CHARTERED EXPANDS SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING OFFERING WITH SiGe BiCMOS TECHNOLOGY

Leading semiconductor foundry collaborates with IMEC to productize new SiGe manufacturing process for convergence-era SOC applications

Milpitas, CALIF. and SINGAPORE - September 3, 2002 - Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing (Nasdaq:CHRT and SGX-ST:Chartered), one of the world's top three silicon foundries, today announced a joint technology agreement with IMEC, Europe's leading independent R&D center for microelectronics, that will result in Chartered offering 0.18-micron silicon germanium (SiGe) BiCMOS manufacturing capabilities by the second half of 2003. The addition of SiGe BiCMOS complements Chartered's mixed-signal and RF CMOS technology and broadens the offering of total product solutions to give companies more choices in high performance, low noise semiconductor technologies for the RF components of system-on-chip (SOC) applications.

According to a new study from Semico Research, as leading foundries expand the availability of cost effective processes, the demand for SiGe integrated circuits is expected to accelerate rapidly in the coming years, becoming a $2.7 billion niche market by 20061. The study identifies several key applications that will drive SiGe demand: cellular systems, optical networking, hard disk drives, Bluetooth applications, wireless local area networks, global positioning systems and digital set top boxes.

"Chartered's approach uses an existing CMOS baseline process as the starting point and will integrate the SiGe bipolar module to deliver value-added high performance, and in the process reuse their fully-qualified RF passive components. We believe this is significant, because it gives foundry customers more options in balancing overall system costs and performance requirements. Also the timing is right, because Chartered's SiGe module is targeted to be in place as demand hits," said Joanne Itow, senior analyst at Semico Research.

Industrial Collaboration
Chartered joins IMEC's Industrial Affiliation Program on 0.18µm BiCMOS process integration that targets the development of manufacturable, fully integrated BiCMOS technology optimized for low power, low noise RF applications in the 2 to 5GHz frequency range. Under the terms of the non-exclusive agreement through IMEC's Industrial Affiliation Program, IMEC will be licensing its 0.18-micron silicon germanium-based bipolar module to Chartered, along with the test chip structures and bipolar model.

"Today's announcement is an example of industrial collaboration at its best, and we're pleased to be partnering with such a world-renowned semiconductor research organization," stated Dr. Shi-Chung Sun, senior vice president of technology development at Chartered. "We conducted an extensive evaluation of SiGe technologies, and concluded that IMEC's best meets our requirements. It is also a strong complement to our existing RF CMOS capabilities for SOC applications."

"This agreement expands the reach of our industrial affiliation program into the foundry market," said Professor Gilbert Declerck, president and CEO of IMEC. "We have worked primarily with integrated device manufacturers on the SiGe project. By teaming with Chartered, we combine IMEC's expertise in silicon germanium-based BiCMOS technology, with Chartered's proven mixed-signal and RF CMOS manufacturing processes. This means our latest SiGe developments can be offered to more companies, including the rapidly growing fab-lite and fabless segments."

Chartered's 0.18-micron SiGe BiCMOS Product Offering
Chartered's SiGe BiCMOS roadmap starts at the 0.18-micron node and utilizes Chartered's 0.18-micron baseline CMOS and RFCMOS processes, which are already in production.

The peak fmax of the 0.18-micron silicon germanium-based BiCMOS process can exceed 100GHz. However, it is the low power features of the bipolar transistors ft of 14GHz with a current density of 25 A/ m2 that are critical to Chartered's target markets. A suite of passive components including spiral inductor, varactor, metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitor and poly-silicon resistors is also fully integrated into the process. The optimized bipolar 0.18-micron SiGe BiCMOS process allows designers to integrate RF front-end and baseband chips for wireless communications or to provide high-speed data rates for wireline applications.

A preliminary process design kit (PDK) is targeted for release in the third quarter of 2003. The design kit will be compatible with Chartered's CMOS library offering of standard cells and I/O's, enabling designers to integrate as much of the system solution as they desire. The 0.18-micron silicon germanium-based BiCMOS module is expected to be available for pilot production by the end of 2003.

Chartered technologists will discuss the details of the company's SiGe strategy during its 2002 Tech Forum series, which begins on September 4, 2002 in Taiwan and runs through the end of September visiting locations in Japan, Europe and the U.S. More information about the Chartered Tech Forums is available at www.charteredsemi.com/forum.htm.

About IMEC
IMEC was founded in 1984 and today is Europe's largest independent research center in the field of microelectronics, nanotechnology, enabling design methods and technologies for ICT systems. IMEC's activities concentrate on the design technology for integrated information and communication systems; silicon process technology; silicon technology and device integration; nanotechnology, microsystems, components and packaging; solar cells; and advanced training in microelectronics. IMEC is headquartered in Leuven, Belgium, and has a staff of more than 1200 people including over 350 industrial residents and guest researchers. IMEC has a 0.13µm 200mm pilot line and is ISO9001 certified. Its revenue of more than 120Meuro is derived from agreements and contracts with the Flemish government and companies, the EC, MEDEA+, the European Space Agency, equipment and material suppliers, and semiconductor and system-oriented companies worldwide. News from IMEC is located at www.imec.be.

The IMEC Industrial Affiliation Programs (IIAP)
IMEC's industrial affiliation program (IIAP) formula is recognized worldwide as one of the most successful partnership schemes in research and development. The collaborations are based on shared costs and risks and are built on sound intellectual property rules.

About Chartered
Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing, one of the world's top three silicon foundries, is forging a customized approach to outsourced semiconductor manufacturing by building lasting and collaborative partnerships with its customers. The Company provides flexible and cost-effective manufacturing solutions for customers, enabling the convergence of communications, computing and consumer applications. In Singapore, Chartered operates five fabrication facilities 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 (Nasdaq: CHRT) and on the Singapore Exchange (SGX-ST: CHARTERED). Chartered's 4,000 employees are based at 12 locations around the world. Information about Chartered can be found at www.charteredsemi.com.

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 joint technology agreement with IMEC, and its anticipated impact on our manufacturing capabilities, product offerings, and total product solutions strategy; the anticipated timing of milestones relating to the release of the preliminary process design kit and the pilot production of the 0.18 micron silicon germanium carbon BICMOS module, 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: successful implementation of our joint technology agreement with IMEC; the performance level of our fabrication facilities; changes in customer demands; market outlook and trends, specifically in the foundry services and communications segments; economic conditions in the United States as well as globally; and continued success in our business strategies and technological advances. 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.

1Note to Editors:
Semico study MA106-1-02 "Silicon Germanium Blooms: The Quick and Quiet Solution," released August 2002 by Semico Research. Semico Research Corp. is a leading provider of semiconductor market research and custom consulting. The Semico web site is http://www.semico.com/

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