FCS Fairchild Semiconductor International, Inc. (MM)

Soitec Appoints Seasoned Industry Leaders to Board Positive trend in SOI shipment volumes in the first quarter of 2004-2005 confirmed BERNIN, France, July 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Soitec (Euronext, Paris), the leading manufacturer of silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers and other engineered substrates, today announced that at its annual general meeting held on July 9, 2004, company shareholders approved all significant resolutions presented including the appointment of two seasoned executives to its board of directors. The new members -- Joseph R. Martin, age 56, senior executive vice president and vice chairman of the board for Fairchild Semiconductor Corp. (NYSE:FCS), and Doug J. Dunn, age 59, president, CEO and chairman of the board of management with ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) -- will join the Soitec board immediately. Martin has more than 25 years of experience in the semiconductor industry. In addition to the Fairchild Semiconductor board, he also serves on the board of directors of Brooks Automation Inc., where he is the chairman of the Nominating and Governance Committee and is a member of both the Compensation and Audit Committees. Prior to joining ASML, Dunn was CEO of the Consumer Electronics division and the Semiconductor division of Royal Philips Electronics. He gained extensive experience in the semiconductor industry working for GEC-Plessey Semiconductors and Motorola Semiconductors. Dunn currently serves on the boards of ASML, ARM Holdings PLC, Sendo PLC and STMicroelectronics. Commenting on the appointments, Andre Auberton-Herve, Soitec chairman and CEO, stated, "We are delighted to welcome Joe and Doug to the board. Their long-standing, high-level experience in the semiconductor industry, together with their expert knowledge of the opportunities and challenges facing the market and their recognized independence, will greatly benefit our board. These appointments are a major step toward achieving a level of corporate governance in accordance with the standards expected by the market and the company's shareholders. Soitec is now even better placed to deliver value- added material solutions and products that meet the needs and expectations of the major players in the semiconductor market." Auberton-Herve also took the opportunity to comment on the company's expectations for the current quarter. "We are very pleased with the ongoing improvement in SOI shipment volumes versus the prior year," he said, "and we are confident of delivering strong sequential growth in Q1 2004-2005 as the adoption of SOI wafers by the global semiconductor industry continues to accelerate." Sales for the first quarter of financial year 2004-2005 will be announced on July 19, 2004, following the close of the Paris Stock Exchange. About Soitec: Soitec is the world's leading manufacturer and supplier of SOI wafers. Headquartered in Bernin, France, Soitec provides a broad range of advanced thin-film substrates for IC manufacturing, including bonded SOI (UNIBOND(TM)) wafers -- all of which are manufactured using Soitec's proprietary Smart Cut(TM) process. Both shares and convertible bonds are listed on the Nouveau Marche of Euronext Paris (respectively ISIN code FR0004025062 - SOI and FR0000182537). Additional information is available on the Internet at http://www.soitec.com/ Smart Cut and UNIBOND are trademarks of S.O.I. TEC Silicon On Insulator Technologies. DATASOURCE: Soitec CONTACT: Camille Darnaud-Dufour, Vice President, Communications, of Soitec, Mobile (U.S.): +1-650-796-0634, Mobile (France): +33-06-79-49-51-43, or ; or Brandy Lee of MCA, +1-650-968-8900, Fax: +1-650-968-8990, or , for Soitec Web site: http://www.soitec.com/

Copyright