November 20, 2001 – Tokyo, Japan – Nikon Corp. vice chairman and CEO Enya Kenji said the company will cut a further 600 of the 2,100 employees now working in its mainline stepper business by end-March.

“We are predicting that orders for steppers will not pick up until after the first half of 2002, reflecting the adverse effect of the terrorist attacks in the US,” Enya told the Financial Times.

“Although we are already pushing for job cuts in the stepper business, we are going to cut even more jobs to 1,500 in March 2002 from the current 2,100 employees, which had been reduced from 3,100 last March,” he added.

“We need to watch the developments of future demand for our stepper products carefully before making a decision on whether to cut or boost production over the next three or four months,” he said.”We cannot deny the possibility that we will see a net loss for the full year for the second consecutive year.”

Nikon downgraded the outlook for its full-year operating profit to 12 billion yen from the previously projected 23 billion yen.

“The weaker earnings projections are due to a continued fall in demand for our stepper products. Additionally, digital camera demand is expected to turn down in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on the US,” Enya said.