Infineon and Chartered Expand Development Collaboration with 65nm

Infineon Technologies AG (FSE/NYSE:IFX) and Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing (NASDAQ: CHRT and SGX-ST:Chartered) today announced they have signed an agreement for the manufacturingof 65 nanometer (nm) logic products. Infineon will have Chartered manufacture lowpowermobile-phone products, with initial prototypes expected in the first quarter of 2006 and production scheduled to begin in the fourth quarter of 2006.
This announcement builds on the joint 65nm technology development efforts betweenIBM, Infineon, Chartered and Samsung. Today’s agreement with Chartered enablesInfineon to participate at the cutting-edge of technological development in the semiconductorindustry without having to invest in new manufacturing capacity. Infineonretains the flexibility to evolve its production skills in response to future market developments.“Infineon has decided to have the 65nm technology, developed together withChartered, IBM and Samsung, produced by Chartered in order to further expandits leading position in customized products while achieving profitable growth,” saidDr. Wolfgang Ziebart, President and CEO of Infineon Technologies AG. “The traditionalpositioning of semiconductor companies along the entire value chain fromdevelopment through to production and sales for logic products is in the process ofchanging and is therefore subject to optimizing capital investment and business development.”“Chartered and Infineon already have a strong development and manufacturing alliance,and this is an exciting next step,” said Chia Song Hwee, President and CEO ofChartered. “As a joint development alliance, Chartered, Infineon, IBM and Samsungare realizing significant economical and technological advantages by pooling resourcesand broad expertise. In this latest step, Infineon will benefit from a seamlesstransition from development to manufacturing with one of its development partners,leveraging the manufacturing flexibility Chartered offers. Infineon can continueto focus on differentiating itself through development of low-power and customizedproducts, while Chartered provides a reliable and cost-effective outsourcing solutionto address Infineon’s manufacturing needs.”
During the next few months, employees from Infineon sites in Europe and the U.S. willdeploy to Chartered to ensure the seamless integration of the process technology intoChartered’s 300-millimeter facility, Fab 7. Meanwhile, more than 200 engineers fromthe four participating joint development companies continue to work together on thedevelopment of next-generation technologies, including 45nm, in East Fishkill, NewYork.