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News Article

Kopin Establishes Second Site for HBT Production

Company Invests $20 Million to Further Increase Production with Addition of Advanced 60,000-square-foot Plant in Massachusetts

Taunton, MA. Kopin Corporation (NASDAQ:KOPN), the leading provider of gallium arsenide (GaAs) heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBT) for wireless, fiber-optic and Internet communications, today announced that it is establishing a second, high-volume production fab for HBT transistors.

The 60,000-square-foot plant is located on John Hancock Drive (the "Hancock fab") in the Myles Standish Industrial Park in Taunton, Mass., 1.5 miles from the Company s Taunton corporate headquarters and current 25,000-square-foot HBT production facility. The Hancock fab is slated to be operational by October 2000. This new fab is expected to generate approximately 40 percent of Kopin s HBT production by the first quarter of 2001 and has capacity for further expansion.

"Adding a second site enables Kopin to shorten production lead times and to provide a steady and predictable supply of HBT components to meet the strong demand from our major integrated circuit partners," said Dr. John C.C. Fan, Kopin s president and chief executive officer. "Our expansion is part of our strategic plan to deliver precisely what telecommunications manufacturers are looking for - component production that is reliable, consistent and highly scalable."

Dr. Fan continued, "We have observed a continual expansion in the strong demand for wireless and Internet applications. We believe HBT will be used in many high-speed digital circuits, and we are rapidly expanding our facilities to satisfy this increasing need. Also, our two facilities and our experienced technical team enable us to work actively with our partners on a variety of new HBT products for an ever widening arena of applications, and to rapidly bring these new products into production."

Kopin s new site expands the Company s position as the world s leading volume manufacturer of GaAs HBT transistors for the wireless communications market. The Company s proprietary, high-performance transistors are used to produce power amplifier circuits for CDMA, TDMA, GSM digital cellular and PCS handsets. Kopin s HBT transistors also are ideally suited for the third-generation (3G) digital wireless standard, which will support wireless Internet applications. In addition, Kopin s transistors are used in circuits for broadband OC-48 and OC-192 SONET systems, which form the backbone of the highest speed fiber-optic networks.

"In order to quickly meet strong demand, we have chosen an existing 60,000-square-foot building. Kopin will invest up to $20 million in clean room and production equipment in the site to create what we believe will be the world s most advanced HBT facility, which will enable us to achieve greater production efficiencies," Dr. Fan said. "As part of this expansion, we plan to increase our workforce, which already has doubled in the past 12 months. We are very happy to continue to grow in Taunton and are grateful to the local economic development office that assisted us in securing this facility."

"Our HBT capacity expansion is on schedule," said Daily S. Hill, Kopin s vice president of GaAs operations. "In March 2000, we completed the first phase of our capacity expansion by installing six new HBT machines. We plan to complete the next phase -- the installation of eight additional HBT systems at our Taunton headquarters and Hancock fab -- by the end of this year.

"We continue our focus on scalability of operations, predictability and consistency of supply, fast-cycle delivery, industry leading price-performance and new HBT products," Hill said. "These are the factors that are key to the success of our partners HBT programs."

About Kopin

Kopin Corporation is a leading manufacturer of gallium arsenide transistor products and miniature flat panel displays for wireless communications and digital imaging applications. The Company s GaAs HBT products are used to produce power amplifier circuits for wireless telephone handsets and gigabit circuits for fiber-optic and Internet data transmission. Kopin s CyberDisplay family of ultra-small, high density imaging devices is designed for portable communication and consumer products including camcorders, digital cameras and wireless Internet appliances. Kopin s Web site is located at www.kopin.com.

Statements in this news release about Kopin s addition of a second HBT production fab are made under safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could materially affect future results. Among these risk factors are general economic and business conditions and growth in the gallium arsenide integrated circuit and materials industries, the impact of competitive products and pricing, availability of third-party components, availability of integrated circuit fabrication facilities, the Company s ability to successfully expand its production facilities, cost and yields associated with production of the Company s HBT transistor wafers, loss of significant customers, acceptance of the Company s products, continuation of strategic relationships, and other risk factors and cautionary statements listed from time to time in the Company s periodic reports and registration statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including but not limited to, the Company s prospectus dated October 22, 1999 and its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 1999.

About Kopin

Contact:
Kopin Corporation
Matthew Micci, VP, Sales & Mktg.
Richard Sneider, CFO
(508) 824-6696
mmicci@kopin.com
rsneider@kopin.com

or
Sharon Merrill Associates, Inc.
Scott Solomon
(617) 542-5300
ssolomon@investorrelations.com

 

Kopin Corporation
Matthew Micci, VP, Sales & Mktg.
Richard Sneider, CFO
(508) 824-6696
mmicci@kopin.com
rsneider@kopin.com
or
Sharon Merrill Associates, Inc.
Scott Solomon
(617) 542-5300
ssolomon@investorrelations.com
 
E-mail: mmicci@kopin.com
Web site: http://www.kopin.com
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