June 5, 2001 — SAN JOSE, CA — Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) will merge the programs, operations and staff of the Semiconductor Industry Suppliers Association (SISA) into SEMI North America, a regional division of the global industry association.

“We are pleased to unify the North American-based semiconductor supplier community into a single organization within SEMI. The merger will strengthen the technical depth of SEMI programs and consolidate the supplier voice in the region,” said Stanley T. Myers, president and CEO of SEMI. “We warmly welcome the SISA staff into the SEMI organization and look forward to enhanced service for our membership.”

Since its formation, SISA has been dedicated to sponsoring programs that enable its members to cooperatively develop technology, build customer relationships and solve common problems of a non-competitive nature.

The organization began in the mid 1980’s when a group of SEMI member companies launched an independent association, then called SEMI/SEMATECH, to interface with SEMATECH, an industry consortium representing U.S. industry technology interests and competitiveness. By that time, SEMI had adopted a global charter that prevented it from acting as the U.S.-only liaison to SEMATECH.

With the decline of trade frictions and growth of global ties in the semiconductor industry, SEMATECH changed its focus toward an international agenda; U.S. government funding of the consortium was discontinued; the organization signified its new orientation by changing its name to International SEMATECH; it invited broader supplier-interface participation; and the supplier interface organization to SEMATECH, SEMI/SEMATECH, became SISA.

The merger also complements continuing efforts by SEMI to delineate a regional identity for its North America region operations that is consistent with those in Asia Pacific, Europe, Japan and Korea. SEMI will locate the North America region operations headquarters in Austin, Texas, while continuing existing operations in Washington D.C. and Boston. The association’s global operations headquarters will continue to be located in San Jose, California.

SEMI has offered employment to the existing SISA staff. The SEMI staff in Austin will be consolidated with the existing SISA staff in a new facility in the near future