Chartered's 300mm Copper Fab Selects Varian Semiconductor's Single Wafer VIISta 80HP Ion Implanter.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

GLOUCESTER, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 28, 2004

Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates, Inc. (NASDAQ: VSEA) announced today that it has won an order for its single wafer VIISta 80HP high current ion implanter from Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing, one of the world's top three dedicated semiconductor foundries. The VIISta 80HP will be installed at Chartered's first 300mm manufacturing facility, Fab 7, in Singapore.

"The VIISta 80HP supports high productivity and low cost of ownership, which are benefits required for developing next-generation technology solutions," said John Aldeborgh, Varian Semiconductor's vice president of sales and marketing. "We are pleased that Chartered has selected our single wafer VIISta 80HP high current ion implanter for its 300mm manufacturing facility."

"Varian Semiconductor's leading-edge VIISta 80HP high current ion implanter is important to our manufacturing goals of optimizing productivity and continuous yield improvements," said Ang Tang Yong, vice president of fab support operations at Chartered. "We are pleased to collaborate with Varian Semiconductor as one of our leading equipment suppliers to support the manufacturing of 90 nanometer (nm) and beyond process technologies on 300mm wafers."

"Semiconductor manufacturers around the world are trending towards VIISta single wafer processing because single wafer processing avoids spinning the wafers which can cause particle collision-induced damage and mechanical stress to sensitive devices," said Ernest Godshalk, president and chief operating officer of Varian Semiconductor. "We are pleased to be working with Chartered to meet their next-generation production requirements."

The single wafer VIISta platform of ion implanters is the only one to exceed 300 wafers per hour, making it the fastest ion implanter platform available. All of the VIISta products feature the Varian Control System (VCS(TM)), and a common single wafer endstation. This high degree of commonality across the VIISta platform facilitates process matching throughout the tool set and provides flexibility in managing capacity, product mix changes, spare parts and training.

About Varian Semiconductor

Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates, Inc. is a leading producer of ion implantation equipment used in the manufacture of semiconductors. The company is headquartered in Gloucester, Massachusetts, and operates worldwide. Varian Semiconductor maintains a web site at www.vsea.com. The information contained in the company's web site is not incorporated by reference into this release, and the web site address is included in this release as an inactive textual reference only.

Note: This release contains forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions under The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. For this purpose, the statements concerning the company's performance, market share and technology leadership, technological capabilities and benefits are forward-looking statements and any statements using the terms "believes," "anticipates," "expects," "plans," or similar expressions are forward-looking statements. There are a number of important risks and factors that could cause actual events to differ materially from those suggested or indicated by such forward-looking statements. These include, among others, volatility in the semiconductor equipment industry; economic conditions in general and as they affect the company's customers; significant fluctuations in the company's quarterly operating results; the impact of rapid technological change; the company's dependence on the development and introduction of new products; the company's concentration on ion implantation systems and related products; concentration in the company's customer base and lengthy sales cycles; the highly competitive market in which the company competes; risks of international sales; foreign currency risks; and general economic conditions; and other factors identified in the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K, and the most recent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company cannot guarantee any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievement. The company undertakes no obligation to update any of the forward-looking statements after the date of this press release.