March 12, 2003 — Veeco Instruments Inc., a Woodbury, N.Y., provider of metrology tools and process equipment, said it has opened an office in Shanghai, China, to support recent orders in the country.

The company said in a news release that it recently received orders from Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, among others. The Shanghai office is slated to have 10 or more employees by the end of the year.

The release quoted Edward Braun, Veeco’s chairman and chief executive, calling China the company’s fastest growth region for microelectronics and research markets.