Asyst Appoints Richard Janney as Interim Chief Financial Officer

Asyst Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq:ASYT) today announced that it has appointed Richard H. Janney as interim Chief Financial Officer. He succeeds current CFO Michael A. Sicuro, who is leaving Asyst to become CFO of a large healthcare company. Sicuro will continue to serve as CFO through the filing of the company’s financial reports for the quarter ended June 30, 2008. The company will conduct a search for a permanent CFO. Janney, age 49, is currently a consultant. From September 2006 through January 2007, he served as interim Chief Financial Officer for Asyst, and from March 2007 to March 2008, he served as Vice President, Finance of the company. From 2004 to September 2006, Janney served as Engagement Manager for Jefferson Wells, a global provider of professional services in the areas of risk management, controls, compliance, and financial process improvement. In that capacity, Janney and other consultants from Jefferson Wells worked closely with the company, advising Asyst on its internal controls and processes relating to its financial reporting. From 2002 to 2004, he served as an executive consultant providing financial, accounting and consulting services to a variety of companies. From 2000 to 2002 he was Chief Financial Officer for ZeBU, Inc., a privately held enterprise solution, web-enabled database software company. Before joining ZeBU, he served as Chief Financial Officer for Cholestech Corporation, a publicly-held medical diagnostic equipment manufacturer. Mr. Janney began his career with Price Waterhouse, LLP, serving most recently as Audit Manager. Stephen S. Schwartz, chairman and CEO of Asyst, said, "Mike Sicuro has built a solid, deep finance team in the U.S. and Japan, and leaves us well equipped to manage the day-to-day financial operations of the company. We are pleased to bring aboard Richard Janney, a strong financial executive who knows the company well. We also have a superior executive team that will continue to manage and lead their critical areas of responsibility, including the development and penetration of new products and manufacturing cost reduction.” About Asyst Asyst Technologies, Inc. is a leading provider of integrated automation solutions that enable semiconductor and flat panel display (FPD) manufacturers to increase their manufacturing productivity and protect their investment in materials during the manufacturing process. Encompassing isolation systems, work-in-process materials management, substrate-handling robotics, automated transport and loading systems, and connectivity automation software, Asyst's modular, interoperable solutions allow chip and FPD manufacturers, as well as original equipment manufacturers, to select and employ the value-assured, hands-off manufacturing capabilities that best suit their needs. Asyst's homepage is http://www.asyst.com. Forward Looking Statements Except for statements of historical fact, the statements in this release are forward-looking. The forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the statements made. These factors include, but are not limited to, our ability to attract and retain senior financial executives and personnel necessary to manage effectively our internal financial operations; our ability to develop and penetrate new products and achieve targeted manufacturing cost reductions; our customers’ acceptance of our new products; the fact that personnel changeover within our financial reporting operations could comprise a material weakness in the company’s internal control over financial reporting, which could prevent the company from timely meeting its future reporting requirements or obligations to maintain effective internal control; distraction of management's attention from our operations; volatility in our stock price pending resolution of or resulting from the matters discussed above and other factors more fully detailed in the company's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended March 31, 2008, and other reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. "Asyst” is a registered trademark of Asyst Technologies, Inc. Copyright 2008, Asyst Technologies, Inc. All rights reserved.