May 3, 2001 – Veldhoven, Netherlands and San Jose, CA – The proposed merger between ASM Lithography Holding N.V. and Silicon Valley Group Inc. has received the green light by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).

The companies plan to close the transaction within the next few weeks.

As part of ASML’s agreement with CFIUS under provisions of the Exon-Florio Amendment, ASML will commence a six-month period in which it explores several strategic alternatives in regard to the SVG subsidiary Tinsley Laboratories, including making a good-faith effort to sell this optical polishing subsidiary or, in the absence of such a sale, operating it under adherence to a set of CFIUS-mandated restrictions.

Tinsley, which has been a focus of the CFIUS review, reported revenues of approximately $17 million in fiscal year 2000 representing approximately 2 % of SVG’s total revenues.

Doug Dunn, Chief Executive Officer of ASML, said in a written release, “We are very pleased that the U.S. government has cleared the way for our two companies to merge and that we have reached a solid agreement that meets the needs and concerns of the U.S. government and allows ASML and SVG to proceed forward and provide leading edge lithography equipment to the semiconductor industry.”

“ASML has a long and significant history in the U.S. which generates approximately 28% of ASML’s present revenues. We believe that the combination with SVG will further enhance our competitiveness and significant strength in the global lithography marketplace, providing more jobs both in the U.S. and Europe and preserving strong technology development in the U.S. We are committed to investing in the U.S. in order to maintain, develop and expand our technological edge and capabilities for the benefit of our present and future customer base,” said Dunn.

The new company will have a combined workforce of about 7,500 people. About 50 % will be employed in the U.S.