AIXTRON GROUP OPENS NEW SHANGHAI SERVICE OFFICE

!!! Press Release !!!

AIXTRON GROUP OPENS NEW SHANGHAI SERVICE OFFICE

Further strengthening Customer Support and Market Leadership in China

Aachen/Shanghai, September 12th, 2002 - The AIXTRON Group is proud to announce the opening of a new service office in Shanghai, China, offering a comprehensive service, local spare parts supply and process support for the entire AIXTRON Group product range which includes AIXTRON AG, Thomas Swan Scientific Equipment Ltd. and Epigress AB CVD systems. A team of highly qualified service engineers possessing vast expertise in the group products will support all customers, operating directly from the new office. Dr. T.Z. Chung is the chief representative of the Shanghai Service Office, bringing with him both MOCVD experience and a close relationship with all companies of the AIXTRON Group for more than 10 years.

A comprehensive consignment stock for MOCVD tools supplied by AIXTRON, Thomas Swan and Epigress will be installed in the near future. Mr. Steve Perry, Executive Vice President and COO, responsible for AIXTRON's Global Service Operations (GSO) comments: "The establishment of this new liaison branch office in China reflects AIXTRON's goal to continually expand its 'Network of AIXcellence'; we can now offer our Chinese customers a fast, reliable and high quality local service for all products of AIXTRON, Thomas Swan and Epigress, an essential prerequisite for coping with the increasing demands of the strongly growing MOCVD market in China. We very much look forward to providing the same outstanding service in China, that our customers worldwide highly regard."

The AIXTRON Group has already sold an impressive number of MOCVD systems in mainland China. Examples for AIXTRON's customer references are the Chinese Academy of Science, Chongqing Optoelectronics Research Institute (COERI), Hebei Semiconductor Research Institute (HSRI), Hi-Tech Optoelectronics Co. Ltd., Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Huineng Power Electronics Co. Ltd., Institute of Physics / CAS, Institute of Semiconductors / CAS, Nanjing Electronic Devices Institute (NEDI), Podium Photonics Ltd., Shanghai Beida Blue Light Technology Co. Ltd. (SBBLT), Tsinghua University, WRI Accelink and Xiamen Sanan Electronics Co. Ltd. Customer references for Thomas Swan Scientific Equipment Ltd. include BUPT, CAS, Huagong Technology, Jiangxi Focus, Nanchang University, Nanjing University, Peking University, Shenzhen University and WRI Accelink.

With an installed base of well over 650 systems worldwide, AIXTRON is, as verified by VLSI Research Inc, the world leading supplier of equipment for semiconductor epitaxy and has been rated once more amongst the 2002 10 BEST in its category in the most recent VLSI Customer Satisfaction Survey. Its equipment is used by a diverse range of customers worldwide to manufacture critical, advanced components such as HBTs, pHEMTs, MESFETs, Lasers, LEDs, Detectors and VCSELs used in fibre optic communications systems, wireless and mobile telephony applications, optical storage devices, illumination, signaling and lighting, as well as a range of other leading edge technologies. The company has an extensive service and support network in over 15 countries. AIXTRON's many customers include Agere, Alcatel, Anritsu, ATMI, Avalon, AXT, Epistar, Epson, Honeywell, Infineon, IQE, IQE Silicon Compounds, ITT, JDS-Uniphase, Kopin, LumiLeds, Mitsubishi, Motorola, Nortel, Optospeed, Osram, Procomp, Samsung, Showa Denko, Siemens, ST Microelectronics, Sumitomo, Thales, UEC, VPEC as well as numerous Japanese corporations. AIXTRON systems have also been installed in the most renowned research institutes worldwide, including CNRS, Fraunhofer Institute, ITRI-OES, JPL, Meijo University, NDL Taiwan, Research Center Jülich, RIKEN, Sandia Nat Lab, Tsinghua University and the University of Tokyo. AIXTRON is very active in advancing MOCVD technology through collaborations and joint R&D projects with major partners worldwide. AIXTRON AG (FSE: AIX ISIN DE0005066203) is included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index World and the MSCI World Index.

TSSEL's Customers world-wide include Agere Systems, Agilent Technologies, Alfalight, Corning, Cree Lighting, Epiplus, Epitech, Epivalley, Honeywell, IMEC, Knowledge*On, Kopin, Landmark, LG, Lucent, Lumileds, Luminent, MIT, Nortel, Oepic, Peking University, QinetiQ, Samsung, TRW, Toshiba, University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB), University of Bremen, University of Cambridge and the University of Southern California (USC).

For further information please contact:

Dr. Claus Ehrenbeck
Head of Investor Relations and
Corporate Communications
AIXTRON AG
Kackertstr. 15 - 17
D-52072 Aachen, Germany
Phone:+49 241 8909 444
Fax: +49 241 8909 445
E-mail: invest@aixtron.com