Fremont, CA, February 19, 1998 - Asyst Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: ASYT), the leading supplier of minienvironment and SMIF-based technology to the worldwide semiconductor industry, today announced it has received a $6 million order from Worldwide Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (WSMC) (Hsinchu, Taiwan). The order, for multiple Asyst SMIF-LPT™ (Load Port Transfer) systems and SMIF-Pods™, extends Asyst's dominance as the sole SMIF provider in the Taiwanese foundry semiconductor market. Installation of the Asyst-SMIF™ systems at the WSMC 8-inch foundry fab is scheduled to begin in April 1998.

The newest customer for Asyst, WSMC is a newly formed joint venture between Winbond Electronics (Hsinchu, Taiwan) and the Chinese Development Corp. The WSMC facility is slated to produce various integrated circuits (ICs) with 0.25-micron design rules, including memories, microprocessors and communication ICs. According to Asyst, WSMC turned to Asyst's LPTs and Pods to achieve the better-than-Class 1 processing environments necessary to reach the facility's production goal of over 30,000 wafers per month with maximized yields.

Kenneth Leung, Asyst's vice president of Asia-Pacific sales, commented, "We are established in Taiwan as the low-risk SMIF solution. WSMC chose us because we have the breadth of experience to help WSMC ramp-up quickly to meet their production goals."

Commenting on Asyst's position within the Taiwanese foundry market, Terry Moshier, Asyst's president and chief operating officer, said, "Taiwan's semiconductor foundry industry serves the global market with a broad mix of microprocessors, logic ICs and DRAMs. The product demands and SMIF requirements for these Taiwan fabs continue to provide stable growth for Asyst. We are well positioned to meet capacity expansions and provide fab upgrades required for this highly competitive region."

The Asyst LPT resolves the robotics-transfer (I/O) challenges specific to vacuum loadlock equipment and cluster tools while improving manufacturing ergonomics and reducing cycle times by as much as 60 percent. The LPT meets all SEMI standards and guidelines and integrates SMIF-Pod cassette loading and unloading into a wide variety of 6- and 8-inch wafer processing tools.

Except for statements of historical fact, the statements in this press release are forward-looking. Such statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the statements made. These factors include, but are not limited to, general economic conditions, semiconductor industry cycles, risks associated with the acceptance of new products and product capabilities, and other factors more fully detailed in the Company's most recent Forms 10-K and 10-Q, and annual report to shareholders.

About Asyst
Asyst Technologies, Inc. is a leading provider of material handling systems that help semiconductor manufacturers improve their integrated circuit (IC) manufacturing productivity. The company's Asyst-SMIF™ System combines state-of-the-art minienvironments with advanced robotics to create ultraclean processing environments that are both comprehensive and flexible. The SMART-Traveler™ System (STS) works in tandem with SMIF to eliminate misprocessing. Both Asyst-SMIF and its companion STS products are integral to seamless factory automation. Asyst Software, Inc. is dedicated to the development of software products for equipment communications and automated material handling, identification and tracking. Founded in 1984, Asyst Technologies, Inc. is headquartered in Fremont, CA, with facilities in Europe and the Far East. Asyst Software is located in San Jose, CA

About SMIF
SMIF stands for Standard Mechanical InterFace, the material handling approach that enables wafer transfer to and from sealed SMIF environments without exposure to cleanroom ambient conditions. SEMI standards exist for 150, 200 and 300 mm wafer sizes.