Aachen, 21 July, 2003 – AIXTRON is proud to announce that it has earned BEST IN CLASS status for its leading sustainability performance in the semiconductor industry from Storebrand, Norway. The rating is based on a detailed analysis of environmental and social aspects among other things of companies listed in the Morgan Stanley Capital International World Index (MSCI World). Only those ranking in the top 30 percentile of this analysis qualify for investment by Storebrand Principle Funds and Storebrand Investments’ SRI mandates are awarded with the BEST IN CLASS mark.

In addition to Storebrand, analysts from sustainability and corporate responsibility oriented investment institutions such as Bank Sarasin (Switzerland), imug (Germany), Kempen (UK), SAM (Switzerland) and scoris (Germany) follow AIXTRON with research coverage closely. Sustainability oriented investors focus their asset allocations in particular on those companies capable of creating long-term value for their stakeholders by establishing a good corporate governance. According to a recently published study by the Deutsches Aktieninstitut (Germany) and the European Business School (Germany) there are 320 sustainability principle driven funds in Europe and 600 worldwide. In 2001 Germany had 100 mutual sustainability funds, managing a volume of EUR 2.5 billion. In the US, currently around 15% (US$ 1,180 billion) of the funds of institutional investors is allocated according to ethical, social, ecological and sustainability criteria.

Paul Hyland, CEO of AIXTRON: “In AIXTRON’s 20 years history, from a 1983 founded spin-off from Aachen University to our today’s position as the clear market leader in the enabling technology for state-of-the-art electronics and photonics, corporate governance has always been an integral part of the company’s strategy. We greatly appreciate that our efforts for maximum stakeholder benefit are recognized by Storebrand’s sustainability oriented investment analysts and managers serving pension schemes as well as private and public sector institutions. Furthermore, we are pleased to see that major elements of our corporate philosophy are now becoming decisive standards for an increasingly larger group of long-term investors."

Storebrand group is a leading player in the markets for pensions, life and health insurance, banking and asset management and one of the largest asset management operations in Norway.

AIXTRON (ISIN DE0005066203) is listed in the Prime Standard and the TecDAX of the Deutsche Boerse and is member of the MSCI World Index and the Dow Jones Sustainability Index World.