<PAGE>   1
                                                   Registration No. 333-

                UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
                             Washington, D.C. 20549

                                    FORM S-8

                             REGISTRATION STATEMENT
                                      UNDER
                           THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

                                   COHU, INC.
             (Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

                 DELAWARE                              95-1934119
      (State or other jurisdiction        (I.R.S. employer identification no.)
      of incorporation or organization)

                             5755 KEARNY VILLA ROAD
                           SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA 92123
               (Address of principal executive offices) (Zip code)

                                   COHU, INC.
                             1996 STOCK OPTION PLAN
                            (Full title of the plan)

                                CHARLES A. SCHWAN
                      PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
                                   COHU, INC.
                             5755 KEARNY VILLA ROAD
                           SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA 92123
                     (Name and address of agent for service)

Telephone number, including area code, of agent for service:  619/277-6700

This registration statement, including all exhibits and attachments, contains 12
pages. The exhibit index may be found on page 8 of the consecutively numbered
pages of the registration statement.


                                        1
<PAGE>   2
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------


                         CALCULATION OF REGISTRATION FEE

 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------


<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
                                Proposed      Proposed
Title of                         maximum       maximum
securities          Amount      offering      aggregate     Amount of
to be               to be       price per     offering     registration
registered        registered     share(1)      price(1)        fee
------------------------------------------------------------------------------


<S>                <C>            <C>        <C>            <C>      
Common Stock       450,000        $15.75     $7,087,500     $2,148.00
Par Value $1.00     shares
</TABLE>



--------

     (1) Estimated pursuant to Rule 457 solely for purposes of calculating the
registration fee. The price is based upon the average of the high and low prices
of the Common Stock on November 11, 1996, as reported on the Nasdaq National
Market.


                                        2
<PAGE>   3
                                     PART II

               INFORMATION REQUIRED IN THE REGISTRATION STATEMENT


Item 3.     Incorporation of Documents by Reference

            Cohu, Inc., (the "Company") hereby incorporates by reference in this
registration statement the following documents:

            (a) The Company's latest annual report on Form 10-K filed pursuant
to Sections 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended
(the "Exchange Act"), containing audited financial statements for the Company's
latest fiscal year ended December 31, 1995 as filed with the Commission.

            (b) All other reports filed pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of
the Exchange Act since the end of the fiscal year covered by the registrant
document referred to in (a) above.

            (c) The description of the Company's Common Stock contained in the
Company's Registration Statement on Form 8-A filed under the Exchange Act,
including any amendment or report filed for the purpose of updating such
description.

            All documents subsequently filed by the Company pursuant to Sections
13(a), 13(c), 14 and 15(d) of the Exchange Act, prior to the filing of a
post-effective amendment to this registration statement which indicates that all
securities offered hereby have been sold or which deregisters all securities
remaining unsold, shall be deemed to be incorporated by reference in this
registration statement and to be a part hereof from the date of filing of such
documents.

Item 4.     Description of Securities

            The class of securities to be offered is registered under Section 12
of the Exchange Act.

Item 5.     Interests of Named Experts and Counsel

            The validity of the shares of Common Stock to be offered hereunder
has been passed upon for the Company by Gray Cary Ware & Freidenrich, A
Professional Corporation. As of November 11, 1996 certain attorneys of Gray Cary
Ware & Freidenrich owned 800 shares of Common Stock of the Company.


                                        3
<PAGE>   4
Item 6.     Indemnification of Directors and Officers

            Delaware law authorizes corporations to eliminate the personal
liability of directors to corporations and their stockholders for monetary
damages for breach or alleged breach of the directors' "duty of care." While the
relevant statute does not change directors' duty of care, it enables
corporations to limit available relief to equitable remedies such as injunction
or rescission. The statute has no effect on directors' duty of loyalty, acts or
omissions not in good faith or involving intentional misconduct or knowing
violations of law, illegal payment of dividends and approval of any transaction
from which a director derives an improper personal benefit.

            The Company has adopted provisions in its Certificate of
Incorporation which eliminate the personal liability of its directors to the
Company and its stockholders for monetary damages for breach of their duty of
care. The By-Laws of the Company provide for indemnification of its directors,
officers, employees and agents to the fullest extent permitted by the General
Corporation Law of the State of Delaware, the Company's state of incorporation,
including those circumstances in which indemnification would otherwise be
discretionary under Delaware Law. Section 145 of the General Corporation Law of
the State of Delaware provides for indemnification in terms sufficiently broad
to indemnify such individuals, under certain circumstances, for liabilities
(including reimbursement of expenses incurred) arising under the Securities Act.

Item 7.     Exemption From Registration Claimed

            Inapplicable.

Item 8.     Exhibits

            See Exhibit Index.

Item 9.     Undertakings

            (a)     Rule 415 Offering

            The undersigned registrant hereby undertakes:

            (1) To file, during any period in which offers or sales are being
made, a post-effective amendment to this registration statement:

                    (i) To include any prospectus required by Section 10(a)(3)
of the Securities Act of 1933;


                                        4
<PAGE>   5
                    (ii) To reflect in the prospectus any facts or events
arising after the effective date of the registration statement (or the most
recent post-effective amendment thereof) which, individually or in the
aggregate, represent a fundamental change in the information set forth in the
registration statement;

                    (iii) To include any material information with respect to
the plan of distribution not previously disclosed in the registration statement
or any material change to such information in the registration statement;

provided, however, that paragraphs (a)(1)(i) and (a)(1)(ii) do not apply if the
registration statement is on Form S-3 or Form S-8, and the information required
to be included in a post-effective amendment by those paragraphs is contained in
periodic reports filed by the registrant pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d)
of the Exchange Act that are incorporated by reference in the registration
statement.

            (2) That, for the purpose of determining any liability under the
Securities Act of 1933, each such post-effective amendment shall be deemed to be
a new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the
offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona
fide offering thereof.

            (3) To remove from registration by means of a post-effective
amendment any of the securities being registered which remain unsold at the
termination of the offering.

       (b)  Filing incorporating subsequent Exchange Act documents by reference

            The undersigned registrant hereby undertakes that, for purposes of
determining any liability under the Securities Act of 1933, each filing of the
registrant's annual report pursuant to Section 13(a) or Section 15(d) of the
Exchange Act (and, where applicable, each filing of an employee benefit plan's
annual report pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act) that is
incorporated by reference in the registration statement shall be deemed to be a
new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the
offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona
fide offering thereof.

       (h)  Request for acceleration of effective date or filing of registration
            statement on Form S-8

            Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the
Securities Act of 1933 may be permitted to directors, officers and controlling
persons of the registrant pursuant to the foregoing provisions, or otherwise,
the registrant has been advised that in the opinion of the Securities and
Exchange Commission such indemnification is against public policy as expressed
in the Act and is, therefore, unenforceable. In the


                                        5
<PAGE>   6
event that a claim for indemnification against such liabilities (other than the
payment by the registrant of expenses incurred or paid by a director, officer or
controlling person of the registrant in the successful defense of any action,
suit or proceeding) is asserted by such director, officer or controlling person
in connection with the securities being registered, the registrant will, unless
in the opinion of its counsel the matter has been settled by controlling
precedent, submit to a court of appropriate jurisdiction the question whether
such indemnification by it is against public policy as expressed in the Act and
will be governed by the final adjudication of such issue.


                                    SIGNATURE

       Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended,
the registrant certifies that it has reasonable grounds to believe that it meets
all of the requirements for filing on Form S-8 and has duly caused this
registration statement to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto
duly authorized, in the City of San Diego, State of California, on November 13,
1996.

                                       Cohu, Inc.



                                       By:    /s/  Charles A. Schwan
                                          ------------------------------------
                                              Charles A. Schwan, President and
                                              Chief Executive Officer


                                        6
<PAGE>   7
                                POWER OF ATTORNEY

      The officers and directors of Cohu, Inc. whose signatures appear below,
hereby constitute and appoint Charles A. Schwan and John H. Allen, and each of
them, their true and lawful attorneys and agents, with full power of
substitution, with power to act alone, to sign and execute on behalf of the
undersigned any amendment or amendments to this registration statement on Form
S-8, and each of the undersigned does hereby ratify and confirm all that each of
said attorney and agent, or their, her or his substitutes, shall do or cause to
be done by virtue hereof.

      Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended,
this registration statement has been signed by the following persons in the
capacities indicated on November 13, 1996.

Signature                              Title
------------------------------------------------------------------------------





/s/ Charles A. Schwan               Charles A. Schwan
------------------------------      President, Chief Executive Officer and
                                    Director (Principal Executive Officer)


/s/ John H. Allen                   John H. Allen
------------------------------      Chief Financial Officer (Principal Financial
                                    and Accounting Officer)


/s/ Gene E. Leary                   Gene E. Leary
------------------------------      Director



/s/ Frank W. Davis                  Frank W. Davis
------------------------------      Director


/s/ Harry L. Casari                 Harry L. Casari
------------------------------      Director


 /s/ James W. Barnes                James W. Barnes
------------------------------      Director


/s/ William S. Ivans                William S. Ivans
------------------------------      Director


                                        7
<PAGE>   8
                                  EXHIBIT INDEX

                                                                   Sequentially
                                                                   Numbered Page
                                                                   -------------
      4.1   Restated and Amended Certificate of                          --
            Incorporation of the Company, is incorporated
            by reference to Exhibit 1 of the 1981 Report on
            Form 10-K.


      4.2   Bylaws of the Company are incorporated by                    --
            reference to Exhibit 1 of the 1981 Report on
            Form 10-K.


      5     Opinion re legality                                           9


      23.1  Consent of Counsel (included in Exhibit 5)                   --


      23.2  Consent of Ernst & Young LLP                                 12


      24    Power of Attorney (included in signature pages               --
            to this registration statement)


                                        8
[{"type": "S-8", "sequence": "1", "description": "FORM S-8", "secsgml_size_bytes": 14340}]
{"company-data": {"conformed-name": "COHU INC", "cik": "0000021535", "assigned-sic": "3825", "irs-number": "951934119", "state-of-incorporation": "DE", "fiscal-year-end": "1231"}, "filing-values": {"form-type": "S-8", "act": "33", "file-number": "333-16293", "film-number": "96668371"}, "business-address": {"street1": "5755 KEARNY VILLA RD", "city": "SAN DIEGO", "state": "CA", "zip": "92123", "phone": "6192776700"}, "mail-address": {"street1": "5755 KEARNY VILLA ROAD", "city": "SAN DIEGO", "state": "CA", "zip": "92123"}, "former-company": {"former-conformed-name": "COHU ELECTRONICS INC", "date-changed": "19720809"}}
1
                                                   Registration No. 333-

                UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
                             Washington, D.C. 20549

                                    FORM S-8

                             REGISTRATION STATEMENT
                                      UNDER
                           THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

                                   COHU, INC.
             (Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

                 DELAWARE                              95-1934119
      (State or other jurisdiction        (I.R.S. employer identification no.)
      of incorporation or organization)

                             5755 KEARNY VILLA ROAD
                           SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA 92123
               (Address of principal executive offices) (Zip code)

                                   COHU, INC.
                             1996 STOCK OPTION PLAN
                            (Full title of the plan)

                                CHARLES A. SCHWAN
                      PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
                                   COHU, INC.
                             5755 KEARNY VILLA ROAD
                           SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA 92123
                     (Name and address of agent for service)

Telephone number, including area code, of agent for service:  619/277-6700

This registration statement, including all exhibits and attachments, contains 12
pages. The exhibit index may be found on page 8 of the consecutively numbered
pages of the registration statement.

                                        1
2
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                         CALCULATION OF REGISTRATION FEE

 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Proposed      Proposed
Title of                         maximum       maximum
securities          Amount      offering      aggregate     Amount of
to be               to be       price per     offering     registration
registered        registered     share(1)      price(1)        fee
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Common Stock       450,000        $15.75     $7,087,500     $2,148.00
Par Value $1.00     shares
--------

     (1) Estimated pursuant to Rule 457 solely for purposes of calculating the
registration fee. The price is based upon the average of the high and low prices
of the Common Stock on November 11, 1996, as reported on the Nasdaq National
Market.

                                        2
3
                                     PART II

               INFORMATION REQUIRED IN THE REGISTRATION STATEMENT

Item 3.     Incorporation of Documents by Reference

            Cohu, Inc., (the "Company") hereby incorporates by reference in this
registration statement the following documents:

            (a) The Company's latest annual report on Form 10-K filed pursuant
to Sections 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended
(the "Exchange Act"), containing audited financial statements for the Company's
latest fiscal year ended December 31, 1995 as filed with the Commission.

            (b) All other reports filed pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of
the Exchange Act since the end of the fiscal year covered by the registrant
document referred to in (a) above.

            (c) The description of the Company's Common Stock contained in the
Company's Registration Statement on Form 8-A filed under the Exchange Act,
including any amendment or report filed for the purpose of updating such
description.

            All documents subsequently filed by the Company pursuant to Sections
13(a), 13(c), 14 and 15(d) of the Exchange Act, prior to the filing of a
post-effective amendment to this registration statement which indicates that all
securities offered hereby have been sold or which deregisters all securities
remaining unsold, shall be deemed to be incorporated by reference in this
registration statement and to be a part hereof from the date of filing of such
documents.

Item 4.     Description of Securities

            The class of securities to be offered is registered under Section 12
of the Exchange Act.

Item 5.     Interests of Named Experts and Counsel

            The validity of the shares of Common Stock to be offered hereunder
has been passed upon for the Company by Gray Cary Ware & Freidenrich, A
Professional Corporation. As of November 11, 1996 certain attorneys of Gray Cary
Ware & Freidenrich owned 800 shares of Common Stock of the Company.

                                        3
4
Item 6.     Indemnification of Directors and Officers

            Delaware law authorizes corporations to eliminate the personal
liability of directors to corporations and their stockholders for monetary
damages for breach or alleged breach of the directors' "duty of care." While the
relevant statute does not change directors' duty of care, it enables
corporations to limit available relief to equitable remedies such as injunction
or rescission. The statute has no effect on directors' duty of loyalty, acts or
omissions not in good faith or involving intentional misconduct or knowing
violations of law, illegal payment of dividends and approval of any transaction
from which a director derives an improper personal benefit.

            The Company has adopted provisions in its Certificate of
Incorporation which eliminate the personal liability of its directors to the
Company and its stockholders for monetary damages for breach of their duty of
care. The By-Laws of the Company provide for indemnification of its directors,
officers, employees and agents to the fullest extent permitted by the General
Corporation Law of the State of Delaware, the Company's state of incorporation,
including those circumstances in which indemnification would otherwise be
discretionary under Delaware Law. Section 145 of the General Corporation Law of
the State of Delaware provides for indemnification in terms sufficiently broad
to indemnify such individuals, under certain circumstances, for liabilities
(including reimbursement of expenses incurred) arising under the Securities Act.

Item 7.     Exemption From Registration Claimed

            Inapplicable.

Item 8.     Exhibits

            See Exhibit Index.

Item 9.     Undertakings

            (a)     Rule 415 Offering

            The undersigned registrant hereby undertakes:

            (1) To file, during any period in which offers or sales are being
made, a post-effective amendment to this registration statement:

                    (i) To include any prospectus required by Section 10(a)(3)
of the Securities Act of 1933;

                                        4
5
                    (ii) To reflect in the prospectus any facts or events
arising after the effective date of the registration statement (or the most
recent post-effective amendment thereof) which, individually or in the
aggregate, represent a fundamental change in the information set forth in the
registration statement;

                    (iii) To include any material information with respect to
the plan of distribution not previously disclosed in the registration statement
or any material change to such information in the registration statement;

provided, however, that paragraphs (a)(1)(i) and (a)(1)(ii) do not apply if the
registration statement is on Form S-3 or Form S-8, and the information required
to be included in a post-effective amendment by those paragraphs is contained in
periodic reports filed by the registrant pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d)
of the Exchange Act that are incorporated by reference in the registration
statement.

            (2) That, for the purpose of determining any liability under the
Securities Act of 1933, each such post-effective amendment shall be deemed to be
a new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the
offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona
fide offering thereof.

            (3) To remove from registration by means of a post-effective
amendment any of the securities being registered which remain unsold at the
termination of the offering.

       (b)  Filing incorporating subsequent Exchange Act documents by reference

            The undersigned registrant hereby undertakes that, for purposes of
determining any liability under the Securities Act of 1933, each filing of the
registrant's annual report pursuant to Section 13(a) or Section 15(d) of the
Exchange Act (and, where applicable, each filing of an employee benefit plan's
annual report pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act) that is
incorporated by reference in the registration statement shall be deemed to be a
new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the
offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona
fide offering thereof.

       (h)  Request for acceleration of effective date or filing of registration
            statement on Form S-8

            Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the
Securities Act of 1933 may be permitted to directors, officers and controlling
persons of the registrant pursuant to the foregoing provisions, or otherwise,
the registrant has been advised that in the opinion of the Securities and
Exchange Commission such indemnification is against public policy as expressed
in the Act and is, therefore, unenforceable. In the

                                        5
6
event that a claim for indemnification against such liabilities (other than the
payment by the registrant of expenses incurred or paid by a director, officer or
controlling person of the registrant in the successful defense of any action,
suit or proceeding) is asserted by such director, officer or controlling person
in connection with the securities being registered, the registrant will, unless
in the opinion of its counsel the matter has been settled by controlling
precedent, submit to a court of appropriate jurisdiction the question whether
such indemnification by it is against public policy as expressed in the Act and
will be governed by the final adjudication of such issue.

                                    SIGNATURE

       Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended,
the registrant certifies that it has reasonable grounds to believe that it meets
all of the requirements for filing on Form S-8 and has duly caused this
registration statement to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto
duly authorized, in the City of San Diego, State of California, on November 13,
1996.

                                       Cohu, Inc.

                                       By:    /s/  Charles A. Schwan
                                          ------------------------------------
                                              Charles A. Schwan, President and
                                              Chief Executive Officer

                                        6
7
                                POWER OF ATTORNEY

      The officers and directors of Cohu, Inc. whose signatures appear below,
hereby constitute and appoint Charles A. Schwan and John H. Allen, and each of
them, their true and lawful attorneys and agents, with full power of
substitution, with power to act alone, to sign and execute on behalf of the
undersigned any amendment or amendments to this registration statement on Form
S-8, and each of the undersigned does hereby ratify and confirm all that each of
said attorney and agent, or their, her or his substitutes, shall do or cause to
be done by virtue hereof.

      Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended,
this registration statement has been signed by the following persons in the
capacities indicated on November 13, 1996.

Signature                              Title
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

/s/ Charles A. Schwan               Charles A. Schwan
------------------------------      President, Chief Executive Officer and
                                    Director (Principal Executive Officer)

/s/ John H. Allen                   John H. Allen
------------------------------      Chief Financial Officer (Principal Financial
                                    and Accounting Officer)

/s/ Gene E. Leary                   Gene E. Leary
------------------------------      Director

/s/ Frank W. Davis                  Frank W. Davis
------------------------------      Director

/s/ Harry L. Casari                 Harry L. Casari
------------------------------      Director

 /s/ James W. Barnes                James W. Barnes
------------------------------      Director

/s/ William S. Ivans                William S. Ivans
------------------------------      Director

                                        7
8
                                  EXHIBIT INDEX

                                                                   Sequentially
                                                                   Numbered Page
                                                                   -------------
      4.1   Restated and Amended Certificate of                          --
            Incorporation of the Company, is incorporated
            by reference to Exhibit 1 of the 1981 Report on
            Form 10-K.

      4.2   Bylaws of the Company are incorporated by                    --
            reference to Exhibit 1 of the 1981 Report on
            Form 10-K.

      5     Opinion re legality                                           9

      23.1  Consent of Counsel (included in Exhibit 5)                   --

      23.2  Consent of Ernst & Young LLP                                 12

      24    Power of Attorney (included in signature pages               --
            to this registration statement)

                                        8