Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing and Hewlett-Packard to Establish Joint-Venture Company

SINGAPORE, April 3, 1997 -- Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing, Hewlett-Packard Company (HP) and Singapore Economic Development Board Investments (EDBI) have announced the formation of Chartered Silicon Partners, a joint-venture company dedicated to being the preferred supplier to its customers by providing excellent foundry services.

The announcement was made here today at a signing ceremony that took place at Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing's corporate headquarters. Mr. Lee Yock Suan, Singapore's Minister for Trade and Industry, was the Guest of Honour at the ceremony along with Mr. Tan Bock Seng, president and chief executive officer of Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing; Mr. Lee Ting, HP vice president and managing director, geographic operations; and Mr. Ho Meng Kit, managing director of the Singapore Economic Development Board.

The new company will complement Chartered's foundry business and provide semiconductor wafer manufacturing services to HP and other foundry customers.

Financial terms of the joint venture were not disclosed, but all shares are fully subscribed by the three participants. Chartered is the majority shareholder, and HP and EDBI each hold minority stakes.

Mr. Tan is expected to be appointed chairman of the board of the new company, and each of the partners will have representation on the board. Mr. Rick Hodgman, currently vice president of Chartered's Fab 2 operations, will become the joint venture company's general manager. Other members of the executive team will be identified by Chartered and HP.

Chartered Silicon Partners will produce ASICs (Application-Specific Integrated Circuits) utilizing both HP's and Chartered's deep-submicron process technologies. A technology committee with representatives from HP and Chartered will determine the technologies to meet market and customer needs.

Chartered Silicon Partners will build a new fabrication facility in Woodlands Industrial Park, adjacent to Chartered's existing facilities in Singapore. Groundbreaking for the joint venture company's fab is slated for September of this year, with an anticipated opening slated for 1999. The new facility will have the capacity to produce greater than 30,000 eight-inch wafers per month when fully ramped.

Mr. Tan said, "Chartered Silicon Partners is based upon a partnership of complementary strengths and mutual goals of delivering outstanding service and a quality product to our customers. As a dedicated foundry, we will use our expertise to implement HP's advanced product requirements and co-develop future technologies that raise the standards of excellence in our industry."

Mr. Alan Marty, general manager of HP's Integrated Circuit Business Division, said, "HP's, Chartered's, and EDBI's goals are very complementary, which makes for a good partnership. In addition, the corporate cultures of Chartered and HP are a good match, which gives us confidence that we will be able to work together now and into the future. This makes for a win-win situation for all of us."

Mr. Ho praised the joint venture, saying, "This agreement is an exciting step forward in Singapore s goal to become a premier manufacturing center for the world's semiconductor industry. This joint venture combines HP's technology leadership and Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing's foundry expertise to create an operation that will further Singapore's reputation for chip manufacturing excellence."

Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing is a pure-play foundry providing quality manufacturing and exceptional service for customers worldwide. Chartered offers a full complement of advanced technologies which include deep-submicron CMOS logic, memory and mixed signal processes. All production fabs are certified to ISO9002 standards. In addition, Chartered offers a full turnkey service from process technology application and mask generation to delivery of tested packaged parts. A member of Singapore Technologies, Chartered is headquartered in Singapore with offices in the United States, Europe, Japan, and Taiwan. Chartered's Web address is http://www.csminc.com.

Hewlett-Packard Company is a leading global manufacturer of computing, communications and measurement products and services recognized for excellence in quality and support. HP has 112,800 employees and had revenue of $38.4 billion in its 1996 fiscal year. Information about HP and its products can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.hp.com.

EDB Investments is the investment arm of the Singapore Economic Development Board and manages $1.3 billion through the Cluster Development Fund (CDF), three venture capital funds and a Regional Investment Company. An additional $1 billion to the CDF was announced today by Mr. Lee Yock Suan, Singapore's Minister for Trade and Industry. To date, more than $0.5 billion has been committed in strategic co-investment projects. More details can be found on EDB's website at http://www.sedb.com.

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