FEI Buys ASPEX Corporation

Maker of Field-Deployable and Rugged SEMs Supplies FEI’s Natural Resources Business

Acquisition Expands Industrial Market Opportunity

HILLSBORO, Ore., Jan. 9, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — FEI (Nasdaq:FEIC), a leading instrumentation company providing imaging and analysis systems for research and industry, today announced that it has acquired ASPEX Corporation of Delmont, PA. ASPEX provides rugged scanning electron microscopes (SEMs) and related services for environmentally demanding military, industrial and factory floor applications.

„The ASPEX EXtreme™ SEM is an integral part of our QEMSCAN® WellSite™ solution for on-site oil and gas solutions,“ noted Don Kania, president and CEO of FEI. „With this acquisition, FEI now owns the essential hardware and software that has been part of our rapid growth and expanding potential in the Natural Resources business. In addition, ASPEX has a solid track record of applications in a range of industrial markets, including metals, industrial automation, defense, health sciences and forensics.“

„Combining with FEI gives us resources, technology and market access to build on our success to date,“ commented Gregory Ott, president and chief operating officer of ASPEX. „In addition to helping to develop the company’s Natural Resources opportunity, we believe FEI’s technology strength and global reach will help us to expand further in the other markets we serve.“

The purchase price for the acquisition is $30.5 million. Revenue for ASPEX totaled $10.0 million, and the company was profitable for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2011. Revenue has grown at a compound annual rate of 24% since 2006.

About FEI

FEI (Nasdaq:FEIC) is a leading diversified scientific instruments company. It is a premier provider of electron- and ion-beam microscopes and solutions for nanoscale applications across many industries: industrial and academic materials research, life sciences, semiconductors, data storage, natural resources and more. With more than 60 years of technological innovation and leadership, FEI has set the performance standard in transmission electron microscopes (TEM), scanning electron microscopes (SEM) and DualBeams™, which combine a SEM with a focused ion beam (FIB). Headquartered in Hillsboro, Ore., USA, FEI has over 2,000 employees and sales and service operations in more than 50 countries around the world. More information can be found at: www.fei.com .

About ASPEX

ASPEX Corporation is a leading provider of integrated microanalysis, providing customers the ability to rapidly and automatically detect, identify, quantify and characterize the features of an entire sample, giving them optimal quality control, production capacity and profitability. ASPEX gives its customers the Power to Perceive, turning data into information that customers can use to maximize quality control efforts and bottom-line profitability. More information is available at www.aspexcorp.com .

Safe Harbor Statement
This news release contains forward-looking statements that include statements regarding the potential benefits and expectations for the acquisition by FEI of ASPEX Corporation and other statements of management’s beliefs, intentions or goals. Factors that could affect these forward-looking statements include but are not limited to: the ability of FEI to successfully integrate ASPEX’s operations, product lines and technology; failure of the ASPEX products and technology to perform as expected and achieve anticipated results; slower-than-expected penetration of the use of electron microscopes in the surface logging part of the oil and gas services market; and failure to grow and expand in other markets. Please also refer to our Form 10-K, Forms 10-Q, Forms 8-K and other filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for additional information on these factors and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements. FEI assumes no duty to update forward-looking statements.