Cognex Corporation Receives Purchase Order for Over $6 Million from Shinkawa

Natick, MA -- Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX), the world's leading supplier of machine vision systems, has received a purchase order for more than $6 million from Shinkawa, Ltd., a leading Japan-based manufacturer of semiconductor production equipment. Shinkawa expects to take delivery of all of the Cognex machine vision systems within the next six months.

This $6 million order is in addition to a purchase order for nearly $12 million received from Shinkawa less than a year ago.  That order, which was the largest single purchase order received in Cognex's history, was originally expected to ship through the end of 2000.  Since placing that order, however, Shinkawa has accelerated their delivery requirements, and as a result that order was completed much sooner than expected. 

"The fact that Shinkawa has exhausted last June's record-breaking order in less than half the expected time is another example of the strong demand currently being experienced by semiconductor capital equipment makers," said Dr. Robert J. Shillman, Cognex's President, CEO, and Chairman.  "And, as a key supplier to these capital equipment manufacturers, this increased demand has accelerated our growth dramatically."

Shinkawa will integrate the Cognex vision systems into their wire bonding, die bonding, and tape bonding equipment.  These automated, high-speed, and highly accurate machines are used during the manufacture of semiconductor chips to attach and assemble semiconductor die to lead frames and other substrates.  The Cognex vision systems are an integral part of each bonding machine; they guide and monitor the bonding process by automatically determining where the connections between the die and the lead frame are to be made.

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 to date more than 100,000 machine vision systems.  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, and plastics.  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.