Heard on the Beat: Chartered's business heats up
Silicon Strategies
09/25/2003, 8:40 PM ET
Guess which foundry is benefiting from an order surge and overflow business? Many foundries are benefiting, but Singapore's Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing Pte. Ltd. is getting its share of the business.
As Taiwan's foundry giants are running out of high-end capacity, chip makers are now taking a sudden interest in Chartered, reportedly including fabless chip maker Marvell Technology Ltd., according to sources.
Chartered's high-end process technology, including its 0.18- to 0.15-micron technology, is said to be nearly sold out, and its trailing-edge capacity is seeing renewed demand, according to sources. In total, Chartered fab-utilization rate is running at almost 60 percent in Q3, and is expected to climb to around 70 percent in Q4, according to sources.
Chartered is getting orders from Broadcom Corp. To date, Broadcom is the biggest buyer of 130-nm wafers from Chartered, sources said. Other key customers for Chartered include Agere, Alliance, Infineon, and STMicrolectronics. |
