Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing

Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing
Company type	Subsidiary of GlobalFoundries
Industry	Semiconductor integrated circuitry
Founded	1995
Fate	Acquired by GlobalFoundries
Headquarters	Woodlands, Singapore
Key people	Ho Ching, Chairman, and Chia Song Hwee, CEO
Revenue	SGD1.435 billion (2006)
Number of employees	5,125
Website	Main Corporate

Chartered Semiconductor was created in 1987, as a venture that included Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd. Yet, it was not until 2000, that ST Engineering (Singapore Technologies Semiconductors), a wholly owned subsidiary of Temasek Holdings wholly acquired Chartered.

Prior to 2010, Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing (abbreviated CSM) was the world's third largest dedicated independent semiconductor foundry, with its headquarters and main operations located in the Woodlands Industrial Park, Kranji Singapore. The company was listed on the Singapore Exchange under the trading symbol of CHARTERED, as well as on NASDAQ (CHRT), until its buyout.

Fabrication facilities

Chartered provides comprehensive wafer fabrication services and technologies to semiconductor suppliers and systems companies. Chartered's customer base is primarily high-growth, technologically advanced companies operating in the communication, computer and consumer sectors. It does not provide design services and works from customers' designs to produce communications chips.

Besides its own fabs, Chartered operates joint venture facilities with other firms, it offers chip assembly and test services through sister firm STATS ChipPAC. Chartered owns 6 fabrication facilities, all of which are located in Singapore, including the newest, Chartered's first 300-mm facility which started commercial shipment in June 2005.

The other major semiconductor foundries include TSMC and UMC, Taiwanese-based companies, which are primarily Chartered's main competitors.

In 2006, AMD announced that it will manufacture CPUs with Chartered on a 65 nanometer process. It also has alliances with IBM, Infineon, Samsung and Agere Systems.

Acquisition by GlobalFoundries

In September 2009, it was announced that Chartered Semiconductor was about to be acquired by the main stockholder of GlobalFoundries, a joint venture between AMD and Advanced Technology Investment Company (ATIC), of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

By acquiring Chartered, ATIC is expanding its investments and expertise in technology in the semiconductor industry which currently consist of a GLOBALFOUNDRIES facility in Dresden, Germany. The transaction was completed at the end of 2009, making ATIC the sole owner of Chartered.