1st Silicon Starts Installation of Over US$400 M Manufacturing Equipment During 48 Hour, Round-the-Clock Move-In May 3, 2000.

Business Editors & High-Tech Writers

KUCHING, SARAWAK, MALAYSIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 9, 2000

1st Silicon Orchestrates Vendor Installation Teams'

Equipment Transfer from 747s to Fab One

1st Silicon (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd. Over a continuous 48 hour period, beginning Wednesday morning, May 3 (2 AM local time, 11 PM PDT), 1st Silicon transferred key semiconductor manufacturing equipment from arriving Malaysian Airline 747s at Kuching International Airport to Fab One on the 1st Silicon campus. Three consecutive eight-hour shifts ran with special team over-laps for two consecutive days ensuring every piece of equipment was carefully transported and put in place for calibration and qualification.

Nikon Steppers and FSI Tracks and Wet Processing Equipment were the first to come off the 747 freighters on May 3, 2000. More than 70% of the over US$400M equipment set from leading equipment suppliers such as Applied Materials, Asyst, DNS, FSI, KEM, KLA-Tencor, Nikon, Novellus, TEL and Varian are scheduled to be delivered by June 2000.

Each of the key suppliers committed special installation teams consisting of technicians and key engineers. These teams were dedicated at the inception of ordering the manufacturing equipment some 6 to 12 months before the targeted move-in date.

Claudio G. Loddo, 1st Silicon's CEO, remarked, "The dedication of these hard-working, enterprising people is very heart warming. In addition to an outstanding relationship and support from our technology partner, SHARP, our board of directors and management are also very pleased with the support of our equipment suppliers and service vendors."

Nikon President, Shoichiro Yoshida said, "This is a milestone for both 1st Silicon's new fab and Nikon's business success in Malaysia. We are pleased to be the supplier to ship the first set of photolithography equipment to Malaysia. The delivery of our equipment to 1st Silicon today shows our commitment to the venture and the region."

Applied Materials CEO, James Morgan, visited Kuching last week to attend a joint press conference to celebrate the close cooperation between the two companies and the first Malaysian 200mm fab. Applied Materials plans to set up a new service center in Kuching to support the company's large-scale installation of multiple manufacturing technologies.

"Applied Materials is well-known for its extensive global service infrastructure and innovative support programs designed to assure the rapid installation, qualification and start-up of our equipment," said Morgan. "We are working very closely with 1st Silicon to provide an experienced team of process and service experts to assist in the success of its new foundry operation."

Loddo concluded, "We successfully completed the fundamental equipment move-in using a round-the-clock, continuous move-in logistic over 48 hours. This initial delivery and installation, signaled the start of the arrival of a continuous stream of fab equipment at 1st Silicon to support a 20K wafer start per month phase-1 capacity."

About 1st Silicon (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd.

1st Silicon is a dedicated semiconductor foundry founded in 1998 by the Malaysian State of Sarawak. 1st Silicon's 200mm wafer fab, with a capacity in excess of 30,000 wafers per month, will be operational in Q3 2000. The facility will commence production with 0.25um digital and mixed signal CMOS technology. Geometries of 0.18um and below will soon follow. SHARP is 1st Silicon's technology partner as well as its first customer. The Company is headquartered in Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia, with a U.S. registered subsidiary corporation located in San Jose, Calif.

Note to Editors: "1st Silicon" and the 1st Silicon logo are trademarks belonging to 1st Silicon (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd. All product names, trademarks or registered trademark referenced herein are the property of their respective companies.

Additional information on Nikon can be obtained by accessing Nikon's Web site at www.nikon.com.

Additional information on Applied Materials can be obtained by accessing Applied Materials' Web site at www.appliedmaterials.com.