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SAFC Hitech Expands Sheboygan Facility With State-Of-The-Art Manufacturing Cleanroom

April 29, 2008... Sigma-Aldrich is a leading Life Science and High Technology company. Its biochemical and organic chemical products and kits are used in scientific and genomic research, biotechnology, pharmaceutical development, the diagnosis of disease and as key components in pharmaceutical and other high technology manufacturing. The Company has customers in life science companies, university and government institutions, hospitals, and in industry. For more information about Sigma-Aldrich, please visit its award-winning Web site at sigma-aldrich.com. Chicago, Illinois USA

Facility Increases In-house Capabilities and Quality Control

St. Louis Missouri USA -- SAFC Hitech, a focus area within SAFC(R), a member of the Sigma-Aldrich Group (Nasdaq: SIAL), today underlined its commitment to the electronic materials markets with the opening of a $9 million state-of-the-art cleanroom located on the Company's Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin campus. The 5,000 square foot facility consists of an ISO Class 4 cleanroom, a distillation suite and office space.

The new facility, which became fully operational in late April 2008, provides in-house trace metals analysis and the capability to clean and fill containers in a tightly-controlled environment. The Sheboygan campus was selected as the site for the new cleanroom as it already provides large-scale manufacturing of products for the material science industry for SAFC, which supports the silicon semiconductor, compound semiconductor and performance materials markets.

The extension of the Sheboygan campus enables SAFC Hitech to produce, package and analyze its products in one location, completing the total supply chain, eliminating the need to use outside facilities and ensuring customers an uninterrupted supply of the highest quality materials required for advanced semiconductor manufacturing.

"One of SAFC's primary business objectives is to continue to build the SAFC Hitech segment into a global leader in the supply of ultra-pure, high quality materials and technical solutions to the electronics industries we serve," commented SAFC President, Frank Wicks. "As the demand for new and increasingly efficient materials continues to grow, so does the need to attain higher and higher levels of quality and dependability from our products."

"This cleanroom investment complements existing manufacturing and extensive research and development sites at Sheboygan and will help us to achieve our objectives, essentially providing a 'one stop shop' for manufacturing, analysis and packaging. As a result, SAFC Hitech customers will benefit from high-quality products that meet or exceed specifications, feature significantly reduced quality variations and are delivered on time."

Looking ahead, Geoff Irvine, Director, Commercial Development & Marketing, SAFC Hitech, believes the Sheboygan facility can act as a blueprint for future expansion in overseas markets. "In 2007 we announced long-term plans for the expansion of our manufacturing footprint in both China and South Korea," Irvine says. "We expect to be able to use the construction and operational experiences gained from Sheboygan and apply it to future, similar developments serving other markets, thereby expanding our global presence using tried and tested methodologies."

About SAFC Hitech:

SAFC Hitech provides a unique chemistry service translating application understanding into performance materials worldwide. Through collaborative partnerships and an integrated approach from research and development, process development and scale up to commercial manufacturing, SAFC Hitech invests in innovation and manufacturing enabling current and future technology needs. Further information can be found at http://www.safchitech.com.

About SAFC:

SAFC(R) is the custom manufacturing and services group within Sigma-Aldrich that focuses on products and services for high technology applications, cell culture products and services for biopharmaceutical manufacturing, biochemical production and the manufacturing of complex, multi-step organic synthesis of APIs and key intermediates. SAFC has manufacturing facilities around the world dedicated to providing manufacturing services for companies requiring a reliable partner to produce their custom manufactured materials. SAFC has four focus areas -- SAFC Pharma(TM), SAFC Supply Solutions(R), SAFC Biosciences(TM), and SAFC Hitech(TM) -- and had annual sales of nearly $600 million in 2007. SAFC is one of the world's 10 largest fine chemical businesses. For more information about SAFC, visit http://www.safcglobal.com.

About Sigma-Aldrich:

Sigma-Aldrich is a leading Life Science and High Technology company. Our biochemical and organic chemical products and kits are used in scientific and genomic research, biotechnology, pharmaceutical development, the diagnosis of disease and as key components in pharmaceutical and other high technology manufacturing. We have customers in life science companies, university and government institutions, hospitals and in industry. Over one million scientists and technologists use our products. Sigma-Aldrich operates in 36 countries and has 7,900 employees providing excellent service worldwide. We are committed to accelerating Customers' success through leadership in Life Science, High Technology and Service. For more information about Sigma-Aldrich, please visit our award-winning web site at http://www.sigma-aldrich.com.

Cautionary Statement: This release contains forward-looking statements relating to future performance, goals, strategic actions and initiatives and similar intentions and beliefs and other statements regarding the Company's expectations, goals, beliefs, intentions and the like, which involve assumptions regarding the Company's operations and conditions in the markets the Company serves. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

SAFC(R) and SAFC Supply Solutions(R) are registered trademarks of Sigma-Aldrich Biotechnology L.P. and Sigma-Aldrich Co. Sigma-Aldrich(TM), SAFC Pharma(TM), SAFC Biosciences(TM) and SAFC Hitech(TM)are trademarks of Sigma-Aldrich Biotechnology L.P. and Sigma-Aldrich Co.

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