FiberCore Wins Plasma Donation

CHARLTON, Mass. -- FiberCore, Inc. (Nasdaq: FBCE), a leading manufacturer and global supplier of optical fiber and preform for the telecommunication and data communications markets, today announced that it has received commitments to finance a pilot plant for the Company's Plasma Outside Vapor Deposition (POVD) technology, for which it received a U.S. patent in March 2001. The POVD technology will be used initially in one of the manufacturing steps of single-mode preform. Once implemented, it will significantly reduce the manufacturing cost of single-mode fiber. Ultimately, the POVD technology will be used to manufacture complete multi-mode preforms, providing a significant competitive advantage through reduced production costs compared to other existing processes. The first phase of the POVD commercialization project will require a total investment of Euro 10 million (US$9 million). Approximately 75% of the funds will consist of bank loans and grants from agencies of the German Government, with FiberCore investing the remainder of the funds in the form of equity. "We are excited to move ahead with the commercialization of our POVD process," commented Dr. Aslami, President and CEO. "Early results suggest a significant cost advantage to FiberCore in the manufacture of our single-mode fiber. Although FiberCore's current gross margin and operating margin are among the highest in the industry, as the plant gets up and running the POVD technology is expected to further improve our margins and could have an even greater impact as we add more POVD capacity in the future. We expect to have the financing completed early in 2002 and, having purchased a building in Jena, Germany earlier in the year, expect to begin production toward the latter part of 2002."FiberCore Inc.