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ASM International N.V. Ranked Among World’s Top 10 Companies for Most Valuable Patent Portfolios by IEEE Spectrum


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BILTHOVEN, the Netherlands, November 7, 2006 - ASM International N.V. (NASDAQ: ASMI and Euronext Amsterdam: ASM) announced today that it has been named among the Top 10 global companies in IEEE Spectrum’s first annual survey of the world’s most valuable patent portfolios. The rankings are based on U.S. patents filed in 2005, and the value of their impact on the company and its industry.
IEEE Spectrum’s first patent survey was conducted by 1790 Analytics, a research firm specializing in patent citations, which reviewed 1027 organizations “with the most influential - and potentially most lucrative - patent portfolios,” according to Harvey Goldstein, in his article “Patent Power” in IEEE’s Spectrum. http://spectrum.ieee.org/nov06/4699.
According to Goldstein’s article, a companies’ Pipeline Power was based on its IEEE Spectrum rankings in four categories:

* Pipeline Growth - tracking a company’s patent activity trend
* Pipeline Impact - IP impact: “...the extent to which a company is developing its own technology and the impact of its technology on others in the industry”
* Pipeline Generality, - the breadth of technologies that build upon existing patents
* Pipeline Originality - the technological variety of patents

“Quality - not quantity - counts when it comes to patent portfolios,” stated Goldstein. What sets the IP leaders apart in IEEE Spectrum’s assessment, he noted, is “by patenting innovations that lead to further innovations.”
“We are honored to be recognized for the quality of our intellectual property portfolio, and for being in the distinguished company of such technology giants as Micron Technology, IBM, Intel, Hewlett Packard, Microsoft, and Hitachi, among others,” stated Arthur del Prado, President and CEO of ASM International.
The results of the survey, published in the November 2006 issue of IEEE Spectrum, International Edition, “Patent Power”, pages 36-39, can be viewed on line at http://spectrum.ieee.org/nov06/4699.



About IEEE Spectrum
IEEE Spectrum and IEEE Spectrum Online offer news, insightful analysis, and authoritative perspectives of the impact of emerging technologies on business, the economy and our lives. Award-winning, cutting-edge technology journalism makes IEEE Spectrum a monthly staple for more than 385,000 engineering managers and technology business leaders worldwide. www.spectrum.ieee.org

About ASM International
ASM International N.V. and its subsidiaries design and manufacture equipment and materials used to produce semiconductor devices. The company provides production solutions for wafer processing (Front-end segment) as well as assembly and packaging (Back-end segment) through facilities in the United States, Europe, Japan and Asia. ASM International’s common stock trades on NASDAQ (symbol ASMI) and the Euronext Amsterdam Stock Exchange (symbol ASM). For more information, visit ASMI’s web site at www.asm.com.


Safe Harbor Statement under the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: All matters discussed in this statement, except for any historical data, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. These include, but are not limited to, economic conditions and trends in the semiconductor industry generally and the timing of the industry cycles specifically, currency fluctuations, the timing of significant orders, market acceptance of new products, competitive factors, litigation involving intellectual property, shareholder and other issues, commercial and economic disruption due to natural disasters, terrorist activity, armed conflict or political instability, epidemics, and other risks indicated in the Company’s filings from time to time with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including, but not limited to, the Company’s reports on Form 20-F and Form 6-K. The Company assumes no obligation nor intends to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect future developments or circumstances.



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