July 13, 2004 – SEMI has appointed Tetsuro (Terry) Higashi, chairman of Tokyo Electron Limited (TEL), as chairman of the global industry association’s board of directors at a meeting held during SEMICON West in San Francisco, CA.

Higashi succeeds George W. Chamillard, chairman of Teradyne Inc., who served as chairman for the past year. The results of the association’s annual elections, including three new board members, were announced at the annual SEMI membership meeting held during the SEMICON West 2004 exposition in San Francisco, said a SEMI press release.

“Higashi-san is a visionary leader and I look forward to his guidance during his tenure as chairman,” said Stanley Myers, president and CEO of SEMI. “He is very enthusiastic about leading the SEMI board as it looks closely at providing increased value to our broad-based industry membership.”

Higashi, who has been a member of the SEMI Board of Directors since 1999, began his career at TEL in 1977 after graduating from graduate school, Tokyo Metropolitan University. He was appointed vice president of TEL’s Diffusion Systems Department in 1988 and elected to the company’s Board of Directors in 1990. Higashi was named managing director in 1994, president and representative director in 1996 and CEO in 1998. He retired as CEO in June 2003 and currently serves as chairman of the board, TEL.

“I look forward to working with the SEMI Board of Directors, membership and staff to further advance the association’s mission,” Higashi said.