Doug Dixon, Global Marketing Director, Henkel Corporation

From Henkel's perspective, we haven't taken a view of 2010 as year in isolation, so our preparations are part of our larger, long-term strategy of developing innovative materials solutions and enabling customers' competitiveness.

To that end, we are adding significantly to our design and development resources in key regions and positioning manufacturing centers of excellence in close proximity to our customer base. These initiatives will certainly have an impact on our staffing requirements and we expect that Henkel will likely add to our team globally in 2010.

On the product side, we are continuously designing and commercializing new materials and, even during the downturn of 2009, introduced nearly double the number of products as compared to 2008.

This commitment will hold true for 2010, as Henkel already has several new products in the pipeline – many of which have particular emphasis on sustainability in addition to high reliability.

Zero-added halogen solder pastes, "green" mold compounds, high-thermal die attach adhesives, thermo-compression bonding materials for low-cost flip-chip manufacturing, passive and active materials for low-cost production of photovoltaic materials and next-generation underfills are but a few examples of the many innovation projects underway.

As for market expectations, one need only look at the daily headlines to see that recovery is, indeed, in progress. Statistics regarding inventory levels and corporate earnings suggest that the semiconductor market is recovering quite well and perhaps faster than was expected.

Henkel shares analyst views that there will be strong IC growth through 2010 and 2011 and we expect positive results for our business in both the semiconductor and assembly segments.