Cree, Inc. to Acquire Gallium Nitride Substrate and Epitaxy Business from ATMI, Inc.

Cree, Inc. to Acquire Gallium Nitride Substrate and Epitaxy Business from ATMI,
Inc. 


DURHAM, N.C., March 25  /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Cree, Inc.  today announced
that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the gallium nitride
(GaN) substrate and epitaxy business of Advanced Technology Materials, Inc., a
wholly-owned subsidiary of ATMI, Inc. , through an asset purchase transaction. 
Under the terms of the agreement, Cree will purchase the assets of the business,
including related intellectual property, fixed assets and inventory, in exchange
for cash.  The parties anticipate that the acquisition, which is subject to
certain third party approvals and other customary conditions, will close during
the fourth quarter of Cree's fiscal year ending in June.  The acquisition will
be accounted for under the purchase method of accounting with no resulting
goodwill.  The transaction is not expected to have a material effect on Cree's
earnings per share.

Chuck Swoboda, CEO and President of Cree, stated, "We believe ATMI's GaN
substrate and epitaxy capability will complement Cree's existing silicon carbide
and GaN materials business.  In addition, this acquisition provides Cree with
fundamental IP related to GaN substrates and epitaxy technology which is
synergistic with our existing patent portfolio in the optoelectronic, materials
and microwave areas."

Dr. Calvin Carter, Cree's Director of Materials Technology, added, "We are
pleased to enter into this agreement with ATMI.  They are awell respected and
recognized industry leader in GaN materials.  We intend to continue to service
existing ATMI GaN customers and believe our own use of GaN substrates could
provide performance enhancements for our future products."

Cree is an advanced semiconductor company that leverages its expertise in
silicon carbide (SiC), gallium nitride (GaN) and silicon (Si) materials
technology to produce new and enabling semiconductors.  The products include
blue, green and near ultraviolet (UV) light emitting diodes (LEDs), near UV
lasers, radio frequency (RF) and microwave devices, and power switching devices.
 Targeted applications for these products include solid state illumination,
optical storage, wireless infrastructure and power switching. For more
information on Cree, please visit our web site at http://www.cree.com/ .

This press release contains forward-looking statements involving risks and
uncertainties, both known and unknown, that may cause actual results to differ
materially from those indicated.  Actual results may differ materially due to a
number of factors, including the risks that the acquisition may not be completed
as scheduled, the acquired operations may not achieve the results expected, we
may have difficulties retaining existing customers of the acquired operations,
the costs and challenges of integrating the acquired operations with our other
businesses may be greater than expected and other factors discussed in Cree's
report on Form 10-K for the year ended June 29, 2003and subsequent reports
filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. 

DATASOURCE: Cree, Inc.



CONTACT:  Fran Barsky, Investor Relations Manager of Cree, Inc.,

[phone], or fax, [phone], or 



Web site:  http://www.cree.com/ 

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