ATMI, Inc. (Nasdaq:ATMI) today announced that the company was inducted into the inaugural Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Hall of Fame on February 15th in Washington, D.C. An official ceremony followed at the White House, where Company co-founder and former CEO/Chairman of the Board, Dr. Gene Banucci, accepted the award on behalf of ATMI.

The SBIR program nurtures the Nation's small, high-tech, innovative businesses that form a significant part of the federal government's research and development efforts. Its Hall of Fame, introduced this year, recognizes companies that have made advances in technological innovation, economic growth, and created new jobs.

In his remarks at the ceremony, Dr. Banucci credited the SBIR program with providing the catalyst for both the creation and growth of ATMI, commenting, "Without the SBIR Program, ATMI would not have been able to become the public company it is today, with market leadership positions and over $350 million in annual revenues. The funding that we received under the SBIR Program has been paid back to the government more than ten-fold in taxes alone, and has led to the creation of literally hundreds of sustainable jobs."

Dr. Banucci and four other scientists started ATMI in 1986 using early funding that came through SBIR grants, allowing ATMI to create innovative products and build the credibility it needed to enable additional funding from other sources. During its formative years, the company received a total of 182 SBIR grants. Now, as it approaches its 25th anniversary, ATMI is a global leader in specialty semiconductor materials and packaging products, is currently emerging as a leader in single-use technologies for the life sciences industry, and is a publicly traded company with close to 800 employees and facilities throughout the United States, Asia, and Europe.

Without the early and subsequent funding, ATMI would not have been able to produce innovative solutions to solve process challenges in the semiconductor industry, which ultimately enabled advances in technology and electronics, further driving economic development and even saving lives. One of these solutions was its Safe Delivery Source (SDS®) technology, which eliminated accidents and deaths that were resulting from errors in handling, or damage to, high pressure cylinders containing highly-toxic gases. It is common for dangerous gases, such as arsine and phosphine, to be used in the making of computer chips. ATMI's SDS cylinders use an intrinsically safe technology which stores and delivers these gases at pressures below atmospheric levels which removes the high pressure risk and avoids catastrophic gas leaks. In over 17 years of delivering SDS cylinders to the semiconductor market, there has not been a single, reportable event.

In addition to ATMI, a further seven firms were inducted into the inaugural SBIR Hall of Fame, including: A123 Systems – Watertown, Mass.; Advanced Ceramics Research (BAE Systems) – Tucson, Ariz.; iROBOT Corp. – Bedford, Mass.; MARTEK Corp. – Columbia, Md.; Qualcomm, Inc. – San Diego, Calif.; Symantec - Mountain View, Calif.; and ViaSat, Inc. – Carlsbad, Calif.

For more information regarding the SBIR and funding available, please visit: http://www.sbir.gov.

About ATMI

ATMI, Inc. provides specialty semiconductor materials, and high-purity materials handling and delivery solutions designed to increase process efficiencies for the worldwide semiconductor, flat panel, and life sciences industries. For more information, please visit http://www.atmi.com.

The ATMI, Inc. logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=5254.

ATMI, the ATMI logo, and SDS are trademarks, or registered trademarks, of Advanced Technology Materials, Inc., in the United States, other countries or both.

Statements contained herein that relate to ATMI's future performance, including, without limitation, statements with respect to ATMI's anticipated results of operations or level of business for 2010 or any other future period, are forward-looking statements within the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements are based on current expectations only and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties, and assumptions, including, but not limited to, changes in semiconductor industry growth (including, without limitation, wafer starts) or ATMI's markets; competition, problems, or delays developing, commercializing and delivering new products; problems or delays in integrating acquired operations and businesses; uncertainty in the credit and financial markets; and other factors described in ATMI's Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2010, and other subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Such risks and uncertainties may cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in our forward-looking statements. ATMI undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements.

CONTACT: Headquarters:
         Dean Hamilton
         Director, ATMI Investor Relations & Corporate Communications
         Tel + 1 203 207 9349, Direct
         Tel + 1 203 794 1100 x4202
         dhamilton@atmi.com
         
         Media Contact - Impress PR
         Mark Button
         Agency Vice President
         Tel + 1 503 616 3817
         mark@impress-pr.com
Atmi Inc. (MM) (NASDAQ:ATMI)
Historical Stock Chart
From Feb 2024 to Mar 2024 Click Here for more Atmi Inc. (MM) Charts.
Atmi Inc. (MM) (NASDAQ:ATMI)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2023 to Mar 2024 Click Here for more Atmi Inc. (MM) Charts.