To Our Shareholders 2009 was a very challenging year but one of significant accomplishment for Cymer. During the year, we made solid progress advancing our global light source leadership position and achieved several significant product and operational milestones that we believe well position the company for future growth and improved financial performance.
The global macroeconomic crises that we faced in the beginning of the year resulted in reduced worldwide consumer demand for electronics, causing chipmakers to curtail fab utilization and dramatically cut capital spending. We responded to the changing business environment by taking pre-emptive cost cutting actions in 2008 and early 2009, while at the same time strengthening our product portfolio by continuing our investment in DUV, EUV and TCZ technology leadership. We also expanded our Installed Base Products value by helping chipmakers increase productivity and lower the cost of their operations through our unique support product, OnPulse.
2009 marked the introduction and installation of the industry’s first field-selectable 60 to 90 watt immersion light source, the
XLR 600ix, enabling flexibility of sub-45 nanometer device production and double patterning exposure. The rapid adoption of the 600ix by chipmakers demonstrates the continued recognition of Cymer’s XLR platform as the light source of choice for immersion lithography and Cymer's installed base now comprises over 3,300 systems. We also made significant progress demonstrating the value of our OnPulse product, an industry leading comprehensive support solution, by adding additional light sources under coverage. We now have over 1200 light sources globally under OnPulse coverage.
Robert P. Akins
Chairman & CEO
Edward J. Brown, Jr.
President & COO
