Hoku Executives Decline Cash Bonuses

HONOLULU, HI--(Marketwire - February 12, 2009) - Hoku Scientific, Inc. (NASDAQ: HOKU), a materials science company focused on clean energy technologies, today announced its Board of Directors had received a letter signed by all four of its executive officers asking that the Board not pay any cash bonuses to them for the company's fiscal year ending March 31, 2009.

In March 2008, the independent members of Hoku Scientific's Board of Directors, or the Independent Directors, approved an executive compensation plan that provides for a combination of stock and cash bonuses that would be awarded, at the Board's discretion, based on the company's successful progress in raising capital and in operating the planned polysilicon production facility in Pocatello, Idaho.

In a letter to the Board of Directors, Hoku's executives wrote, "We feel we have made significant progress towards our objectives in fiscal 2009 by, among other things, securing the receipt of $103 million in cash prepayments from customers fiscal year-to-date; advancing our polysilicon production facility from basic civil construction all the way to initial reactor placement; and increasing the company's solar photovoltaic installation project portfolio by 600% as compared to fiscal 2008. However, in the current economic climate, we are asking our customers, vendors, suppliers, and employees for continuing support to manage our cash. We are each fully committed to the long term success of Hoku, and we respectfully ask that the Board of Directors forego consideration of cash bonuses to each of us for fiscal year 2009."

Dean Hirata, Chairman of the Audit Committee of Hoku Scientific's Board of Directors, and the lead Independent Director, said, "Hoku's management team should be commended for their leadership. They have demonstrated their commitment to building a long-term sustainable business. Their personal loyalty to each other, and to Hoku, is unmatched in my experience."