Fourth quarter of 2003 net sales of € 163.6 million, up 11.0% from net sales in the third quarter of 2003 and up 19.1 % from net sales in the fourth quarter of 2002;
Full year 2003 net sales of € 581.9 million, up 12.2% compared to € 518.8 million in net sales for the full year 2002. Sales from our Front-end operations were up 7.3% and sales from our Back-end operations were up 17.3%;
Fourth quarter of 2003 net loss was € (5.5) million or € (0.11) per share, including € 6.0 million in restructuring charges in ASMI's Front-end operations, as compared to a net loss of € (9.2) million or € (0.19) per share for the third quarter of 2003 and a net loss of € (6.7) million or € (0.14) per share in the fourth quarter of 2002;
The net loss for the full year 2003 was € (29.3) million or € (0.59) per share as compared to a net loss of € (29.9) million or € (0.61) per share for the full year 2002. Total restructuring charges in our Front-end operations amounted to € 6.5 million;
Strong order intake of € 245.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2003, up 87.6% from the previous quarter. Year-end backlog of € 199.0 million. Full year 2003 order intake was € 637.9 million, up 20.6% from € 529.1 in 2002.

ASM Announces New Wire Bonder Customers

ASM International N.V. (Nasdaq: ASMI and Euronext Amsterdam: ASM) announced today that its 54%-owned subsidiary, ASM Pacific Technology, Ltd. (Hong Kong Exchanges: 0522), the world's largest supplier of assembly and packaging equipment to the global semiconductor equipment industry, has received initial Eagle-60 gold wire bonder orders from two US customers. The bonder deliveries are slated to begin in March 2004.
Patrick Lam, Managing Director of ASMPT, indicated that these initial bonder orders extend the ASM product range supplied to these valued North American customers. "We are particularly proud of these competitive wins that included extensive evaluation of fine pitch, looping control, bonding quality and throughput capabilities", commented Mr. Lam. "Both US companies are leading global suppliers of advanced integrated circuits used in a broad spectrum of sophisticated power and communications end market applications."
Launched in 2002, the award-winning, Eagle-60 gold wire bonder is the industry's first production machine capable of 35-micron fine pitch bonding. It also offers 20-percent higher productivity than its predecessor model. ASM has gained market share with each generation of new gold wire bonders since introduction in 1998.

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