San Jose CA - October 4, 2000 -- Olympus Integrated Technologies America Inc. (OITA), a newly formed subsidiary of Olympus Corporation, Japan has expanded into its corporate headquarters in Silicon Valley. The facility is for product development as well as customer and technical support. The operation contains two cleanrooms designed for customer demonstrations and product development. The development lab will be used exclusively for optimizing OITA's integrated optics, and customization of products to meet the semiconductor industry's requirements.

The subsidiary, established in May 2000, and officially introduced during SEMICON West in July is on schedule as one of Silicon Valley's newest start-ups. Rick LaFrance, president of OITA explains, "This will be one of the first times a Japanese equipment company will be establishing a venture of this nature in the United States. Our intention is to globalize Olympus products by providing U.S based product development and product definition and by working in close partnership with suppliers to the industry. Olympus Integrated Technologies America Inc. is a 'start-up' with the backing of Olympus Japan, an eighty year old, $4 billion dollar organization. As a separate subsidiary of Olympus we are able to establish our business process in a new way which will better reflect the needs of customers and our ability to be responsive to the changing marketplace, particularly in the semiconductor equipment market and Silicon Valley. "

OITA's new headquarters are located in the recently developed Baytech Park in San Jose. A prime Silicon Valley location with neighboring buildings housing Cisco Systems, Schlumberger ATE and Steag Microelectronics.

About Olympus-Integrated Technologies America
Olympus Integrated Technologies America, Inc. of San Jose provides product and direct sales/service support for Olympus optical inspection and defect review products and OEM Optics in the U.S. market. Olympus-ITA is an emerging semiconductor equipment supplier with the backing of Olympus Corporation, Japan, an eighty- year old, $4 billion dollar organization.