TRKN Trikon Technologies (MM)

Trikon Brings its Production-Proven Metallization Cluster Tool Technology to the China IC Market NEWPORT, United Kingdom, April 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Trikon Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:TRKN), a technology leader in the wafer fabrication equipment and services to the global semiconductor industry, announced that it has placed its Sigma fxP(R) metal deposition technology for evaluation in one of China's leading foundries. The foundry will evaluate the tool for a variety of metallization applications, including interconnect, barrier layers and salicides. Company CEO Dr. John Macneil said that this is Trikon's first placement of its cluster tool technology into China. Trikon has about 120 metallization cluster tools in production, mostly in Europe, where it has demonstrated its reliability and productivity in the manufacture of power, consumer and automotive devices as well as DRAM. Trikon believes that there is a good technology fit between China's new cost-conscious fabs and Trikon's metallization cluster tools. "By bringing our metallization tools to China's fabs we believe that Trikon can provide them with a competitive advantage by lowering costs and increasing productivity," said Dr. Macneil Dr. Macneil emphasized that China is a significant part of Trikon's strategy for 2005. "We are aiming to increase our market share in Asia significantly in 2005, and China is at the core of that goal," he said. "Placing a tool into one of the leading fab's in China is a key milestone." "The technology and cost benefits of the Sigma fxP, proven by years of production operation in many fabs and backed by strong customer references led to this placement," commented Dr. Macneil. "The evaluation partner recognized that the Sigma fxP can contribute to its goal of being the leading foundry provider of low cost, high performance mainstream silicon IC products." Trikon defines "mainstream silicon" as that produced by robust process technologies at proven technology nodes that can be ramped quickly to profitable production. Manufacturers installing or upgrading mainstream silicon fabs need low-cost, high-reliability process tools. The best 200-mm tools going into China's new fabs have to provide this cost effectiveness, but should not be limited in extendibility or flexibility. By focusing its deposition and etch technologies on 'mainstream silicon' fabs, Trikon plans to address the needs of manufacturers of cost-sensitive semiconductors who are not best served by equipment suppliers focused just on the leading technology nodes. Safe Harbor Statement "Safe Harbor" Statement Under the Private Securities Litigation Act of 1995: This news release contains certain forward-looking statements that include, without limitation, statements by Dr Macneil and about Trikon's business strategy and the ability to grow our sales in Asia and the potential benefits of our metallization tools to fabs. These forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially, including, but not limited to the economic conditions within the semiconductor capital equipment industry, demand for Trikon's products and services, and possible changes in the company's strategy. Additional factors that may cause actual results to differ are included in the more detailed cautionary statements included in the company's SEC reports, including, without limitation, its annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2004 and its current report on Form 8-K filed March 15, 2005. About Trikon Technologies Trikon Technologies is a technology leader in the supply of wafer fabrication equipment and services to the global semiconductor industry. Trikon develops and manufactures advanced capital equipment for chemical and physical vapor deposition (CVD and PVD) of thin films and plasma etching for use in the production of semiconductor devices. These are key components in most advanced electronic products, such as telecommunication devices, consumer and industrial electronics and computers. More information is available on the Internet at: http://www.trikon.com/. DATASOURCE: Trikon Technologies, Inc. CONTACT: media, Stew Chalmers of Trikon Technologies, Inc., +1-818-980-3762 Web site: http://www.trikon.com/

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