News Release

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 16, 2000--Applied Materials, Inc. (Nasdaq:AMAT), the world's largest supplier of wafer fabrication systems and services to the global semiconductor industry, today announced that its Customer Productivity Support(TM) (CPS) organization has been awarded the International Standards Organization (ISO) 9001 certification for quality assurance. ISO 9001 is an internationally recognized standard that ensures the highest quality products and services based on established, verifiable procedures. Achieving this certification demonstrates Applied Materials' commitment to customer satisfaction, and to delivering excellence in all areas of operation.

"The principles of ISO 9001 have helped us to improve our business processes and support our mission to be the leading provider of integrated fab productivity solutions for Applied Materials' customers," said David J. Fried, corporate vice president of the CPS Product Business Group. "We are extremely pleased to have achieved this important certification and will certainly maintain and build upon the ISO standard of quality as we move forward."

Applied Materials' CPS organization, formerly known as Installed Base Support Services (IBSS), is a global service network comprising more than 3,500 highly trained engineers and technicians who support the company's installed base of more than 16,000 systems at leading chipmakers' fabs around the world. Among the many CPS offerings are the Total Service Solutions(TM) (TSS) products, which have transformed service and support for semiconductor fabrication equipment by lowering customers' overall operating costs while improving fab and system productivity.

ISO certification is attained when an independent audit firm's assessment verifies that an organization's day-to-day business practices match its process documentation. The Applied Materials CPS assessment was conducted by Det Norske Veritas (DNV), the Applied Materials Corporate ISO 9000 registrar. The DNV assessment verified the approach, deployment and results of the CPS quality management system.

Applied Materials (Nasdaq:AMAT) is a leader of the Information Age and the world's largest supplier of products and services to the global semiconductor industry. Applied Materials' web site is http://www.appliedmaterials.com.

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