Compound Semiconductor Community rates AIXTRON again as one of the 10 BEST

!!! Press Release !!!

Compound Semiconductor Community rates AIXTRON
again as one of the 10 BEST

Aachen, 5 July, 2004 - AIXTRON has again ranked as one of the 10 BEST in VLSI Research's independent Customer Satisfaction Survey in the category of 'Small Suppliers of Wafer Processing Equipment' as well as in the overall 10 BEST 'Focused Suppliers of Chip Making Equipment'. AIXTRON moved from number four to the number two position in the wafer processing 10 BEST rankings which clearly reflects the successful approach to push continuous improvements in customer service and performance of its state-of-the-art MOCVD equipment.

This confidence shown by AIXTRON's customers may be mainly attributed to the superior high quality local service rendered by AIXTRON's Global Service Operations with subsidiaries in the US, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and China. The AIXTRON Regional operations offer to the customers on-site support with short response times and maintain well equipped spare parts stocks.

The VLSI Research Customer Satisfaction Survey is distributed worldwide in six languages and questions customers on critical issues such as equipment performance and customer service. As the worldwide market and technology leader in MOCVD equipment AIXTRON has continuously improved the performance and quality of its equipment as well as its customer service over the last years.

Steve Perry, Executive Vice President and COO of AIXTRON's Global Service Operations comments: "We are pleased that the continuous improvements in Customer Satisfaction have once again received positive feedback from our customers. Fulfilling our Customers' requirements is obviously in line with our overall goal of Customer Satisfaction. We would like to thank every customer who has taken the time to participate in this year's VLSI Customer Satisfaction Survey. The input of our customers is very important for us to identify problems and evaluate potential for improvements in service and technology. Customer Support and Customer Satisfaction is a company wide continuous process that AIXTRON is dedicated to improving."

AIXTRON is the world leading supplier of equipment for epitaxial films. 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 fiber 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. AIXTRON AG (FSE: AIX ISIN DE0005066203) is listed in the Prime Standard and Tec DAX of the German Stock Exchange (Deutsche Börse) and is included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index World and the MSCI World Index.

For further information please contact:

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