News Article
$610 million loan will support Singapore fab 7 facility expansion
United States Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im Bank) has guaranteed a $610 million loan approved by the Bank's board of directors which will finance U.S. exports of wafer fabrication equipment to expand Chartered Semiconductor Mfg.'s Fab 7 facility in Singapore.
United States Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im Bank) has guaranteed a $610 million loan approved by the Bank's board of directors which will finance U.S. exports of wafer fabrication equipment to expand Chartered Semiconductor Mfg.'s Fab 7 facility in Singapore. Chartered will use the financing to buy U.S.-manufactured equipment from Applied Materials Inc., Santa Clara, Calif.; Novellus Systems Inc., San Jose, Calif., LAM Research Corp., Freemont, Calif.; Varian Semiconductor Equipment Assoc., Gloucester, Mass.; KLA-Tencor Corp., Milpitas, Calif., and numerous other U.S. exporters. JPMorgan Chase Bank, New York, N.Y., is the guaranteed lender on the transaction. The equipment will be used in phase two of the Fab 7 facility. When fully completed, Fab 7 will be able to fabricate up to 45,000 300-millimeter non-DRAM wafers per month. The wafers will use processing technology from 90 nanometres to 45 nanometers over the life of the project. "We supported phase one of Fab 7 and welcome participation in phase two," said Ex-Im Bank Chairman and President James H. Lambright. "This export sale will help create and sustain jobs at the U.S. exporting companies involved in the project and their sub-suppliers throughout the country." "Chartered is pleased with the continued support from Ex-Im Bank," said George Thomas, senior vice president & chief financial officer of Chartered. "This announcement follows the US$653 million term-loan facility we signed with Ex-Im Bank in 2004 and have been utilising for our capacity expansion. This new financing will help us further build the capacity that is needed to support our customers in the U.S. and elsewhere in the world." "We are delighted to support the development of phase 2 of Fab 7 and to further the support of U.S. exports," said Margo Gill, JPMorgan Chase's Ex-Im Bank Program Manager.
