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CHARTERED'S
RF CMOS MANUFACTURING PROCESS ACHIEVES FIRST-PASS SUCCESS
FOR AMIC TECHNOLOGY'S 2.4 GHz RF TRANSCEIVER
SINGAPORE
and MILPITAS, Calif. - September 17, 2001 - Chartered
Semiconductor Manufacturing (Nasdaq: CHRT and SGX-ST:
Chartered) and AMIC Technology, Inc., a Taiwan-based
provider of memory components and application-specific
memory design solutions, today announced first silicon
for a 2.4 GHz RF transceiver manufactured with Chartered's
0.25-micron RF CMOS process. The high-performance capabilities
of Chartered's RF CMOS offerings are targeted by AMIC
for advanced communications applications such as wireless
local area networks. Chartered, one of the world's top
three silicon foundries, is leveraging the proven success
of its RF CMOS manufacturing technologies to further
strengthen the Company's global market presence.
The outstanding quality and first-pass design success
of AMIC's 0.25-micron RF transceiver components are
attributed to the highly accurate RF CMOS design kit
provided by Chartered, complete with design rules, device
modeling and characterization data. The performance
of the actual silicon product was very close to simulations
performed during design and verification. Based on these
positive results, AMIC is currently proceeding with
tape out of final product prototypes and expects to
ramp up for volume production early in 2002.
"Many of our current and future wireless products rely
on a combination of circuits, such as low noise amplifiers,
mixers, PLL, and power amplifiers, phase shifters, filters.
With the advent of RF CMOS at deep sub-micron technologies,
we can now take advantage of mainstream CMOS processes
for high- volume, low-cost application products," said
David Chang, assistant vice president of the Memory
Product Division for AMIC Technology, Inc.
Chang added, "Chartered's 0.25-micron RF CMOS is better
than anything we've seen from other foundries. We are
very pleased with our 0.25-micron prototype results,
and believe that Chartered's RF CMOS greatly extends
the application space for silicon-based ICs in the wireless
arena, due to the improved speed, power and noise reduction."
RF CMOS Offerings
Chartered's RF CMOS offerings are based on a development
strategy that optimizes silicon manufacturing for a
broad range of products driven by the convergence of
communications, computing and consumer electronics,
such as BluetoothTM-based applications and other wireless
and RF systems. The RF CMOS module features high-performance
transistors and a complete suite of passive components
characterized and tuned for RF applications. The suite
of passive components includes spiral inductors, Metal
Insulator Metal (MIM) capacitors, varactors, and poly-resistors,
all of which are integral RF components for system-on-chip
implementations.
Chartered's 0.35-micron RF CMOS process has been fully
qualified and validated by Oki Electric Industry Company,
Ltd. (Oki) in Japan, through the delivery of an RF chip
for Oki's Bluetooth™ solution.
Chartered's
0.25-micron RF CMOS process, which has been utilized
for the AMIC chip, was jointly developed with Ericsson
Microelectronics and features a core voltage of 2.5
volts. The process demonstrates extremely high performance
with peak fT of 39 GHz and fmax of 45 GHz. With continuous
device scaling, the companies also achieved low device
noise through optimized layout with minimal parasitics.
A 0.25-micron RF CMOS design kit is now available to
all Chartered customers, and it includes RF transistors,
passive components and device models jointly developed
with Ericsson.
The RF device library and models for Chartered's 0.18-micron
RF CMOS process are also available now. In addition,
preliminary RF device models for the 0.13-micron RF
CMOS process are expected to be available during the
fourth quarter of 2001.
Expanding Market for RF CMOS
According to Bruno Guilmart, Chartered's president for
Asia Pacific, today's announcement with AMIC Technology
follows successful implementations of Chartered's RF
CMOS technologies by other global companies, and provides
fertile ground for expanding the company's reach into
Taiwan and other markets.
"Access to silicon-proven, cost-effective RF CMOS foundry
processes is a must for semiconductor product manufacturers
targeting wireless and other applications that reflect
the growing convergence of computer, communications
and consumer products. We fully support AMIC's aggressive
pursuit of the market opportunities that RF CMOS offers,
and we look forward to bringing the advantages of this
low-cost functionality, high-performance technology
to other customers," added Guilmart.
The Chartered Express™ 0.25-micron RF CMOS prototyping
program has completed a number of manufacturing tape
outs for several customers. These tape outs include
a high-performance 0.25-micron RF CMOS chip designed
by Ericsson Microelectronics as a Bluetooth™ transceiver,
which was also verified to be fully functional at first-pass
design and first silicon.
The Chartered Express™ RF CMOS 0.18-micron prototyping
program has also been launched, with additional trains
scheduled for the second half of 2001and beyond. Chartered
also has plans to extend its customer prototyping activities
for RF CMOS manufacturing processes down to 0.13-micron
technologies.
About
Chartered
Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing is one of the
world's top three silicon foundries. The Company's business
model is distinguished by its strategy to build trusted
long-term relationships, where manufacturing is part
of a larger customer-service focus that includes joint
development and implementation of new process technologies
supporting novel applications within the broad communications
market. Chartered operates five semiconductor fabrication
facilities in Singapore and has a sixth fab in the process
of being developed as a 300mm facility.
A company with both global presence and perspective,
Chartered is traded on both the Nasdaq Stock Market
in the United States (Nasdaq: CHRT) and on the Singapore
Exchange Securities Trading Limited in Singapore (SGX-ST:
CHARTERED). The Company reported 2000 revenues of over
US$1.1 billion. More than 4,300 Chartered employees
are based at 11 locations around the world. Information
about Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing can be found
at www.charteredsemi.com
About AMIC
In 1996 AMIC Technology was established as a memory
specialty company after a successful spin-off from the
UMC group. AMIC Technology provides its customers with
a wide range of memory components and application specific
memory design solutions. The Company's memory portfolio
is expanding rapidly and already includes SRAM, DRAM,
SDRAM, FLASH, OTP and Mask ROM products. With the leading
silicon and back-end manufacturers, AMIC Technology
provides its customers with very large volume sharing
of memory components. By means of AMIC's selective customer
marketing approach and professional servicing, AMIC
confirms an average delivery cycle of weeks rather then
months. AMIC distributes these high quality memory products
into a wide spectrum of applications among customers
in Europe, Asia and the Americas. More information about
AMIC can be found a http://www.amictechnology.com/.
Chartered 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 AMIC's production plans utilizing
Chartered's RF CMOS design kit; our collaborative efforts
development and production plans in connection with
the application of our RF CMOS manufacturing process
to the various sub-micron technologies mentioned above,
reflect our current views with respect to future events,
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: the difficulties, interruptions or unforeseen
delays in the progress and implementation of the above-mentioned
collaborative efforts, development and production plans,
the introduction of new competing manufacturing technologies,
or changes in market outlook and customer demand, specifically
in the foundry services and communications segments.
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 could cause actual results to differ materially
can be found in the section captioned "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 are based on the current view of management
on 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.
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