DuPont Photomasks Begins Commercial Production in Dresden, Germany

May 17, 2004

DuPont Photomasks, Inc. announced that it has begun commercial production at the world's most advanced photomask production facility in Dresden, Germany. The new facility is the keystone for DuPont Photomasks' production of advanced photomask technologies that will support semiconductor devices with design rules of 65-nanometers and below.

"DuPont Photomasks' new campus in Dresden expands our ability to supply leading edge customers with the advanced photomask technologies they have come to rely on from us," said Marshall Turner, chairman and chief executive officer. "The unique design of our operations in Dresden will provide our global customer base with next generation photomask technologies in support of their roadmaps. Our Dresden campus will quickly make its mark on our industry as the world's most advanced photomask research and production center."

DuPont Photomasks' Dresden facility includes a 1,400 square meter cleanroom with advanced e-beam and laser photomask pattern generators, along with other advanced processing, inspection, metrology, cleaning and repair tools. Employing more than 90 people, the new Dresden facility is fully operational.

DuPont Photomasks' Dresden facility is co-located with the Advanced Mask Technology Center (AMTC), a joint venture photomask research and development-center owned by Advanced Micro Devices, Infineon Technologies and DuPont Photomasks. By combining research and commercial production in the same cleanroom, DuPont Photomasks will rapidly and seamlessly transfer highly innovative and optimized photomask technologies from development to volume production. Through this unique design DuPont Photomasks will deliver to its global customer base leading-edge photomasks with the technology depth and breadth to meet the needs of semiconductor manufacturers around the world. In addition to leveraging operational efficiencies, over time, DuPont Photomasks' Dresden facility plans to acquire the advanced equipment currently used for research and development at the AMTC for commercial production of tomorrow's most advanced photomasks.