Asyst Technologies surpasses 50,000 mark in POD shipments; milestone signals industry's strong demand for Asyst's SMIF technology.

FREMONT, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 16, 1996--Asyst Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:ASYT), the leading supplier of mini-environment and automation systems to the worldwide semiconductor industry, today announced that it has passed an important milestone--the company has shipped more than 50,000 SMIF-Pods since their introduction in the mid-1980s.

The 50,000th Pod, which shipped Dec. 12, 1995, was a 200mm mini-environment, capable of protecting lots of 25 wafers. Although the majority of Pods shipped today are for 200mm production, 150mm Pods continue to sell at a brisk pace, said company officials, as do Pods for both single and multiple reticles. In May 1995, Asyst unveiled its new 300mm pod, along with a revolutionary cassette carrier that the company is openly licensing to speed the adoption of a 300mm standard. Asyst also shipped its first SMIF-Pod for Flat Panel Display (FPD) last quarter.

Functionally, SMIF-Pods serve as miniature clean rooms that surround valuable wafers and masks to create a sealed, sub-Class 1 mini-environment. When coupled with Asyst's robotic arms and equipment enclosures, this complete environmental control system protects valuable semiconductor wafers and masks from yield-endangering particles throughout transport, processing and storage. According to Guy Gandenberger, vice president of sales, customer service and logistics, the Asyst-SMIF System coupled with Asyst's SMART-Traveler System (STS) gives customers a full-floor shop control system where the Pod acts as a lock and key, assuring full operator discipline, as well as guaranteed recipe loading.

G. Dan Hutcheson, president of VLSI Research, Inc. in San Jose, Calif., credits Asyst Technologies with starting the mini-environment revolution--thereby changing the way semiconductor device makers manufacture products. "Asyst's SMIF technology is the standard for mini-environments in the semiconductor industry," Hutcheson noted. "We expect mini-environmental technology to play an even greater role, especially in 300mm fabs due to its inherent ability to save money while increasing manufacturing productivity."

Asyst reports that other trends are also driving the adoption of SMIF, such as increased fab automation. "SMIF-Pods provide a gateway to automation," remarked Barney Huang, Asyst's product marketing manager. "They also enable the use of integrated lot travelers that can automatically record all processing data while protecting wafers from potential mis-processing errors." These advantages have allowed Asyst to garner the lead position in the mini-environment market--with more than 80 percent global marketshare.

Commenting on the significance of the 50,000 Pod benchmark, Asyst Technologies' President and Chief Operating Officer Bruce Rhine noted that SMIF is now recognized as a critical manufacturing strategy by global chipmakers. "We are now moving into the mainstream phase of market adoption--tapping an ever increasing share of the growing investment in process control technology," said Rhine. He added that the accelerated rate of market adoption is even more telling: "Although it took 10 years to reach 50,000 shipments, we expect to exceed this number of pod shipments in the next 12 months alone."

ABOUT ASYST: Asyst Technologies, Inc. is a leading provider of process control and automation systems that help semiconductor manufacturers reduce their integrated circuit production costs. The company's Asyst-SMIF System combines state-of-the-art mini-environments with advanced robotics to create ultraclean processing environments that are both comprehensive and flexible. The SMART-Traveler System (STS) works in tandem with SMIF to eliminate mis-processing. Both Asyst-SMIF and its companion STS products are integral to seamless factory automation of the future. Asyst's subsidiary, Asyst Automation, Inc., focuses on material handling control software and inter-bay/intra-bay automation systems. Founded in 1984, Asyst Technologies, Inc. is headquartered in Fremont, Calif., with facilities in Europe and the Far East. Asyst Automation, Inc. is located outside Boston, Mass. The company's common stock trades on the NASDAQ Stock Market under the symbol ASYT. -0-

NOTE TO EDITORS: Early adopters of SMIF technology helped to facilitate this technology. These include Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the largest 150mm pod user; IBM, the first 200mm Pod user; and ASM Lithography, which offered the first photolithography tools with integrated SMIF-Pods as a standard reticle carrier.

CONTACT: Asyst Technologies Inc.

William Hansen, 510/661-5225

or

MCA Inc.

Margaret Periera, 415/968-8900