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Technology Stocks : Kulicke and Soffa -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Steve168 who wrote (3223)	2/15/1999 7:56:00 AM
From: James A. Chiafery	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 5482

N E W S For Immediate Release Company Contacts: Analysts: Jim Chiafery 215-784-6436 Media: Henri Van Parys 215-784-6818 Kulicke & Soffa Makes Strategic Investments in Advanced Packaging Solutions Willow Grove, PA, February 15, 1999 - Kulicke and Soffa Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ: KLIC) today announced two strategic initiatives designed to reposition the Company with new technologies for advanced semiconductor packaging. "We are placing venture capital type bets on those technologies we believe will be central to meeting customers' next generation IC packaging needs," said C. Scott Kulicke, chairman and chief executive officer of K&S. "Increasingly, IC packaging technology is limiting the performance of high end electronic systems. The products that should emerge from these efforts will enable our customers to deliver at the board level the performance inherent in leading edge ICs." In a move to provide cost-effective multi-layer laminates, K&S purchased the "X-LAM technology" of MicroModule Systems(tm) of Cupertino, California. X-LAM enables production of next generation, high performance BGA substrates, daughter cards and multi-layer boards. With line widths and via diameters 2 to 3 times smaller than current state of the art substrates, X-LAM technology will offer highly cost-effective laminates using fewer layers for any given wiring density. High pin count and small form factor applications should benefit from the enhanced performance this type of multi-layer board offers. In sync with market demand, a development line is expected to be in place by the end of FY99 and volume capacity planned for late FY2000. In an effort to provide unique, engineered material solutions for semiconductor assembly, K&S and Polyset Inc., a developer of proprietary polymer materials and catalysts, have entered into a joint venture, Advanced Polymer Solutions, LLC (APS). The joint venture will deliver underfills, liquid encapsulants and die attach adhesives using novel chemistry. This material set offers new levels of low stress, moisture resistance and flow characteristics, which provide benefits to existing products as well as for emerging chip scale and flip chip packages. APS expects to begin shipment of qualification material to key customers in late FY 1999 with increased volume anticipated in the latter half of FY2000. Certain matters discussed in this news release, including forecasts of future demand, are forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to materially differ, either better or worse, from those projected. Further discussions of risk factors are available in the Company's most recent SEC filings Kulicke & Soffa is the world's largest supplier of semiconductor assembly equipment. The Company serves the integrated circuit assembly market with a product line that includes wire bonding, die bonding, wafer dicing and factory automation equipment, as well as expendable tools and materials, including bonding wire, capillaries, wedges, die collets and saw blades, and has sales and service facilities worldwide. The Company's website address is www.kns.com.