Symyx Technologies and Univation Sign $10M Deal to Expand Research Col

    Business Editors/High-Tech Editors

    SANTA CLARA, Calif. & HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 13, 2005--Symyx Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq:SMMX) and Univation Technologies, LLC, today announced a three year extension and expansion of their multi-year strategic research and development agreement initially announced in April 2003. The two companies will continue their collaboration in discovering and developing new and improved catalysts for Univation's polyethylene licensing business through 2007.
    Under the agreement, Univation, a technology development and licensing joint venture between The Dow Chemical Company and ExxonMobil Chemical Company, a division of Exxon Mobil Corporation, will fund an expanded Symyx research and development effort in catalysis intended to accelerate the delivery of innovative polyethylene product technology and improved catalyst performance to Univation's licensees and customers. Univation will continue to have exclusive rights to commercialize materials discovered within the scope of the collaboration, and Symyx will receive royalties on the license of those materials.
    "Over the past two years, Symyx's high throughput research capabilities have contributed significantly to our catalyst discovery programs. Our continuing collaborative efforts are accelerating our ability to deliver innovative, high-quality new products to market, and reinforcing our leadership position in the polyethylene technology industry," said Mr. John Verity, former President of Univation, who is expected to be appointed to Univation's Board of Director.
    "We look forward to continuing to support Univation's discovery programs with our high throughput experimentation technologies," said Steven Goldby, chairman and chief executive officer of Symyx Technologies. "This extension of our research collaboration and our recently announced sensor development agreement with Univation demonstrate the value that Symyx provides to our partners in strengthening their research and development efforts and delivering valuable products to the market at an accelerated pace."
    Under the sensor development agreement, announced on December 7, 2004, Symyx and Univation are working together on using Symyx's proprietary sensor technologies for process monitoring and control applications in connection with the production of polyethylene.

    About Univation Technologies

    Univation Technologies, headquartered in Houston, Texas, has comprehensive technology programs focused on the UNIPOL(TM) polyethylene gas-phase process, XCAT(TM) Metallocene Catalyst, PRODIGY(TM) Bimodal Catalysts as well as conventional Ziegler-Natta and chrome-based catalysts tradenamed UCAT(TM) Conventional Catalysts. Univation also licenses capacity-expanding Super Condensed Mode Technology.

    About Symyx Technologies

    Symyx develops and applies high-throughput experimentation methods, instrumentation and software to enable accelerated discovery of proprietary materials and processes in the chemical, petrochemical, pharmaceutical, electronics, consumer goods, and automotive industries. Symyx offers these proprietary technologies to customers seeking to transform their research productivity through research collaborations, Discovery Tools(R) sales, and the license of materials, intellectual property, and software. Information about Symyx, including reports and other information filed by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission, is available at www.symyx.com.

    The statements contained in this release that are not purely historical are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, including, without limitation, statements regarding Univation's plan to develop sensors, Univation's funding of development work at Symyx, any future agreement between Symyx and Univation, and commercial use of sensors starting in 2006. These forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including: (1) the dependence of Symyx and Univation on their collaboration to successfully commercialize the Univation products; (2) failure of Univation to successfully develop and commercialize discoveries made under the collaborations; (3) market acceptance of Univation's products and services; (4) uncertainties relating to the pace, quality or number of discoveries of new materials by Symyx; (5) uncertainties of patent protection and litigation; (6) future growth strategy, including impact of acquisitions, mergers or other changes in business strategy; (7) general economic conditions in the United States and in major North American, European and Asian markets; (8) exposure to risks associated with export sales and operations; (9) natural disasters, power failures and other disasters; (10) and other risks that are described from time to time in Symyx's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, (including but not limited to Symyx's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2003, and Symyx's Form 10-Q for the quarters ended March 31, 2004, June 30, 2004 and September 30, 2004). If any of these risks or uncertainties materializes or any of the assumptions proves incorrect, Symyx or Univation's results could differ materially from Symyx's expectations in these statements. Symyx and Univation assume no obligation, and do not intend to update these forward-looking statements.

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CONTACT: Symyx Technologies, Inc. Jeryl L. Hilleman, 408-773-4000 ir@symyx.com or Univation Mardee McCown Kaus, 713-892-3677 (Press) mmccownkaus@univation.com

KEYWORD: CALIFORNIA TEXAS INDUSTRY KEYWORD: CHEMICALS/PLASTICS SOFTWARE FOREST PRODUCTS PRODUCT MARKETING AGREEMENTS SOURCE: Symyx Technologies, Inc.

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