MILPITAS, Calif., March 18, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing (Nasdaq:CHRT) and (SGX-ST:Chartered), one of the world's top dedicated semiconductor foundries, honored its top suppliers at the company's annual Supplier Day event held Friday, March 16 in Singapore.
The Supplier Day pays tribute to Chartered's equipment, materials and services suppliers for their outstanding contributions and performance. Novellus Systems International B.V., Sumco Techxiv Corporation, United Test and Assembly Center Ltd, and IBM Singapore Pte Ltd were named top suppliers for 2006 in their respective categories.
"Chartered made significant progress last year in ramping advanced technologies in Fab 7, including starting 65nm volume production and moving to 45nm production readiness. Our suppliers' focus and execution on Chartered manufacturing programs continue to be a key element of our success. We are proud to share our achievements and acknowledge the role of our valued suppliers and partners," said Leow Kim Keat, vice president, customer support operations and supply management organization at Chartered.
"We are committed to ramping advanced technology to meet customer demands, with our next milestone being full qualification of the 45nm process in Fab 7 by the end of 2007. As we continue our efforts to lower the breakeven utilization rate across our fabs, we are also driving productivity and quality in our on-time delivery of technology to our customers."
Winners are judged on a set of execution criteria including quality, service, innovation, delivery and cost. The winners of Chartered's 2006 supplier awards are:
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Equipment Category:
Gold Supplier Award Novellus Systems International B.V.
Silver Supplier Award ASML Singapore
Best Service Support Award Ebara Corporation / Hermes-Epitek
Corp. Pte. Ltd.
Most Improved Supplier Award Applied Materials
Outstanding Service Engineer
Award
Fab 2 Applied Materials
Fab 3 / Silicon Manufacturing
Partners (Fab 5) Applied Materials
Chartered Silicon Partners
(Fab 6) SEZ
Fab 7 Applied Materials
Outstanding Continuous
Improvement Program Award
Fab 2 Applied Materials
Fab 3 / Silicon Manufacturing
Partners (Fab 5) Novellus Systems International B.V.
Chartered Silicon Partners
(Fab 6) Novellus Systems International B.V.
Fab 7 Varian Semiconductor Equipment
Associates, Inc.(1)
Lam Research International SARL(1)
Tokyo Electron Limited /
Hermes-Epitek Corp. Pte. Ltd.(1)
(1)Joint winners
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Materials Category
Gold Materials Supplier Award Sumco Techxiv Corporation
Silver Materials Supplier Award National Oxygen Pte Ltd
Most Improved Supplier Quality
Award Soitec
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Services Category
Gold Turnkey Supplier Award United Test and Assembly Center
Ltd (UTAC)
Gold Service Supplier Award
- IT IBM Singapore Pte Ltd
Silver Service Supplier Award
- IT Hewlett-Packard Singapore (Sales)
Pte. Ltd.
Outstanding Service Award - IT PTC System (S) Pte Ltd
Outstanding Service Award -
Facility BASF South East Asia Pte Ltd.
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About Chartered
Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing (Nasdaq:CHRT) (SGX-ST:Chartered), one of the world's top dedicated semiconductor foundries, offers leading-edge technologies down to 65 nanometer (nm), enabling today's system-on-chip designs. The company further serves its customers' needs through a collaborative, joint development approach on a technology roadmap that extends to 32nm. Chartered's strategy is based on open and comprehensive design enablement solutions, manufacturing enhancement strategies, and a commitment to flexible sourcing. In Singapore, the company operates a 300mm fabrication facility and four 200mm facilities. Information about Chartered can be found at www.charteredsemi.com.
The Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing logo is available at http://www.primenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=3467
Safe Harbor Statement under the provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995
This news release contains forward-looking statements, as defined in the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements, including without limitation, statements relating to our commitment to meet customer demands, the targeted date for full qualification of the 45nm process in Fab 7 and our continued efforts to lower the breakeven utilization rate, reflect our current views with respect to future events and financial performance and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially from historical results or those anticipated. Among the factors that could cause actual results to differ materially are changes in the demands from our major customers, excess inventory, life cycle, market outlook and trends or specific products; competition from other foundries; unforeseen delays, interruptions, performance level and technology mix in our fabrication facilities; our progress on leading-edge products; changes in capacity plans, changes in allocation and process technology mix, and the unavailability of materials, equipment, manpower and expertise; access to or delays in technological advances or our development of process technologies; the successful implementation of our technology and supply alliances (including our joint development agreements with IBM, Infineon and Samsung); the growth rate of fabless companies, the outsourcing strategy of integrated device manufacturers ("IDMs") and our expectation that IDMs will utilize foundry capacity more extensively; demand and supply outlook in the semiconductor market and the economic conditions in the United States as well as globally; the availability of financings and the terms thereof; and terrorist attacks, acts of war, or the possibility of an outbreak of Bird Flu or any other infectious disease in Singapore, as well as other parts of the world. Although we believe the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based upon reasonable assumptions, we can give no assurance that our expectations will be attained. In addition to the foregoing factors, a description of certain other risks and uncertainties which cause actual results to differ materially can be found in "Item 3. Key Information - Risk Factors" in our Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which reflect management's current analysis of future events. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.