FREMONT, Calif.— September 12, 2005—Asyst Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: ASYT), a leading supplier of integrated automation and connectivity solutions that enhance semiconductor and flat panel display manufacturing productivity, announced today that it is offering its Interface A-compliant equipment data acquisition (EDA) Client Emulator to the semiconductor industry under an open-source license. This is the first time Asyst has provided any of its industry-critical connectivity and automation software as open source, and represents major support by Asyst of the SEMI Interface A standards. The EDA Client Emulator open-source software will be available from the company under license beginning October 31, 2005.

The Asyst EDA Client Emulator provides an interactive environment that allows the testing of EDA client scenarios against Interface A implementations. The product allows fabs, equipment vendors and system integrators to test a software application’s client-side EDA capabilities, as well as run EDA usage scenarios as defined by International SEMATECH.

Jim Holliday, vice president, software marketing, for Asyst said, “We have known for some time that there is a strong interest among equipment manufacturers, end-users and suppliers to continue their assessments of the manufacturing and economic benefits of new EDA implementations. In order to facilitate the testing of Interface A implementations, Asyst began shipping the EDA Client Emulator to all of our customers in October 2004 as part of our software automation suite. Based on positive feedback from customers, we decided to offer the EDA Client Emulator on an open source basis. Such a move is designed to support the adoption of Interface A on a broader scale and to accelerate its automation and yield benefits across the industry.”

In addition to the EDA Client Emulator, Asyst has developed the first stand-alone testing utility focused on Interface A Compliance Validation. This testing utility provides “one touch” compliance verification of equipment and fabs’ EDA implementations against the latest versions of SEMI standards E120, E125, E132 and E134.

“We created this testing utility based on direct input and requests from IC manufacturers, equipment vendors, and our own long-term participation in the creation of EDA standards. We know that automating and validating EDA compliance against a set of established metrics is essential to the rapid adoption of Interface A,” said Holliday.

Asyst Technologies, Inc. is a leading provider of integrated automation solutions that enable semiconductor and flat panel display (FPD) manufacturers to increase their manufacturing productivity and protect their investments in materials during the manufacturing process. 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 chip and FPD manufacturers, as well as original equipment manufacturers, or OEMs, to select and employ the value-assured, hands-off manufacturing capabilities that best suit their needs. Asyst's homepage is http://www.asyst.com.

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: Asyst’s ability to provide targeted customer benefits and product efficiencies and performance, to integrate its systems effectively with those of OEM customers, to deliver and support its products in a timely manner, and other factors more fully detailed in Asyst’s annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended March 31, 2005 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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