Cohu, Inc.

Cohu, Inc. builds the test and inspection equipment that validates semiconductors before they ship. Founded in 1947 and publicly traded on NASDAQ as COHU, the company operates at a scale of roughly 3,000 people across a global footprint headquartered in California. For anyone tracking the security of the hardware supply chain, Cohu's work sits at a critical juncture: the machines that verify chip integrity are themselves complex, software-driven systems requiring rigorous engineering discipline. The company's portfolio includes test handlers - automated systems that exercise semiconductor devices under real-world conditions - along with contactors and inspection equipment. These aren't off-the-shelf products; they're precision-engineered machines where hardware engineering and software engineering converge. The technical domains span semiconductor testing and inspection, areas where compromised equipment or flawed verification processes could propagate defects or vulnerabilities downstream into every device those chips power. Engineering at Cohu is hands-on by design. Teams work directly with hardware components, designing and building machines rather than abstracting away from the physical layer. The threat model here isn't the typical enterprise attack surface - it's about ensuring the integrity of test and inspection processes themselves, maintaining the reliability of embedded control systems, and protecting the intellectual property embedded in highly specialized manufacturing equipment. With over seven decades in operation, Cohu operates in an industry where uptime, precision, and trust in the process are non-negotiable.