Oct. 10, 2002 – Milpitas, CA – Sipex Corp. is continuing to restructure its manufacturing operations. The company will close its test operations in Billerica, MA, and transfer all its backend activities to its current subcontractors in Malaysia. The move will start immediately and will be completed by the end of the current quarter.

SIPEX already performs 100% of its assembly and over 50% of its testing offshore. The company further expects to transfer substantially all of its equipment currently used in this operation to its subcontractors. This will result in a restructuring charge in the current quarter consisting principally of severance costs related to the downsizing. Approximately 45 employees will be affected by these actions.

Walid Maghribi, president and CEO said, “With the previously announced exiting of the hybrid business, the Billerica test operation no longer made sense. We continue to do what we believe is right for the long term growth of the company and expect that this action will streamline our operations, reduce our lead-time to our customers, and further reduces our cost structure.”

The company’s headquarters will be relocated to Milpitas, CA.

“As a result of the actions taken in the past few weeks, it was only logical to align the headquarters to where the executive management currently operates. The Billerica facility will continue to operate as an engineering site, along with other administrative support functions,” Maghribi noted.