Fremont, CA, January 24, 2002 - - Asyst Technologies, Inc., (Nasdaq NM: ASYT), a leading provider of integrated automation solutions for semiconductor manufacturing, today announced financial results for its third fiscal quarter ended December 31, 2001. Results were in line with the guidance the company outlined when it reported its second fiscal quarter results in late October and partially reflect the impact of a strategic restructuring that was implemented during the third quarter.

Net sales for the quarter were $37.3 million, down 71% from the $128.0 million reported for the comparable quarter one year ago, which was the company's peak revenue quarter in the last industry upcycle. Excluding the effect of a one-time $12.8 million inventory reserve, gross margin for the quarter was 20.2%, which is in line with company guidance and reflective of the sharp fall-off in sales. Operating expenses, excluding goodwill amortization and charges related to the restructuring, were $28.5 million.

"While we are frustrated with the unprecedented weakness in global markets for chips and chip manufacturing equipment, we are using this period productively to position Asyst for the current downturn and for the inevitable upturn," said Mihir Parikh, chairman and CEO of Asyst. "As part of our strategic restructuring, we have focused the company around our two primary customer groups: chip manufacturers, which will be served by our new Fab Solutions Group, and equipment manufacturers, which will be served by our new Equipment Solutions Group. This alignment will allow us to better serve our customers in terms of sales, support and products. We also have consolidated facilities, reduced the workforce by nearly 40%, streamlined R&D around strategic product areas, and brought in a number of new executives to run product groups, sales and finance. As a result of these initiatives, we enter this year significantly leaner and more focused, with the flexibility to ride out more quarters of soft demand if that should occur, but at the same time poised to exploit every opportunity."

During the quarter, the company recognized restructuring charges of $5.9 million, of which $4.8 million was cash, primarily related to employee severance and facilities consolidation. Also, Asyst recognized a non-cash impairment charge of $60.4 million to reduce goodwill and other long-lived assets to a level approximating current fair value. This is consistent with accounting pronouncements SFAS 142 and 144, which in the coming year will require companies to discontinue amortization of goodwill and to periodically test and recognize impairment of goodwill.

Excluding all charges, the inventory reserve, and amortization of acquired intangible assets, net loss for the quarter was $13.9 million, or $(0.39) per share. Including all reserves and charges and amortization of intangibles, the company reported a net loss of $89.8 million, or $(2.54) per share.

Cash burn for the quarter, including the current cash portion of the restructuring charges and net capital expenditures, was $12.0 million. As a result of the restructuring, the company expects to reduce the rate of cash burn to less than $10 million per quarter beginning in the first fiscal quarter ending June 2002. At quarter-end, the company had $106 million of cash and short-term investments.

Outlook

For its fourth fiscal quarter ending March 31, 2002, the company expects revenue to be essentially flat with the prior quarter, in the range of $35 to $40 million. The company expects to achieve an improvement in gross margin to the 21% to 22% range, and is currently forecasting operating expenses to be in the range of $25 to $26 million.

Highlights for Fiscal Third Quarter 2002

• The company introduced its new G3 front-opening unified pod (FOUP) wafer carrier, which offers enhanced reliability, interoperability and particle performance over the company's industry-leading G2 FOUP. Asyst currently enjoys market share of approximately 80% in the FOUP carrier market, and has won sole or primary supplier status in 6 of the 8 300mm fabs currently in production.

• Asyst also introduced the latest generation of its 300mm front-end interface, the Front-Load Series 3-EP. This new product enables OEM tools to meet or exceed industry's toughest cleanliness requirements (better than ISO Class 2) and leads the industry in interoperability with a variety of FOUPs. Designed to set a new industry standard in reliability, the Series 3-EP Front-Load is flexible and custom-configurable, featuring new options for bar-code reading, programmability and other AMHS requirements, and complies with the full range of applicable SEMI standards.

• The company announced it has received orders totaling more than $3 million for its Reticle Management System (RMS) from DuPont Photomasks, Etec Systems, Toshiba Machine and two leading North American chipmakers. These are Asyst's first sales in the emerging market for reticle sorters, which is expected to grow significantly as 300mm ramps.

• Subsequent to the end of the quarter, the company announced that it has named two new executives, Rick Friedman and Bill Turnquist, to lead sales in Fab Solutions and Equipment Solutions, respectively. Mr. Friedman has more than 15 years' experience in the semiconductor capital equipment industry, including eight years at Lam Research, where he held a number of leadership positions with regional and global responsibility for sales and field operations. Mr. Turnquist's 20-year career in technology industries includes four years as vice president of sales, metrology group, for KLA-Tencor and seven years with Nanometrics, Inc., first as national sales manager and most recently as chief operating officer and vice president of marketing.

About Asyst

Asyst Technologies, Inc. is a leading provider of integrated automation systems for the semiconductor manufacturing industry, which enable semiconductor manufacturers to increase their manufacturing productivity and protect their investment in silicon wafers during the manufacture of integrated circuits, or ICs. Encompassing isolation systems, work-in-process materials management, substrate-handling robotics, automated transport and loading systems, and connectivity automation software, Asyst's modular, interoperable solutions allow chipmakers and original equipment manufacturers, or OEMs, to select and employ the value-assured, hands-off manufacturing capabilities that best suit their needs.

Conference Call Details

A live webcast of the conference call to discuss the quarter's financial results will take place today at 5:30 p.m. Eastern Time. The webcast will be publicly available on Asyst's website at http://www.asyst.com. A replay of the Webcast may be accessed via the same address until. In addition, a standard telephone instant replay of the conference call is available by dialing (303) 590-3000, followed by the passcode 437177. The audio instant replay is available from January 24th at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time through February 7th at 7:30 p.m. ET.

"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities 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: the volatility of semiconductor industry cycles, failure to respond to rapid demand shifts, dependence on a few significant customers, 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, competition in the semiconductor equipment industry, failure to efficiently integrate acquired companies, failure to retain employees, and other factors more fully detailed in the Company's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended March 31, 2001 and quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2001, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission

Condensed Consolidated Statement of Operations
Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheet
Pro Forma Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations

			Three Months Ended				Nine Months Ended
			December 31,				December 31,
			2001		2000		2001		2000
Net sales			$ 37,329		$ 127,980		$ 155,603		$ 376,463
Cost of sales			42,590		69,985		130,876		204,293
Gross profit			(5,261)		57,995		24,727		172,170
Operating expenses:
	Research and development		9,469		12,042		31,103		32,614
	Selling, general and administrative		19,017		24,237		63,473		68,672
	Amortization of acquired intangible assets		4,601		1,336		12,925		4,404
	Reduction of goodwill and other long-lived assets		60,354		—		60,354		—
	Non-recurring charges		5,920		—		26,121		—
	In-process research and development costs of acquired business		—		—		2,000		—
		Total operating expenses	99,361		37,615		195,976		105,690
Operating income (loss)			(104,622)		20,380		(171,249)		66,480
Other income (expense), net			(874)		469		(1,626)		3,428
Income (loss) before provision (benefit) for income taxes			(105,496)		20,849		(172,875)		69,908
Provision (benefit) for income taxes			(15,648)		7,046		(37,132)		24,135
Income (loss) before cumulative effect of change in accounting principle			(89,848)		13,803		(135,743)		45,773
Cumulative effect of change in accounting principle			—		—		—		(2,506)
Net income (loss)			$ (89,848)		$ 13,803		$ (135,743)		$ 43,267
Basic earnings (loss) per share:
	Income (loss) before cumulative effect of change in accounting principle		$ (2.54)		$ 0.43		$ (3.85)		$ 1.42
	Cumulative effect of change in accounting principle		—		—		—		(0.08)
Basic net income (loss) per share			$ (2.54)		$ 0.43		$ (3.85)		$ 1.34
Diluted earnings (loss) per share:
	Income (loss) before cumulative effect of change in accounting principle		$ (2.54)		$ 0.41		$ (3.85)		$ 1.32
	Cumulative effect of change in accounting principle		—		—		—		(0.07)
Diluted net income (loss) per share			$ (2.54)		$ 0.41		$ (3.85)		$ 1.25
Shares used in the per share calculation:
	Basic		35,419		32,416		35,237		32,295
	Diluted		35,419		33,937		35,237		34,718

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	December 31,	March 31,
	2001	2001
	(unaudited)
ASSETS
Current assets: Cash and cash equivalents Restricted cash equivalents and short-term investments Short-term investments Accounts receivable, net Inventories Deferred tax asset Prepaid expenses and other current assets	$ 97,980 - 7,636 34,603 50,419 57,934 9,259	$ 34,749 52,500 3,000 77,660 76,972 20,068 16,017
Total current assets	257,831	280,966
Property and equipment, net	40,543	40,160
Intangible assets and other assets, net	66,776	87,306
	$ 365,150	$ 408,432
Liabilities and Shareholders' equity
Current liabilities: Short-term loans Current portion of long-term debt and finance leases Accounts payable Accrued liabilities and other Deferred revenue	$ 20,144 2,164 13,488 57,071 5,136	$ 28,776 1,791 29,560 36,495 5,190
Total current liabilities	98,003	101,812
Long-term liabilities: Long-term debt and finance leases, net of current portion Other long-term liabilities	90,615 330	3,683 474
Total long-term liabilities	90,945	4,157
Shareholders' equity: Common stock Retained earnings (deficit)	292,407 (116,205)	282,925 19,538
Total shareholders' equity	176,202 $ 365,150	302,463 $408,432

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			Three Months Ended December 31,		Pro Forma Adjustments		Pro Forma Result
			2001
Net sales			$ 37,329				$ 37,329
Cost of sales			42,590		(12,810)		29,780
Gross profit			(5,261)				7,549
Operating expenses:
	Research and development		9,469				9,469
	Selling, general and administrative		19,017				19,017
	Amortization of acquired intangible assets		4,601		(4,601)		—
	Reduction of goodwill and other long-lived assets		60,354		(60,354)		—
	Non-recurring charges		5,920		(5,920)		—
	In-process research and development costs of acquired business		—				—
		Total operating expenses	99,361				28,486
Operating income (loss)			(104,622)				(20,937)
Other income (expense), net			(874)				(874)
Income (loss) before provision (benefit) for income taxes			(105,496)				(21,811)
Provision (benefit) for income taxes			(15,648)		7,699		(7,949)
Income (loss) before cumulative effect of change in accounting principle			(89,848)				(13,862)
Cumulative effect of change in accounting principle			—				—
Net income (loss)			(89,848)				(13,862)
Basic earnings (loss) per share:
	Income (loss) before cumulative effect of change in accounting principle		$ (2.54)				$ (0.39)
	Cumulative effect of change in accounting principle		—				—
Basic net income (loss) per share			$ (2.54)				$ (0.39)
Diluted earnings (loss) per share:
	Income (loss) before cumulative effect of change in accounting principle		$ (2.54)				$ (0.39)
	Cumulative effect of change in accounting principle		—				—
Diluted net income (loss) per share			$ (2.54)				$ (0.39)
Shares used in the per share calculation:
	Basic		35,419				35,419
	Diluted		35,419				35,419