Asyst Technologies Wins Multiple Spartan Sorter Orders Totaling $2.5 Million.Business Editors/High-Tech Writers FREMONT, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 29, 2004 Significant Wins for the New 300mm Product Highlight Asyst's Return to Technical Leadership in the Sorter Market Asyst Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq:ASYT), a leading provider of integrated automation solutions that enhance semiconductor and flat panel display A thin display screen for computer and TV usage. The first flat panels appeared on laptop computers in the mid-1980s, and the LCD technology became the standard. Stand-alone LCD screens became available for desktop computers in the mid-1990s and exceeded sales of CRTs for the first time manufacturing productivity, announced today that it has received orders from multiple customers for its new 300mm Spartan(TM) Integrated Sorter totaling approximately $2.5 million. The company estimates that Spartan has captured approximately 10% of the current worldwide sorter market in its first quarter of volume production, and has an objective of achieving at least 20% share of this estimated $100 million market in 2004. Spartan was designed from the outset as a unified wafer management solution -- embodying the minimum scale and complexity necessary to accomplish its core job of moving wafers as cleanly clean·ly adj. clean·li·er, clean·li·est Habitually and carefully neat and clean. See Synonyms at clean. adv. In a clean manner. clean and as quickly as possible. This improves reliability and maximizes efficiency, while delivering industry-leading cleanliness with the lowest particle levels. This is in contrast to traditional sorters, which rely on the labor and cost-intensive process of integrating multiple off-the-shelf components such as loadports, atmospheric robots, mini-environments and control software to create a highly complex wafer sorting machine, which inevitably leads to lower reliability, higher cost-of-ownership, and sub-optimal performance. Wayne Nobles, vice president and general manager, systems division, for Asyst said, "Asyst has participated in the sorter market with earlier generation technology for sorting both 200mm and 300mm wafers, and we leveraged this technology to a leadership position in the 200mm sorter market in the last upturn. In our discussions with customers, it became clear to us that 300mm fabs would require a new generation of sorter technology, not only to deal with the larger wafer size, but to provide higher levels of cleanliness, enhanced wafer safety, and lower cost of ownership. Spartan is the result of this next generation thinking. Spartan's industry-leading particle performance -- combined with low cost-of-ownership driven by its high reliability, serviceability (system) serviceability - The ease with which corrective maintenance or preventative maintenance can be performed on a system (e.g. by a hardware service technician). Higher serviceability improves availability and reduces service cost. Serviceability is one component of RAS. and maintainability -- makes it what we believe is the most powerful sorter available on the market today." Asyst's Spartan is available in multiple configurations to meet various chip manufacturers' requirements. The Spartan Sorter features an optimized mini-environment with better than ISO (1) See ISO speed. (2) (International Organization for Standardization, Geneva, Switzerland, www.iso.ch) An organization that sets international standards, founded in 1946. The U.S. member body is ANSI. Class 1 performance. The Spartan also incorporates dual, ultra-thin edge-grip wafer handling for "fast swap" wafer exchanges or movement of two wafers simultaneously. This capability promotes high throughput and mitigates risk of wafer damage. About Asyst: Asyst Technologies, Inc. is a leading provider of integrated automation solutions that enable semiconductor and flat panel display (FPD (1) (Flat Panel Display) See LCD, plasma display, EL display, FED and flat panel display. (2) (Field Programmable Device) An umbrella term for all chips that can be programmed by the customer including SPLDs, CPLDs and FPGAs. See PLD. ) manufacturers to increase their manufacturing productivity and protect their investments in materials during the manufacturing process. The company offers a broad range of 200mm, 300mm and FPD solutions that enable the safe transfer of material and information between process equipment and the fab line throughout the fabrication fabrication (fab´rikā´sh  n),n the construction or making of a restoration. process, while reducing damage caused by human, environmental, mechanical and chemical factors. Encompassing isolation systems, work-in-process materials management Materials management is the branch of logistics that deals with the tangible components of a supply chain. Specifically, this covers the acquisition of spare parts and replacements, quality control of purchasing and ordering such parts, and the standards involved in ordering, , substrate-handling robotics, automated transport and loading systems, and connectivity automation software, Asyst's modular, interoperable solutions allow chip and FPD manufacturers as well as original equipment manufacturers, or OEMs, to select and employ the value-assured, hands-off manufacturing capabilities that best suit their needs. Asyst's homepage is http://www.asyst.com "Safe Harbor Safe Harbor 1. A legal provision to reduce or eliminate liability as long as good faith is demonstrated. 2. A form of shark repellent implemented by a target company acquiring a business that is so poorly regulated that the target itself is less attractive. " Statement under the Private Securities Litigation An action brought in court to enforce a particular right. The act or process of bringing a lawsuit in and of itself; a judicial contest; any dispute. When a person begins a civil lawsuit, the person enters into a process called litigation. Reform Act of 1995 Except for statements of historical fact, the statements in this press release are forward-looking. Such statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the statements made. These factors include, but are not limited to, anticipated product performance and operability Operability is the ability to keep a system in a functioning and operating condition. In a computing systems environment with multiple systems this includes the ability of products, systems and business processes to work together to accomplish a common task such as finding and , the anticipated size of the market for semiconductor wafer sorters and the company's ability to increase its share of the market, and other factors more fully detailed in the company's annual report on Form 10-K Form 10-K A report required by the SEC from exchange-listed companies that provides for annual disclosure of certain financial information. Form 10-K See 10-K. (as amended) for the year ended March 31, 2003, and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q Form 10-Q See 10-Q. filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. "Asyst" is a registered trademark of Asyst Technologies, Inc. "Spartan" is a trademark of Asyst Technologies, Inc. All rights reserved. |
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