PIONEERING AN INDUSTRY Affymetrix, Inc.

Overview / Affymetrix is a pioneer in creating breakthrough tools

that are driving the genomic revolution. By applying the principles

of semiconductor technology to the life sciences, Affymetrix develops

and commercializes systems that enable scientists to improve the

quality of life. The Company’s customers include pharmaceutical,

biotechnology, agrichemical, diagnostics and consumer products

companies as well as academic, government and other non-profit

research institutes. Affymetrix offers an expanding portfolio of inte-

grated products and services, including its integrated GeneChip®

platform, to address growing markets focused on understanding the

relationship between genes and human health.

History / Affymetrix began independent operations in late 1992

in Santa Clara, California. The Company has offices worldwide.

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1989The world’s first

microarray prototype built using a microscope slide

In the late 1980s, a team of scientists led by Stephen P.A. Fodor,

Ph.D. enabled breakthroughs in understanding the human condition

when they invented microarray technology*. The theory behind their

work was revolutionary — a notion that semiconductor manufactur-

ing techniques could be united with advances in combinatorial

chemistry to build vast amounts of biological data on a small glass

chip. As Dr. Fodor’s team developed the GeneChip® brand platform,

the human and other important genomes were being sequenced and

made available through public databases such as the one created by

the Human Genome Project. The combination of the genetic

sequence of an organism with the powerful GeneChip array platform

has transformed the study of modern biology. Researchers can now

ask questions across a whole genome at once, not just a few genes at

a time. They can perform experiments in hours that used to take

weeks, months, or even years. And the information resulting from

their efforts is richer and deeper than ever before, providing new

insights into conditions ranging from diabetes to cystic fibrosis, from

asthma to heart disease. Nowhere is this fundamental change more

profound than in cancer research, where hundreds of scientific stud-

ies conducted with GeneChip technology are offering new hope for

diagnosing, classifying and treating both common and rare cancers. In

less than a decade, Affymetrix took the GeneChip platform from

concept to commercialized product, enabling pharmaceutical and

biotech companies, universities, and public and private health organ-

izations the world over to access the vast information content from

the Human Genome Project.

* Light-directed, spatially addressable parallel chemical synthesis. Fodor, S. P. A., Read, J., Pirrung, M., Stryer, L., Lu, A., Solas, D. Science 251 (4995), 767-73, 1991.

This landmark publication was the first reported description of microarray technology. It also first described combinatorial chemistry techniques for generation of large

chemical libraries.

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1989Microarray fabrication cell

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1993World’s first microarray containing over 1 million DNA sequences

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1994Commercial DNA

microarray prototype

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2002GeneChip Human Genome U133A array. Part of a two-chipset analyzing over 33,000 genesfrom the public databases.

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1989High contrast

film-based photomask

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1989Photocamera used for early photomask experiments

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1989High contrast mask made

of chrome on glass at a feature size of 500 microns

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199316-format, wafer-based manufacturing mask

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199549-format, wafer-based

manufacturing mask

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1999400-format, wafer-based manufacturing mask

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1989World’s first

microarray scanner

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1994World’s first commercial microarray scanner manufactured by MolecularDynamics for Affymetrix

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1997Microarray scanner

manufactured for Affymetrix by Hewlett-Packard

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2003Affymetrix GeneChip Scanner 3000

1991First scientific publication

describing both microarray technology and

combinatorial chemistry

1994-2002Technology and commercial evolution

1994 16,000 >10 1

1997 50 65,000 >30 >50

1998 24 256,000 >60 >100

2000 20 400,000 >220 >400

2002 18 500,000 >820 >740

100

Date Micron size Features/chip PublicationsNumber of GeneChip systems worldwide

1989

Film-based photomask

Film-based photomaskdeveloped by Fodor toconfirm his hypothesis forlight-directed synthesison a solid support.

1989

Photocamera

Photocamera used byFodor to mount the high contrast film-based photomask.

1989

Microarray prototype

First microarray developed by Fodor and his colleagues.

1989

Microarray scanner

First scanner developedto quantitatively detectbinding of a test sampleto the microarray.

1989

Prototype flow cell

Array featured a flow cellfor easier processing.

1991

Science publication

Fodor and his colleaguespublish their findings inScience — launching themicroarray industry.

1993

16-format, wafer-basedmanufacturing mask

Manufacturing maskswere developed to make16 arrays simultaneously.

1993

DNA microarray

Array featured an integrated hybridizationchamber and containedover 1 million oligonucleotides on a single array.

1994

DNA microarray

Commercial DNA micro-array prototype

1995

49-format, wafer-basedmanufacturing mask

Masks were developed to manufacture 49 GeneChiparrays simultaneouslywith approximately 16,000features at 100 microns.

2002

GeneChip array

Commercial GeneChiparrays contained over 500,000 uniquefeatures at 18 microns.

2003

GeneChip Scanner 3000

Scanner builds onAffymetrix’ expertise in scanner design anddevelopment to offersuperior performance onan easy-to-use, desktopplatform.

T H E WAY A H E A D

We are in the infancy of understanding the human genome. The

genetic sequencing of the mouse and other model organisms suggests

that the 30,000 - 40,000 functional human genes discovered thus far

are just the beginning of a story; the genome is a complex, challenging

and elegant puzzle. With that in mind, Affymetrix chose photo-

lithography, a process that literally harnesses the power of light, to

manufacture its arrays. Just as it has done for the semiconductor

industry, this process allows for exponential growth in information

capacity, an essential element in managing and interpreting the vast

data found within the genome. Scientists are already using

Affymetrix arrays containing more than 60 million DNA probes each

to uncover human diversity by sequencing through multiple human

genomes. Using those same tools, researchers are beginning to

understand how human populations have migrated around the world

over time and how genetic variation exists in blocks called “haplo-

types.” Whole-genome experiments are showing transcriptional

activity far beyond the commonly accepted genes, suggesting that

most all of the As,Cs,Ts, and Gs of the genome have some role to play

in biology. As more of the genome is packaged onto GeneChip

arrays, biology will take further leaps forward, as the vast universe of

the human condition is unveiled.

Affymetrix, Inc.3380 Central ExpresswaySanta Clara, CA 95051T 408-731-5000F 408-731-5380www.affymetrix.com

Affymetrix UK Ltd.Voyager, Mercury ParkWycombe Lane, Wooburn Green High Wycombe, HP 10 0HH, UKT +44 0-1628-552550 F +44 0-1628-552585

Affymetrix Japan K.K.Mita NN Bldg, 16th Floor 4-1-23 Shiba Minato-ku, Tokyo 108-0014 T +81 0-3-5730-8100 F +81 0-3-5730-8101