders were motivated to steadily move down the road of developing testing equipment.
With rapid technological development and ever-changing markets, measuring instruments ought to meet the various, constantly upgraded technical requirements during the manufacturing or research and development (R&D) phase. Therefore, Chroma continued to engage in the innovation and R&D of advanced equipment and measurement instruments even when the first version already was a great commercial success.
Over the last three decades, Chroma has evolved together with the development of the Taiwan industry. The progress of Chroma could be distinguished into three major stages. Looking back at the first decade, the main focus was on related application testing for personal computers such as display or power supply. During the second decade, Chroma entered the semiconductor industry to provide test solutions in products such as the IC (integrated circuit) chip for consumer products, PMIC (power management IC), RF (Radio Frequency) Chip or testing solutions in other related fields. Due to the growing concern of environmental awareness, the core technology of each test services began to be integrated with green energy. Consequently, in the third decade, Chroma invested deeply in clean technology testing solutions, including electric vehicle, green battery, photovoltaic and LED related areas.
Upon entering the fourth decade and towards the industry 4.0 evolution, Chroma developed comprehensive testing & automation turnkey solutions with three core techniques - electronic measurement technology, manufacturing information system, and intelligent manufacturing system. The big data generated through the testing equipment has also become the basis for enhancing customer's production. Chroma continues to devote a significant amount of resources in R&D in order to actualize precise, reliable and valuable unique test solutions for technology industries. The excellent performance of Chroma’s measurement equipment is trusted by customers worldwide. Approximately 75% of sales revenue were generated through exportation, which means Chroma contributes over USD 200 million of export revenue to the Taiwanese economy each year.
Ever since Chroma was founded, the core technology was always preserved in Taiwan; the production and R&D base never moved out of the country. When the global electronics industry grew, Chroma only expanded sales offices to countries worldwide for providing services to customers in Europe, the United States, Japan, Korea, China, and Southeast Asia. Chroma's vision is to develop globally leading products as a world-class enterprise while keeping the core technologies in Taiwan. To sustain as a world-class enterprise, Chroma nurtures its brand as one of innovation, continuous improvement, and globalization, ensuring the leading innovative technology will sustain the competitive advantages and future growth for the company.