FREMONT, Calif.- May 22, 2001 - Asyst Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq NM: ASYT), the world's largest semiconductor fab automation company, today announced it has acquired privately held GW Associates, Inc. (Sunnyvale, Calif.) for a value of $32 million. GW Associates has estimated annual revenues of approximately $10 million and has been continuously profitable since 1977. Asyst reports that this latest in a series of strategic acquisitions is expected to be immediately accretive to both gross margins and earnings.

With an estimated 80-percent market share, GW Associates is the industry leader in "off-the-shelf" factory integration products that comply with SEMI Equipment Communication Standards (SECS I/II, GEM, and HSMS), used for factory automation in electronics manufacturing. Said Mihir Parikh, Asyst Technologies chairman and CEO, "The addition of GW Associates' technology further solidifies the leadership position we've established in the fab connectivity space through our auto-ID and material tracking software. We are especially pleased to have GW as a part of Asyst, as we believe that they are the only company in our industry that has both a very large market share and a business model that generates operating income of between 20 and 30 percent. As 300mm tools and fabs continue to ramp, the ability to provide a full complement of connectivity solutions will become increasingly critical. Equally important is the ability of the tool supplier to provide integration- and connectivity-ready systems. With our newly combined resources, we can now provide our OEM customers with Fab Assured Connectivity SM capabilities built into their equipment."

G. Dan Hutcheson, president of VLSI Research Inc. (San Jose, Calif.), noted, "Asyst has always been an innovator in software, as evidenced by some of their auto-ID connectivity products, such as the SMART-Traveler System. The addition of GW Associates adds even greater depth to the company's portfolio of fab-wide automation solutions. Clearly, Asyst is taking the steps necessary to ensure that it provides the comprehensive communication software infrastructure required for both connectivity and e-diagnostics applications."

GW Associates' founder and president, Jack Ghiselli, stated, "We are eager to leverage our synergistic technologies to better serve our combined fab and OEM customers worldwide. Currently, we are achieving significant success with our 300mm tool development programs. In fact, in the first four months of this year, our GWconX300T connectivity software has been installed on more than 30 types of 300mm process, metrology and material-handling equipment. Most recently, we provided KLA-Tencor with SECS/GEM software packages for its full suite of 300mm product offerings to ensure their tools comply with 300mm industry connectivity standards."

Benefits to Semiconductor Equipment Manufacturers
GW Associates has strong customer relationships with many of the world's top OEMs, including Applied Materials and KLA-Tencor, from which the company derives more than 50 percent of its business. Asyst believes that the products and services brought under the Asyst banner with this acquisition will benefit equipment manufacturers (OEMs) - and ultimately the chip manufacturers - in a number of ways, enabling Asyst to:

• Provide a complete, pre-integrated connectivity package to process and metrology equipment manufacturers;
• Offer OEMS a low-risk means to build systems that comply with industry standards and user requirements; and
• Help OEMs improve costs and time-to-market for software connectivity development.

Asyst's SMART-Traveler System (STS), a fab-wide auto-ID, operator interface and tool communication system, is already a key element in automating fabs and improving their productivity and efficiency. Asyst's auto-ID systems are installed in more than 50 fabs worldwide. Asyst is the market-share leader for auto-ID systems in 300mm automated fabs.

Details of Acquisition
GW Associates will become a wholly owned Asyst subsidiary, headed by GW Associates president, Jack Ghiselli. GW Associates' products will be offered as part of Asyst's integrated suite of products. Asyst will maintain GW Associates' existing site in Sunnyvale, Calif. The purchase price consists of an initial payment of approximately $8 million in cash and an estimated 0.45 million shares of stock. The remaining $16 million will be paid on the one-year anniversary of the acquisition, in either cash or stock, or a combination of the two.

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: failure to efficiently integrate acquired companies, failure to retain employees of acquired companies, dependence on a few significant customers, the strain on operations from our rapid growth, the volatility of semiconductor industry cycles, competition in the semiconductor equipment industry, the transition of the industry from 200mm wafers to 300mm wafers, risks associated with the acceptance of new products and product capabilities, including our Plus Portal systems, and other factors more fully detailed in the Company's most recent 10Q quarterly report on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

About GW Associates Inc.
Founded in 1975 and headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif., GW Associates Inc. is the semiconductor industry's leader in enabling factory integration products that comply with Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International's (SEMI) Semiconductor Equipment Communications Standards (SECS) and the SEMI Generic Equipment Model Standard (GEM), as well as the new 300mm standards. The company also provides computer software and services for factory automation in a variety of electronics manufacturing environments. GW Associates is located at 1183 Bordeaux Drive, Sunnyvale, Calif. 94089. GW Associates can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.gwa.com.

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.