Press Release

SINGAPORE, Dec. 1, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Last Thursday marked the signing of a franchise agreement between Materialise (Nasdaq:MTLS) and UCT (Nasdaq:UCTT), which will enable UCT to bring the i.materialise 3D Printing platform to South East Asia and further expand the reach of 3D printing into traditional manufacturing markets. The agreement was signed in the presence of Her Royal Highness, Princess Astrid, Representative of His Majesty, the King of Belgium, on the occasion of an economic mission in the region.

The franchise agreement links Materialise, a leading provider of Additive Manufacturing software and of sophisticated 3D Printing solutions in the medical, industrial and consumer markets to UCT a global, vertically integrated contract manufacturing provider of high quality, broad-based manufacturing capabilities. The partnership enables both companies to expand the reach of 3D printing into the traditional outsource manufacturing sector.

The collaboration with UCT catapults the growth of the already successful i.materialise 3D Printing platform into South East Asia. UCT will use their Additive Manufacturing Center in Singapore to bring production closer to users in the region. The service will be available in Q1, 2015.

"i.materialise is dedicated to helping people to materialise their ideas, and in a way that's what this franchise agreement is doing — giving even more creative individuals the possibility to turn their dreams into 3D reality," Wim Michiels, Executive Vice President, Materialise says. "Additive Manufacturing has the potential to revolutionize how things are designed, made and distributed, and can truly contribute to the realization of a better and healthier world. I see this collaboration with UCT as a great opportunity to bring quality 3D printing, and the benefits it enables, closer to home in South East Asia."

Lavi Lev, Senior Vice President, UCT Asia stated "UCT strives to bring the newest manufacturing solutions to our broad base of customers. We believe offering the i.materialise 3D Printing Platform through our new and expanded Additive Manufacturing Center in Singapore will offer our customers manufacturing choices previously unavailable to them. Our customers can confidently entrust their product to two companies who offer over 50 years of combined excellence and innovation. Furthermore, we are grateful to do this in a region that offers a stable business environment, a rich pool of talent and a government that enthusiastically supports advanced manufacturing technologies."

Worldwide, people are discovering the wonder of 3D printing, as well as the unique challenges and needs that come with the territory. To help these people get the most out of 3D printing, the i.materialise online platform offers an entire range of solutions and services that go beyond just the 3D printing of designs. Designers, students, inventors and everyday consumers who want to create something unique can utilize the online service to produce their own products and, if they desire, share their products with and even offer them for sale to others through the platform.

About Materialise

With its headquarters in Leuven, Belgium, and branches worldwide, Materialise is a provider of Additive Manufacturing (AM) software solutions and sophisticated 3D printing services in a wide variety of industries, including healthcare, automotive, aerospace, art and design and consumer products. Materialise has been playing an active role in the field of AM since 1990, through its involvement in AM for industrial and medical applications, by providing biomedical and clinical solutions such as medical image processing and surgical simulations and by developing unique solutions for its customers' prototyping, production, and medical needs. For additional information, please visit: www.materialise.com.

About UCT, Inc.

UCT, Inc. is a developer and supplier of critical subsystems for the semiconductor capital equipment, consumer, medical device, energy, industrial, and flat panel industries. UCT offers its customers a complete outsource solution for a variety of complex modules ranging from liquid & gas delivery systems to turnkey system integration. UCT customers are primarily original equipment manufacturers for the semiconductor capital equipment, consumer, medical device, energy, industrial, and flat panel industries. UCT is headquartered in Hayward, California. Additional information is available at www.uct.com.

Press contacts:

Materialise

Vanessa Palsenbarg
Corporate Communications Specialist, Materialise
Phone: +32 16 39 66 37
Fax: +32 16 39 66 00
Email: Vanessa.Palsenbarg@materialise.be
Twitter: @belgiancanuck or @MaterialiseNV
Visit: www.materialise.com

Cory Ziskind
ICR
Phone: +1- 646-227-1232
Cory.ziskind@icrinc.com

UCT

Lavi Lev
Senior Vice President, Asia, UCT
Phone: +65 6755-7577 x 3130
Email: llev@uct.com       

Cautionary Statement on Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding, among other things, the plans, objectives, expectations, strategies and prospects of the Company, both financial and business. Such statements are subject to known and unknown uncertainties and risks. When used in this press release, the words "estimate," "expect," "anticipate," "project," "plan," "intend," "believe," "forecast," "will", "may", "could", "might", "aim", "should" and variations of such words or similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based upon the management's current expectations. These expectations, beliefs and projections are given in good faith and management believes there is a reasonable basis for them. However, the management cannot offer any assurance that its expectations, beliefs and projections will actually be achieved. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties because they relate to events, competitive dynamics and industry change, and depend on economic circumstances that may or may not occur in the future or may occur on longer or shorter timelines than anticipated. Management cautions readers that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that are in some cases beyond its control. All of the forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. Management makes no commitment, and disclaims any duty to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect future events or changes in its expectations.