Hitachi Kokusai Electric : Won Prizes in VLSIresearch's Customer Satisfaction Survey for 20 Consecutive Years

Tokyo, May 19, 2017－Hitachi Kokusai Electric Inc. (hereinafter, 'Hitachi Kokusai'; President and Chief Executive Officer: Kaichiro Sakuma) has been awarded four prizes: The '10 BEST Large Suppliers of Chip Making Equipment', 'THE BEST Suppliers of Fab Equipment', 'THE BEST Suppliers of Wafer Fab Equipment to Foundation Chip Makers', and 'RANKED 1 in Deposition Equipment' in the annual customer satisfaction survey on semiconductor manufacturing systems conducted by VLSIresearch , a market research company based in California, USA.

This is Hitachi Kokusai's Twentieth consecutive year winning the 10 BEST award and their second year earning the RANKED 1 award. We attribute this result to Hitachi Kokusai having been highly evaluated for technical leadership and the high product performance and quality of its equipment.

This survey of customer satisfaction consists of 15 categories based on 3 key factors which are 'Supplier Performance', 'Customer Service' and 'Product Performance'. The survey was translated into 5 languages and sent to users of semiconductor equipment worldwide by VLSIresearch.

To achieve even better customer satisfaction, we will continue to further improve product qualities and enhance services. By constantly creating higher goals to challenge, we will strive to become a corporation which provides optimal solutions to our customers.

#1The 10 BEST awards are based on each chip making equipment manufacturer as a whole. The 10 BEST Large Suppliers of Chip Making Equipment include the largest suppliers based on a weighted average of each supplier's total revenues from all its market segments.#2THE BEST awards include more detailed markets for each manufacturer. Hitachi Kokusai was awarded in the Fab Equipment and Wafer Fab Equipment to Foundation Chip Makers categories. These categories include silicon wafer fab equipment suppliers based on a weighted average of each supplier's total silicon wafer fab equipment.#3RANKED 1 awards place special distinction on suppliers that achieve the highest rating from customers in any survey category. Hitachi Kokusai's award was earned in deposition equipment.#4VLSIresearch is an award-winning provider of market research and economic analysis on the technical, business, and economic aspects within semiconductor, nanotechnology, and related industries. VLSIresearch provides intelligence for faster and better decision making in the areas of semiconductors, photovoltaics, LEDs, manufacturing, materials, and critical subsystems. VLSIresearch was founded in 1976.