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Cognex Corporation Aquires Siemens' Semiconductor Wafer Identification Business

NATICK, MA, March 31, 2003--Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ: CGNX), the world's leading supplier of machine vision systems, announced today that it has acquired the wafer identification business of Siemens Dematic AG, a subsidiary of Siemens AG (NYSE: SI). Siemens Dematic is the world's leading supplier of logistics and factory automation equipment and has been the leading supplier of wafer identification systems to semiconductor manufacturers in Europe.

Under the terms of the agreement, Cognex acquired, for an undisclosed amount of cash, the rights to all of Siemens’ patented and unpatented wafer identification technology, as well as the related assets of their wafer identification business. The acquisition was completed on March 31st.

“Cognex has been in the wafer identification business since our company was founded in 1981,” said Dr. Robert J. Shillman, Cognex’s CEO and Chairman. “In fact, our very first product…called Dataman…was a wafer reader. Since that time, Cognex has grown to be the leading provider of wafer identification systems in North America and Asia. This acquisition establishes Cognex as the leading supplier in Europe as well, and enhances our position as the top supplier worldwide.”

“While the wafer identification business at Siemens was very successful, it was too small to get the visibility it deserved within a multi-billion dollar global corporation,” said Dr. Peter Drexel, Member of the Managing Board of Siemens Dematic. “For that reason we have decided to spin it out. We chose Cognex because of their industry leadership and their many years of experience with wafer readers. And, because Cognex is a global company with an excellent reputation for sales and service, we know that our customers will be in very good hands.”

Semiconductor manufacturers use wafer identification systems to read special codes that are etched by laser on semiconductor wafers as they go through various stages of the manufacturing process. These codes enable manufacturers to automatically identify and trace wafers at every processing stage and to build a database on their processing history. This traceability is critical to making sure that manufacturing processes are optimized, and that problems are discovered and corrected quickly. Wafer identification has become an increasingly important tool for semiconductor manufacturers because the larger 300mm wafers are very valuable, and, therefore, the cost of a misprocessed wafer can be significant.

Siemens Dematic AG, is the world's leading supplier of logistics and production automation systems. The business is comprised of three units, focusing on Electronic Assembly Systems, Postal Automation, and Material Handling. The company, with approximately 11,000 employees worldwide, has annual revenue of approximately $3 billion. More information on Siemens Dematic may be found at www.siemens-dematic.us

Siemens AG (NYSE: SI), headquartered in Munich, Germany, is a leading global electronics and engineering company. It employs 426,000 people in 192 countries and reported worldwide sales of $77.8 billion in fiscal 2002 (10/1/01 - 9/30/02). Corporate headquarters for Siemens' U.S. businesses are located in New York City. For more information: www.usa.siemens.com

Cognex Corporation designs, develops, manufactures, and markets machine vision systems, or computers that can "see." Cognex is the world's leader in the machine vision industry, having shipped more than 175,000 vision systems, representing over $1.3 billion in cumulative revenue, since the company's founding in 1981. Cognex's Modular Vision Systems Division, headquartered in Natick, Massachusetts, specializes in machine vision systems which are used for automating the manufacture of a wide range of discrete items and for assuring their quality. Cognex's Surface Inspection Systems Division, headquartered in Alameda, California, specializes in machine vision systems which are used for inspecting the surfaces of products manufactured in a continuous fashion, such as metals, paper, plastics, and nonwovens. In addition to its corporate headquarters in Natick, Massachusetts, Cognex also has regional offices located throughout North America, Japan, Europe, and Southeast Asia. Visit Cognex on-line at http://www.cognex.com.

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