FIRST BLUE LED IN CHINA: TSINGHUA UNIVERSITY ...

!!! Press Release !!!

FIRST BLUE LED IN CHINA: TSINGHUA UNIVERSITY OPERATES PROVEN AIXTRON MOCVD TOOL ENTERING CHINESE LED MARKET

Aachen/Beijing, January 16th, 2002 - Tsinghua University and AIXTRON are pleased to announce the purchase, successful installation and start up of an AIX 2000HT system for the growth of GaN related materials. This represents AIXTRON's first ever production type GaN MOCVD system and the largest GaN MOCVD reactor in Mainland China. During the on-going surge in China for ramping up production of Nitride blue LEDs, many AIXTRON MOCVD proven production tools have already been sold for this purpose in China, some of which have already passed acceptance, or are ready for delivery to customers in the near future.

In October 1999, Tsinghua University and Shandong Incalcu Group reached a collaboration agreement regarding the development of ultra-high brightness blue LEDs. Since then, both parties have worked very hard to enable the purchase of some key equipment, including AIXTRON's proven AIX 2000HT MOCVD system, and consequently have set up a small scale production line in a 1000 class clean room in record time. The fast installation of this highest quality equipment was carried out in accordance with highest standards. Blue LED epi-wafers that match the standard worldwide have now been successfully achieved in less than three months since acceptance. Tsinghua University represents therefore the first self-efficient R&D institute in this field in Mainland China.

Professor Yi Luo of Tsinghua University states: "Being the first in Mainland China to purchase a commercial MOCVD system, we have to be careful, and to be sure. Through some very extensive market research, and after comparing the MOCVD systems from all equipment vendors world-wide, we decided to purchase from AIXTRON, because of the high quality of their products, as well as their outstanding service and support. Within the short time of using this system, we have already achieved some good results. The features of our blue LED chips: a 470nm wavelength, a power above 1.5mW and a forward bias voltage of 3.6V at a current of 20 mA, corresponding to more than a 1 Cd packaged LED. This data is competitive with current levels on the international market. It also demonstrates that the challenging goal of this R&D project has to a great extent been already achieved."

As the leading supplier of semiconductor epitaxial equipment and with an installed base of well over 600 systems worldwide AIXTRON is represented in over 15 countries . The company provides an extensive service and support network for maintenance as well as upgrading of systems. Due to its high level of customer service worldwide, AIXTRON has been rated once more among the 2001 10 BEST in its category in VLSI Research Inc's Customer Satisfaction Survey. In addition AIXTRON's close and reliable partnership with its stakeholders (e.g customers, suppliers, inventors) is reflected in the inclusion of AIXTRON shares into the Dow Jones Sustainability Index 2001. AIXTRON's many customers include Agere, Alcatel, Anritsu, ATMI, Avalon, AXT, Epson, Honeywell, IQE, ITT, JDS-Uniphase, Kopin, LumiLeds, Mitsubishi, Motorola, Nortel, Optospeed, Osram, Procomp, Samsung, Showa Denko, Sumitomo, Thales, UEC, VPEC as well as numerous Japanese corporations. AIXTRON systems have also been installed in many renowned research institutes worldwide, including CNRS, Fraunhofer Institute, ITRI-OES, JPL, Meijo University, Research Center Jülich, RIKEN, Sandia Nat. Lab, University of Tokyo. AIXTRON is very active in advancing MOCVD technology through collaborations and joint R&D projects with major partners worldwide.

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