DuPont Photomasks Breaks Ground for New Production Facility in Gresham, Oregon

Business Wire, Dec 3, 1997

GRESHAM, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 3, 1997--DuPont Photomasks, Inc. (NASDAQ:DPMI), more commonly referred to as DPI, today broke ground for its new production facility in Gresham, Oregon. A ceremony was held at the site of the new plant on 13 acres leased from LSI Logic Corporation (NYSE:LSI), a world leader in the design, production and sale of advanced custom semiconductors.

DPI has retained the services of PageSoutherlandPage, Applied Dynamics, and Hoffman Construction to design and build the new state-of-the-art facility. PageSoutherlandPage is a leader in semiconductor plant design and engineering and has completed over 200 projects worldwide. Applied Dynamics is recognized in the industry for its vibrational analysis capabilities and its unique clean room design concepts. Hoffman Construction, based in Portland, Oregon, has constructed semiconductor manufacturing facilities worldwide, including several $1 billion "mega-fabs."

"The new Gresham facility will focus on servicing the 15 existing or planned semiconductor wafer fabs in the area," said J. Michael Hardinger, chairman and chief executive officer of DuPont Photomasks. "We are now the largest producer of photomasks for the production of semiconductor devices with design rules at or below 0.35 micron. As leading edge demand continues to increase, we are making the necessary investments to serve our customers' needs."

Photomasks are high purity quartz plates that contain precision images of integrated circuits and are used to pattern the circuit images onto semiconductor wafers. DPI is the largest photomask supplier in the world and the only fully integrated manufacturer that also makes photoblanks and pellicles, two essential components in photomask production.

The new DPI plant will include several important new features that have never before been incorporated into any photomask production facility in the world. The clean room will meet the critical operating parameters for devices down to 0.10 micron in size, and it will be modular in design to allow for dynamic modification in the future to accommodate advanced photomask production techniques now under development at DPI.

The sensitivity of the equipment and processes DPI will use to manufacture photomasks employing deep sub-micron design rules requires improvements to public infrastructure ensuring that the impact of ground vibrations is minimized. At present, Multnomah County, the Oregon Economic Development Department, the Oregon Department of Transportation, and DPI are working to develop a plan to satisfy those requirements.

"DPI will be an important addition to our area's semiconductor value chain," said Marcy Jacobs, regional development officer for the Oregon Economic Development Department. "All agencies are focused on providing the appropriate infrastructure required to manufacture these critical components and we expect to have all details finalized by mid-December. We look forward to welcoming DPI to our community."

The facility will occupy 71,000 square feet, including a 16,000 square foot, sub-Class 1 clean room housing the best equipment available in the industry. The project represents a total planned investment of approximately $75 million over the next four years. Operations are expected to begin near the end of 1998, and it is estimated that the facility will employ 200 people at full production. When the Gresham facility and a second plant currently under construction near Glasgow, Scotland, are complete, DPI will have eleven manufacturing facilities in its global network.

"DuPont Photomasks represents a solid addition to our local economy and will further strengthen our rapidly growing semiconductor manufacturing base," said Gresham Mayor Gussie McRobert. "We are very happy to see DPI build in Gresham."

DuPont Photomasks, Inc.

DPI is the world's largest photomask manufacturer, operating globally from nine strategically located facilities in North America, Europe and Asia. The company produces and supplies photomasks as well as photoblanks (photomask substrates) and pellicles (protective covers for photomasks). DPI is headquartered in Round Rock, Texas, and had worldwide sales in fiscal 1997 of over $260 million. DPI maintains a Web site at http://www.photomask.com. -0-

Note: This release includes forward-looking statements based on management's current plans and expectations. Such statements involve risks and uncertainties, including risks associated with construction costs and schedules as well as sufficient demand for the company's products in support of the new facility, which cannot be predicted or quantified and which may cause future activities and results of operations to differ from those suggested. For additional information, please refer to the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

CONTACT: DPI Investor Relations

Dianne Schedler, 512-310-6559

OR

Edelman Worldwide

John Satterfield/Paul Kapur, 415/968-4033