Agilent Technologies Announces Major Expansion of DNA Microarray Manufacturing Facilities; New Manufacturing Facility Designed to Produce Over One Million Microarrays Per Year.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 14, 2000

Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE:A) announced today that it plans to open a new 15,000 square-foot DNA microarray production facility within the company's Santa Clara, Calif. site. The facility is designed to significantly increase Agilent's current manufacturing capacity, allowing it to ship in excess of 1 million microarrays per year by 2002. The expansion will accommodate increasing demand for Agilent's gene expression system products, which are used by genomics and pharmaceutical scientists for disease and drug discovery research.

"We have been experiencing significant order growth for all of our life sciences technologies, with orders up three fold over a year ago," said Bill Buffington, vice president and general manager of Agilent's Life Sciences Business Unit. "Our current manufacturing capacity at our Palo Alto facility will not be able to keep pace with orders, so we are bringing expanded capacity online to meet expected demand for our customized microarrays."

Last month, Agilent announced that it had formed a new Life Sciences Business Unit to better address the growing demand for its life sciences products, as recent advances in genomic research had created unprecedented customer demand for practical, cost-effective, integrated products. By organizing its R&D, marketing and sales organizations into a focused Life Sciences Business Unit, Agilent intends to capitalize on opportunities in the pharmaceutical, agricultural, genomics and academic markets.

Agilent Technologies in Gene Expression

Agilent Technologies is a leading provider of solutions including consulting services, informatics software and tools for gene expression analysis, a fast-growing field of study that allows researchers to identify key gene transcriptional regulatory events or pathways associated with diseases or biologies. Researchers can do rapid, iterative, hypothesis-driven gene expression research by first determining their research goals and then having custom-designed microarrays developed by Agilent to be delivered within days. Agilent is also a leading original equipment manufacturer of high-quality bioanalyzers and microarray scanners. Agilent supports the collaborative research efforts by the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) and others to analyze genome-wide patterns of mRNA expression, and is actively driving open data standards for gene expression research in alliance with Rosetta Inpharmatics Inc.

About Agilent Technologies

Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE:A) is a diversified technology company with approximately 46,000 employees serving customers in more than 120 countries. Agilent is a global leader in designing and manufacturing test, measurement and monitoring instruments, systems and solutions, and semiconductor and optical components. In fiscal year 1999, Agilent had net revenue of more than $8.3 billion. The company serves markets that include communications, electronics, life sciences and healthcare.

Information about Agilent Technologies can be found on the Web at www.agilent.com.

This news release contains forward-looking statements including without limitation, information regarding the planned opening of the facility, production output and orders estimates, that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause the results of Agilent Technologies to differ materially from management's current expectations. Other risks are detailed in Agilent's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended October 31, 1999, and its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended July 31, 2000, as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.