GROUP TECHNOLOGIES PURCHASES INDUSTRY'S MOST ADVANCED COB LINE FROM KME -
FIRST IN U.S.

Custom Bare Chip Mounting System Targets High Density Circuits, Multiple
Mounting Techniques; Major New Capability for Leading Contract
Manufacturer

Tampa, FL -- March 14, 1994 -- Group Technologies, the fifth largest
independent contract manufacturer globally with combined annual sales of
over $300 million, will purchase a fully automated Chip-On-Board (COB)
line from Kyushu Matsushita Electric Co., Ltd. (KME), Tosu, Japan. KME is
exhibiting the line at NEPCON West '94, March 1-3, at the Anaheim
Convention Center, Anaheim, Calif. Group Technologies will take delivery
immediately after the show; the system is expected to be operational by
July, 1994.

The new custom-manufactured bare chip mounting system will be the first of
its kind in the U.S. Added to Group Technologies' high speed surface mount
technology (SMT) capabilities, it will enable the company to offer an
additional eight multi-mounting techniques for a wide variety of bare
chips, plus provide additional capabilities such as fine placement (to 12
mils), faster changeover between jobs and increased placement speed.

"The addition of a fully automated COB line to Group Technologies' existing
SMT lines allows our customers to select the assembly technology best
suited to their particular application," said Carl McCormick, Group
Technologies' president and CEO.

In addition to COB, the system also allows the manufacture of PCBs
utilizing technologies which include COF (chip-on-flex), printer heads,
COG (chip-on-glass), LCD (liquid crystal display) and plasma display, and
monolithic ICs (integrated circuits). COB also enables laminate-based
multichip modules (MCM-Ls) to be molded into standard JEDEC packages,
which again lowers assembly costs.

The new fully automated, digitally controlled COB line includes a flexible
automatic die bonder, a plasma cleaning system to eliminate human, as well
as process and environmental contamination for higher connection rates, a
high quality gold wire bonding system, chip coat dispenser and
temperature-stable vertical cure oven.

While COB has always been popular in applications where space is an issue,
for example in LCD products, it is now coming into its own as a mainstream
packaging technology. For example, COB is replacing fine pitch SMT in
PCMCIA cards because it affords a low profile and reduces package costs of
the TSOPs (Thin Small Outline Packages) in flash memory by 50 percent.

Group Technologies' contract manufacturing services specialize in ASIC
through system level design, materials management, with capabilities
extending from surface mount technology and through-hole printed circuit
board assembly to systems assembly. Group Technologies has been
independently certified to ISO 9001 and all products are manufactured to
applicable high reliability standards -- the most extensive list in the
industry. The company also employs the greatest number of engineers as a
percentage of total workforce of any contract manufacturer.

Group Technologies Corp. was founded 29 years ago as a Honeywell "Center of
Manufacturing Excellence," and became an independent company five years
ago. The company's growth is based on the dramatic explosion of the
contract manufacturing market, along with internal expansion from market
diversification and acquisitions. In 1993, the company purchased Philips
Circuit Assemblies, a leading electronic contract manufacturer based in
Tampa.

Group Technologies employs over 2000 people at its two Tampa, Florida
locations, and an additional 300 people at Denver-based Metrum, Inc., a
wholly owned subsidiary.

Group Technologies Corp
10901 Malcolm McKinley Dr, Tampa, FL 33612
813-972-6542

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