Throughout his career, which saw him grow and make a name for himself in a large company like ST Microelettronics, Giuseppe Crippa had a strong desire to open his own business and pursue his technical and entrepreneurial passions. It was only his love for his work that held him back and led him to postpone starting his own business until the last years before his retirement.

In 1989, with the help of his son Cristiano Crippa, he set up a small business producing probes for the probe card market (at the time, probe cards used to test chips were technologically immature and only produced in the United States).

After a few years the business intensified and in 1993 the first structure of the company began to take shape in the Crippa family home in Merate (LC), between the garage and attic. At this time, the nucleus of the company was formed by Giuseppe and Cristiano, with the administrative help of Giuseppe’s wife, Mariarosa Lavelli, and two initial employees.
Thus “Technoprobe”, a sole proprietorship, was born.

In 1995, Giuseppe Crippa retired and was able to devote himself full-time to the technological aspects of the company, while Cristiano made a positive contribution to the commercial development.

This was the year that “Technoprobe S.r.l.” was formerly established.

It was no longer possible to continue working in the family home, so in 1996 Technoprobe purchased its first building in Cernusco Lombardone (LC) and moved in with about 10 employees. The first company headquarters was created which would gradually expand over the following years.

In the early 2000s, the company not only expanded in Italy but also opened its first international offices to be close to its customers; first in France, then Singapore and from 2007, in the United States.

Giuseppe’s nephew, Stefano Felici, took over the management of the US office. In previous years, he had worked alongside his uncle on the technological side of the business and later became the strategic point of contact for customers in the USA.

In the meantime, Technoprobe continued to evolve its technologies in the world of probe cards: the EPOXY technology was followed in 2007 by the first VERTICAL MEMS probes and, in 2011, by the proprietary TPEG™ MEMS, technology which became the new industry standard for wafer testing and led Technoprobe to great growth, with an increase in sales and patents. The number of employees in Italy also grew, going from 129 in 2011 to 1300 ten years later.

Year after year, Technoprobe began collaborating with some of the most important companies in the world of microelectronics, gaining even larger market shares until it became the world’s second largest manufacturer of probe cards and won several awards as best supplier from its customers.

Branches are opened in the Philippines, Korea, Taiwan, Japan and China, as well as new large industrial buildings in Italy, which remained the country where the Crippa family decided to keep not only the headquarters, design and R&D departments, but also the entire production. This was to keep the Italian character of the company and the strong link with its territory.

In the meantime, in 2002, Giuseppe’s youngest son, Roberto Crippa, joined the family group and quickly took over the management of Technoprobe Italia, giving the company a strong imprint with his own managerial leadership style, fully in line with the vision of his father, brother and cousin.

During the years of the Covid-19 pandemic, Technoprobe more than doubled the number of its employees and at the same time put itself at the service of its community by opening a vaccination hub for the local population inside its premises. It was the first company in Italy to do so.