Fremont, CA, February 27, 2001 -Asyst Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq NM: ASYT), the world's largest semiconductor fab automation company, today announced it has reached a significant milestone with the shipment of its 1,000th VersaPort™ 2200 load port tool to Silicon Valley Group, Track Systems Division (San Jose, Calif.). The dollar value of the order was not disclosed.

Since the VersaPort 2200's November 1999 launch, Asyst has received orders from more than 30 customers worldwide, spurring the product to this milestone in just over a year. A number of the most recent shipments included the company's manual open-cassette adapter (MOCA) option, also announced today (see separate release: "Asyst Open-Cassette Adapter Broadens Horizons for OEM Suppliers"). Further indicating the industry's growing adoption of the VersaPort 2200, Asyst has secured several design wins for production-level systems from both original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and chipmakers.

The VersaPort 2200 is an essential component of Asyst's Plus™ Portal turnkey automation solution, which enables integration between OEM process tools and advanced fab automation systems. The load port tool is a modular, configurable input/output (I/O) interface that facilitates transfer of 200mm semiconductor wafers into and out of both older-technology open cassettes and the Standard Mechanical InterFace (SMIF™) pods used to isolate wafers in clean minienvironments. With the new bolt-on MOCA option, which allows fabs to run open cassettes on new 200mm tools without having to immediately move to SMIF technology, the VersaPort 2200 truly becomes a bridge tool for technology transition. The VersaPort accommodates both open cassettes and 200mm SMIF-Pods on the same platform, as well as eases transition from 200mm to 300mm technology thanks to its significant compatibility with Asyst's 300mm Front-Load product.

"Asyst's VersaPort solution offers a degree of flexibility and scalability unavailable anywhere else," said Jae Park, vice president of advanced engineering at Silicon Valley Group, Inc. "We chose to implement the VersaPort on our Pro Cell tool front end because it works with both open cassettes and pods and gives us a migration path to 300mm. Also, the new MOCA option gives us the flexibility to upgrade our older fab lines to newer 200mm equipment on an as-needed basis, providing a huge cost savings. We believe it will help to greatly enhance our productivity and, ultimately, our fab yields."

"Since its introduction, the VersaPort 2200 has already achieved great success in the marketplace because of the practical solutions it offers our customers," stated Dennis Riccio, Asyst senior vice president of global customer operations. "The system is designed with multiple configurations based on a single platform so that there are reduced integration and support requirements for the OEM. Because it's also fully certified to meet ergonomic and safety requirements, OEMs can implement the VersaPort with full confidence in its ability to help meet their wafer-loading and transfer needs."

The VersaPort 2200 is plug-and-play compatible with Asyst's other front-end products, meaning that the VersaPort and the Asyst SMIF-300FL Front-Load Series feature significant hardware and software compatibility, so customers who purchase the VersaPort for open-cassette and/or 200mm SMIF and then later want to upgrade to 300mm can do so easily. This is accomplished by employing the optional SEMI-Standard E-63 BOLTS interface hardware and a 300mm software command set designed to ensure compatibility with Asyst's 300mm Front-Load systems. A key advantage for OEMs who employ the VersaPort in one of its several configurations is that it enables them to adopt the "bridge tool" strategy for marketing their products to chipmakers, as well.

About Asyst
Asyst Technologies, Inc. is the leading provider of isolation and automation technologies that enable semiconductor makers to protect their valued assets throughout the manufacturing process while increasing manufacturing productivity. Through this "Value-Assured Fab" strategy, Asyst offers a broad range of 200mm and 300mm solutions that enable the safe transfer of wafers and information between the process equipment and the fab line throughout the IC fabrication process, preventing human, environmental, mechanical and chemical harm. Encompassing robotics, portals, wafer and reticle carriers, connectivity and interface products, and transport and loading products, Asyst's modular, interoperable solutions allow chipmakers and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to select and employ the value-assured, hands-off manufacturing capabilities that best suit their needs.