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ASM International NV (NASDAQ:ASMI) BILTHOVEN, the Netherlands, July 16, 2008 - ASM International N.V. (NASDAQ: ASMI and EURONEXT Amsterdam: ASM) today announced that Arthur H. del Prado, Founder of ASM International, and its Former President and CEO, has received the 2008 "Legend of the Industry" award, presented by Needham & Company, LLC, a privately-held full-service investment bank, at their annual dinner during SEMICON WEST. The award is presented each year to an individual who has made extraordinary contributions to the semiconductor industry over an extended period of time. 2008 marks the first year that the "legend" award recipient is a not-American. In making the presentation, Chad Keck, Needham's Vice Chairman cited Arthur del Prado's vision, leadership, longevity and tenacity as the basis for his being named a legend of the industry. In addition to founding ASMI, acknowledged throughout the industry as a leader in enabling technologies, in 1975 Arthur del Prado founded ASM Pacific Technology, Ltd., the world's leading producer of assembly and packaging equipment, with his partner, Patrick Lam. In 1984, Mr. del Prado established ASM Lithography, today the world's largest supplier of lithography equipment to the semiconductor industry, in a venture with Philips N.V. A year later, inspired by a new ASM product development, he founded ASM Ion Implant in Boston, which was sold to Varian Semiconductor in 1986, and became the core of the company's highly successful medium-current ion implant line. Mr. del Prado and ASMI were also founding members of two European consortiums: JESSI, Europe's 6-year initiative on closing the technology gap with the US and Japan, and MEDEA and later MEDEA+, Europe's cooperative microelectronics research and development program. Recognized as a visionary for his contributions to the semiconductor equipment industry over the last four decades, particularly in Europe, Arthur del Prado has earned the designation, "Father of the European Semiconductor Equipment Industry." ASMI's pioneering efforts in the area of transistor formation have been among his more recent achievements. Using its strong silicon germanium (SiGe) epitaxy technologies, ASMI developed strained silicon films that have enabled transistor performance improvements in recent years. And today, atomic layer deposition is enabling the continuation of Moore's Law. Mr. del Prado explains, "For two decades, Moore's law was driven by lithography processes used to etch the pathways of integrated circuits onto the wafers. Today Moore's Law is propelled primarily by materials science, and the ability to construct ever-thinner layers of materials such as hafnium and lanthanum oxides. Atomic Layer Deposition is now, and will continue to be, a key driver of chip fabrication well into the future." Arthur del Prado served as Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Management Board of ASMI from its founding in 1968, until his retirement in 2008. He is currently Honorary Chairman of ASMI and an advisor to the Supervisory Board, and Chairman of the Board of ASM Pacific Technology, Ltd.
About ASM ASM International N.V. and its subsidiaries design and manufacture equipment and materials used to produce semiconductor devices. The company provides production solutions for wafer processing (Front-end segment) as well as assembly and packaging (Back-end segment) through facilities in the United States, Europe, Japan and Asia. ASM International's common stock trades on NASDAQ (symbol ASMI) and the Euronext Amsterdam Stock Exchange (symbol ASM). For more information, visit ASMI's web site at www.asm.com. # # # Safe Harbor Statement under the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: All matters discussed in this statement, except for any historical data, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. These include, but are not limited to, economic conditions and trends in the semiconductor industry generally and the timing of the industry cycles specifically, currency fluctuations, the timing of significant orders, market acceptance of new products, competitive factors, litigation involving intellectual property, shareholder and other issues, commercial and economic disruption due to natural disasters, terrorist activity, armed conflict or political instability, epidemics and other risks indicated in the Company's filings from time to time with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including, but not limited to, the Company's reports on Form 20-F and Form 6-K. The Company assumes no obligation nor intends to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect future developments or circumstances.
Contact: Mary Jo Dieckhaus -- + 1 212 986 2900; Erik Kamerbeek -- + 31 30 2298 500
