MILPITAS, Calif., April 9, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- KLA-Tencor Corporation has been recognized as one of 17 companies receiving Intel Corporation's Preferred Quality Supplier (PQS) award for their performance in 2012. KLA-Tencor Corporation is recognized for their significant contributions providing Intel with process control capital equipment and services, deemed essential to Intel's success.

"KLA-Tencor is honored to receive Intel's Preferred Quality Supplier award for a second consecutive year—a true testament to our employees' expertise and world class inspection and metrology equipment and services," said Mike Kirk, executive vice president of Customer Group and Operations for KLA-Tencor. "Sharing a common vision and strong relationship, we have continued to collaborate with Intel to drive leading-edge product innovation and deliver superior customer service that brings added value to Intel's key initiatives."

"KLA-Tencor has continued to demonstrate PQS level performance as seen through improvements in technology roadmap alignment, quality, velocity and sustaining operational support.  We appreciate KLA-Tencor's commitment to driving continuous improvement in the spirit of the Intel SCQI program," said Janice Golda, Director, Patterning Capital Equipment Development.

The PQS award is part of Intel's Supplier Continuous Quality Improvement (SCQI) program that encourages suppliers to strive for excellence and continuous improvement. To qualify for PQS status, suppliers must score 80 percent on a report card that assesses performance and ability to meet cost, quality, availability, technology, environmental, social and governance goals. Suppliers must also achieve 80 percent or greater on a challenging improvement plan and demonstrate solid quality and business systems. Additional information about the SCQI program is available at http://intel.com/go/quality.

A celebration to honor PQS award winners was held in San Jose. In addition, there was an announcement on Intel's website at http://intel.com.

About KLA-Tencor Corporation

KLA-Tencor Corporation, a leading provider of process control and yield management solutions, partners with customers around the world to develop state-of-the-art inspection and metrology technologies. These technologies serve the semiconductor, LED and other related nanoelectronics industries. With a portfolio of industry-standard products and a team of world-class engineers and scientists, the company has created superior solutions for its customers for more than 35 years. Headquartered in Milpitas, Calif., KLA-Tencor has dedicated customer operations and service centers around the world. Additional information may be found at www.kla-tencor.com (KLAC-P).

SOURCE KLA-Tencor Corporation