Applied Materials Announces Resignation of Dr. Sasson Somekh from Company's Management Team; Somekh Continues Board of Directors Role
SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 6, 2003--Applied Materials, Inc. (Nasdaq:AMAT) announced today that Dr. Sasson (Sass) Somekh, executive vice president and a member of Applied Materials' Board of Directors, will resign from his day-to-day management responsibilities with the company, effective the end of August. Dr. Somekh will continue to serve on Applied Materials' Board of Directors.
Since joining Applied Materials in 1980, Somekh has been instrumental in the development and engineering of the company's breakthrough products, including the AME 8100(TM), Applied Materials' first etch system, the Precision 5000(R) Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) integrated processing system, the Endura(R) Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) system and the Mirra(R) Chemical Mechanical Polishing system. He has been a vital contributor to the company's technical leadership and played a significant role in the growth of the company over the last 23 years.
Somekh has been a leader not only at Applied Materials, but he has also been recognized for his many contributions to the semiconductor industry. In 1988, he received the SEMMY Award from the Semiconductor Equipment and Materials Institute for his work in establishing plasma etch as a production technology in semiconductor processing. In 1993, Somekh was recognized as a co-developer of the Applied Materials Precision 5000 system at its induction as the first semiconductor manufacturing system to be placed in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Institution. In 1994, he received the SEMI Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions to the semiconductor equipment industry. Somekh is also a director of Synopsys, Inc.
Applied Materials (Nasdaq:AMAT), the largest supplier of products and services to the global semiconductor industry, is one of the world's leading information infrastructure providers. Applied Materials enables Information for Everyone(TM) by helping semiconductor manufacturers produce more powerful, portable and affordable chips.
Applied Materials' web site is http://www.appliedmaterials.com.
CONTACT: Applied Materials, Inc. Paul Bowman, 408-563-1698 (investment community)
Jeffrey Lettes, 408-563-5161 (editorial/media)
SOURCE: Applied Materials, Inc.