Message from the President
Creating Hope for the Future—Utilizing
Our Advanced Technologies toContribute to Social Development

Celebrating Our 50th Anniversary—Semiconductor Production Equipment

The year 2012 marks the 50th anniversary of the Tokyo Electron

The Tokyo Electron Group built a new plant in Miyagi PrefectureGroup. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all ourin October 2011 to expand our core etching system business. We

stakeholders for their support in our pursuit of excellence.

also began operating two new technology centers—one in Taiwan

The Tokyo Electron Group manufactures production equipmentin 2010 and the other in South Korea in April 2012—in addition toand delivers tangible value to industrial customers through technicalthose we already have in Japan and the United States. These twosolutions and services. We are committed to helping enrich people’s

additional technology centers, with their close proximity to our major

lives, helping achieve a society that offers boundless opportunities,

customers in the fast-growing Asian market, enable us to work withand using our proprietary technologies to address environmental

those customers from an early stage of their R&D projects and tochallenges. All our officers and employees share this commitment

timely develop a new generation of production equipment tailored

and are working together to make Tokyo Electron a visionary andto meet their needs. Furthermore, in May 2012, we acquired U.S.-

innovative company full of energy.

based NEXX Systems, Inc. to leverage its technological expertise toOver the past year, the Japanese economy has faced enormous
challenges from external forces, such as the need to rebuild
communities and industries damaged by the Great East Japan

expand our position and business in the growing field of advanced
semiconductor packaging.
In our core segment of semiconductor production equipment,

Earthquake, the yen’s appreciation to a record level, and the financial

the key to successful business growth is to be quick to understandcrisis in Europe. In this challenging environment, the Tokyo Electron

customers’ needs and incorporate them into product development

Group—never losing sight of its vision of making environmental

using our proprietary technologies. As the limits to the miniaturizationand social contributions—built up its current business lines whileof chips are getting closer, expectations are increasing in theaggressively investing in laying the groundwork for long-term growth.

market for innovation in the structures of and materials used for

Our major investment projects during fiscal 2012 included building

semiconductors. To meet these expectations, we are expanding ouradditional plants and technology centers in Japan and abroad as wellofferings of production equipment for three-dimensional packaging,as acquiring foreign-based technology companies. We are ready to

and are working with Tohoku University to develop production

continue offering our customers tangible value.

equipment for STT-MRAM, a next-generation memory device ofgroundbreaking design.

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—Flat-Panel Display Production Equipment
To meet fast-growing demand for flat-panel displays (FPDs) in China,Becoming a Company in Which All
Employees Are Full of Energy and Passion

we began manufacturing production equipment for FPDs in our new

Throughout its history of 50 years, the Tokyo Electron Group has

plant in Kunshan, China, in March 2012.

held to the belief that its employees are the company’s most valuable

FPD manufacturers are having an increasingly hard timeassets. When employees are full of energy and passion, they aredifferentiating their liquid crystal display (LCD) TV products from theready to take on challenging tasks and accomplish them. To makecompetition, and are looking to organic light-emitting diode (OLED)

our employees feel more proud of the company, we have been

TVs as the future of FPDs—for they outperform LCD TVs in terms

aggressively investing in building the Tokyo Electron brand sinceof response time, color reproducibility, lightness, thinness, and low

2010. Moreover, as more people have a better idea of who we arepower consumption. We will step up our efforts to develop much-and what we do, we are attracting an increasing number of talented

anticipated equipment for mass-producing large OLED displays.

people from diverse backgrounds. We will continue to upgrade ourworkplace environment so that employees can comfortably play theirroles in keeping the company on a track of growth.

—Photovoltaic Panel Production Equipment
The Tokyo Electron Group leverages its technological prowess in
production equipment to develop equipment for producing thin-film

Community Investment

silicon photovoltaic (PV) panels. As thin-film silicon PV panels are

The Tokyo Electron Group strives to be a good corporate citizen byless material-intensive than other PV panel designs, innovation inmaintaining close ties with the communities in which we operate. We

production equipment will enable better-performing PV panels to be

are engaged in a variety of community outreach programs so as to build

made at lower costs. Furthermore, thin-film silicon PV panels are

and retain relationships of trust with local residents and to coevolve withseen as one of the ideal key components to build large solar farms,society. As the scope of our business is becoming increasingly global,and represent a huge potential for increased demand. To accelerate

our community investment efforts to establish coevolving relationships

our efforts to expand our photovoltaic panel production equipmentwith local communities are also going global—from Japan to other Asianbusiness, we acquired Swiss-based Oerlikon Solar in March 2012.

countries to Europe and the United States.

In addition, a new technology center we built in Tsukuba, Ibaraki
Prefecture in March 2012 has begun to work with universities andThe management vision that the Tokyo Electron Group has

government-affiliated research institutions concentrated in the area

embraced over the past 50 years and will continue to embrace isto bring the performance of PV panels to a new level.

focused on: (1) staying on the leading edge of R&D prowess in
the global arena; (2) earning and retaining the complete trust ofcustomers; and (3) motivating employees to achieve their potential

Becoming a Global Company That
Leverages its Technological Prowess toAddress Environmental Challenges
The Tokyo Electron Group announced its environmental commitmentand meet organizational objectives.
As we celebrate our 50th anniversary, we have a renewed
commitment to listening to what our stakeholders have to say to us andmaking positive contributions to the growth of society over the next fifty
years. We appreciate your support in our endeavor.

under the slogan “Technology for Eco Life” in May 2008. Our
goals are to reduce the environmental impact associated with ourmanufacturing and distribution operations by half from the fiscal
2008 level by the end of March 31, 2015, and to help our industrial
customers half their total environmental impact in their factories

Hiroshi Takenaka

during the same time frame. Now that we are well on track to achieve

President & CEO

these goals, we will establish a set of new goals for beyond 2015.

Tokyo Electron Limited

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