X Initiative and ASML confirm manufacturability of X Architecture

ASML is one of the world's leading providers of advanced technology systems for the semiconductor industry. The company offers an integrated portfolio of lithography, track and thermal systems mainly for manufacturing complex integrated circuits. Headquartered in Veldhoven, the Netherlands, ASML is traded on the Euronext Amsterdam and on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbol 'ASML'. For 2001 the company reported net sales of over €1.8 billion and employs more than 7,000 people in 50 locations throughout the world. For more information, visit www.asml.com.

The X Architecture, the first production-worthy approach to the pervasive use of diagonal interconnect, reduces the total interconnect, or wiring, on a chip by more than 20%. Based on initial evaluations, this wire-length reduction is expected to deliver simultaneous improvements of +10% greater chip performance, +20% less power dissipation, and +30% more chips per wafer for complex, multiple-metal-layer ICs such as systems-on-chip (SoCs). For the past 20 years, chip design has been primarily based on the de facto industry standard 'Manhattan' architecture, named for its right-angle interconnects resembling a city-street grid. The X Architecture rotates the primary direction of the interconnect in the fourth and fifth metal layers by 45 degrees from a Manhattan architecture. The new architecture maintains compatibility with existing cell libraries, memory cells, compilers and IP cores, by preserving the Manhattan geometry of metal layers one through three.

The X Initiative, a group of leading companies from throughout the semiconductor industry, is chartered with accelerating the availability and fabrication of the X Architecture, a revolutionary interconnect architecture based on the pervasive use of diagonal routing. The X Initiative's five-year mission is to provide an independent source of education about the X Architecture, to facilitate support and fabrication of the X Architecture through the semiconductor industry supply chain, and to survey usage of the X Architecture to track its adoption. Representing leaders spanning the entire design-to-silicon infrastructure, X Initiative members include Artisan Components, Inc.; ASML Netherlands B.V.; Dai Nippon Printing (DNP); DuPont Photomasks, Inc.; Etec Systems, Inc., an Applied Materials, Inc. company; HPL Technologies, Inc.; KLA-Tencor Corporation; Leica Microsystems AG; Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.; MicroArk Co. Ltd.; Monterey Design Systems, Inc.; Numerical Technologies, Inc.; NurLogic Design, Inc.; PDF Solutions, Inc.; Photronics Inc.; Prolific Inc.; RUBICAD Corporation; Sagantec; Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd.; Silicon Logic Engineering, Inc.; SiliconMap, LLC.; Silicon Perspective Corp.; Silicon Valley Research Inc.; Simplex Solutions, Inc.; STMicroelectronics; Sycon Design, Inc.; Tensilica, Inc.; Toppan Printing Co.; Toshiba Machine Co., Ltd.; Toshiba Corporation; Virage Logic, Inc.; Virtual Silicon Technology, Inc.; and Zygo Corporation. Membership is open to all companies throughout the semiconductor supply chain.

This release contains forward-looking statements (including, without limitation, information regarding semiconductor design, production and performance improvements resulting from the X Architecture, the compatibility of the X Architecture with current technology, the future success of X Architecture technology and the ability of certain of the X Initiative members to support the X Architecture) that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause the results of X Initiative members and other events to differ materially from managements current expectations. Actual results and events may differ materially due to a number of factors including, among others: future strategic decisions made by the X Initiative members; failure of the X Architecture to enable the production of designs that are feasible and competitive with current designs or future alternatives; future strategic decisions made by X Initiative members or others that inhibit the development of the X Architecture; demand for advanced semiconductors that are developed using the X Architecture; cost feasibility of the production of semiconductors designed using the X Architecture; and the rapid pace of technological change in the semiconductor industry. The matters discussed in this press release also involve risks and uncertainties described in the most recent filings of the X Initiative members with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The X Initiative members assume no obligation to update the forward-looking information contained in this release.