BILTHOVEN, The Netherlands, April 23, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- ASM International N.V. (Nasdaq:ASMI) (Euronext Amsterdam:ASM) today announced the retirement of Daniel Queyssac, and the appointment, effective immediately, of Han Westendorp as Chief Operating Officer of ASM Front-end operations.
At his request, Daniel Queyssac, a 40-year veteran of the semiconductor industry, will leave the company at the end of September 2003. Until that time, he will serve as an advisor to ASM. Commenting on Queyssac's contributions to ASM during a seven-year tenure, Arthur del Prado, President and CEO of ASM International said, "Daniel played a significant part in the expansion of our product mix in both front-end-of-line (FEOL) and back-end-of-line (BEOL) processes as well as the broad acceptance of our product line at the top-end customer base of our industry. We are gratified to have been part of Daniel's distinguished career in the semiconductor industry."
Han Westendorp has been General Manager of ASM Europe since mid-1999. Previously, he worked in various management capacities at Tokyo Electron Massachusetts beginning in 1991 as Chief Scientist, and since 1995 as Vice President of Metal CVD and General Manager. Prior to his years at TEL, Westendorp worked with ASM on the development of ion implant technology. He holds a Ph.D. in Physics and Mathematics from the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands.
Del Prado commented that "Since he joined ASM, Han has been instrumental in developing our relationships with major customers. Han's management and technical experience will undoubtedly continue to benefit the company's future growth and development."
About ASM
ASM International N.V., headquartered in Bilthoven, the Netherlands, is a global company servicing one of the most important and demanding industries in the world. The Company possesses a strong technology base, state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities, a competent and qualified workforce and a highly trained, strategically distributed support network. ASM International and its subsidiaries design and manufacture equipment and materials used to produce semiconductor devices. ASM International and its subsidiaries provide 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 website at http://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, 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 terrorist activity, armed conflict or political instability 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 report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2002.