SEZ Hits Major Milestone
- Taps Growing China Market With First Wet Bench Sale outside Europe

In line with its strategy of becoming a global single-source supplier for wet wafer preparation solutions, the SEZ Group (Swiss: SEZN) today announced it received a multi-million dollar order from ACE Semiconductor (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., a large semiconductor test and packaging house in China, for four immersion systems for batch processing of 200 mm wafers.

The SEZ immersion tool is one of the newest, most cost competitive wet bench tools in the marketplace for batch wafer processing. The systems will be used in advanced packaging applications. Delivery of the four immersion tools is slated for Q1 2003.

“This order represents a major milestone for SEZ as this is the company’s first wet bench order outside of Europe and signifies the first step in achieving our strategic goal of expanding our wet bench business to a global level,” said Kurt Lackenbucher, executive vice president of SEZ. “In addition, this order represents our first major entry into the Chinese market, which we expect will become a major contributor to our Asia-Pacific business. This sale will further enable SEZ to capitalize on the existing infrastructure the SEZ Group has built as a world leader in customer support and technology.”

About SEZ
The SEZ Group is a leading supplier of wet wafer surface preparation equipment to the global semiconductor manufacturing industry. The company's proprietary Spin-Processor technology (single wafer technology) as well as its immersion tools for batch processing forms the basis of a broad equipment solution portfolio for wafer cleaning and decontamination. SEZ maintains development, manufacturing, sales, marketing and service operations in Europe, Asia-Pacific, Japan and North America. Registered in Zurich, Switzerland, SEZ Holding AG is listed on the Swiss Exchange under the symbol SEZN since 1996