ASML Signs Contract With EUV-LLC Group to Develop Extreme UV Technology.

VELDHOVEN, The Netherlands--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 24, 1999--

Lithography Leader Increases its Involvement in Extreme UV R&D,

Complementing its Ongoing Work in Electron-Beam Technology

ASM Lithography (ASML) has furthered its relationship with the semiconductor industry's Extreme Ultraviolet Limited Liability Company (EUV-LLC) by signing a contract to participate in the EUV-LLC program.

The agreement builds on the agreed conditions for participation with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) which were announced on February 24th, 1999. The EUV-LLC is a consortium to develop EUV wafer-fabrication technology. Members include the major U.S. semiconductor companies Intel, Motorola and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), and the DOE's Lawrence Livermore, Sandia and Berkeley national laboratories.

"ASML is pleased and proud to be a member of the cooperative EUV-LLC program; working with the U.S. national labs; engaged in extreme ultraviolet photomask and photoresist development with Intel, Motorola and AMD; working together with other lithography companies; and sharing risks in moving the technology forward," said Martin van den Brink, executive vice president of marketing and technology at ASML.

The global semiconductor industry is investigating next-generation lithographic technologies for volume manufacturing of semiconductor circuit linewidths smaller than 100 nm, which are expected to enter production in the second half of the next decade. EUV is considered a primary candidate to succeed the optical lithography processes used today. At a December 1998 Next-Generation Lithography Workshop sponsored by the semiconductor industry consortium International SEMATECH, lithography experts reached a consensus and recommended EUV as one of two technologies supported by International SEMATECH. The other lithography path selected was electron-beam technology.

"Through this agreement, ASML will work with the EUV-LLC to develop EUV lithography, which we believe to be a leading candidate enabling the next generation of lithography and consequently sustaining the growth of microelectronics worldwide," van den Brink added. "While EUV is expected to have the highest throughput and most extendible resolution, the complexity of non-optical techniques requires the parallel evaluation of multiple options."

As such, ASML is active in pursuing a variety of next-generation lithographic technologies. In addition to the company's involvement with EUV-LLC, ASML is also researching the electron-beam technology known as SCALPEL in a separate cooperative effort with Applied Materials and Lucent Technologies. ASML is also working in the European program IPL with, amongst others, Infineon, IMS and LEICA on the development of ion-beam lithography.

The agreement between ASML and EUV-LLC will also facilitate cooperative research and communication in EUV technologies among the EUV-LLC, the U.S. Virtual National Laboratory and the European Union's EUCLIDES (Extreme UV Concept Lithography Development System) program. EUCLIDES is led by ASML, and includes optics and fine mechanics manufacturer Carl Zeiss and synchrotron source supplier Oxford Instruments.

About ASML:

ASM Lithography was founded in 1984 and is a world leader in advanced photolithography systems that are essential to the fabrication of modern integrated circuits. The company now has an installed base of more than 1,200 systems at customer sites around the world. Recognized as the world's second largest supplier of wafer steppers and Step & Scan systems, ASML operates demonstration and application laboratories at its corporate headquarters located in Veldhoven, The Netherlands, and at its U.S. headquarters in Tempe, Arizona. Regional sales and service facilities are located worldwide near its customers' premises.

ASML is publicly traded on both the Amsterdam Exchanges and on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbol "ASML." Please visit the company's web site at http://www.asml.com for more information on ASML.

"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Except for historical information, the matters discussed in this news release that may be considered forward-looking statements may be subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those projected, including uncertainties in the market, pricing competition, procurement and manufacturing efficiencies, and other risks detailed from time to time in reports filed by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company assumes no obligation to update the information in this release.