Chartered Updates Guidance for First Quarter

SINGAPORE – March 9, 2009 – Today, in a mid-quarter update, Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing Ltd. (Nasdaq: CHRT and SGX-ST: CHARTERED) revised its first quarter 2009 guidance, which was originally provided on January 30, 2009.

“For the first quarter, our current outlook for revenues and revenues including our share of SMP is in line with our previous guidance. As the quarter is progressing, our business seems to be stabilizing with wafer starts for second quarter shipments showing increases due to additional orders from customers, compared to our view in January. This is expected to result in lower cost per wafer during the first quarter due to higher production volumes over which fixed costs are allocated. Therefore, we are now expecting our net loss to improve approximately $20 million, compared to our previous guidance. While we are seeing this improvement in customer orders, the macroeconomic environment continues to be challenging and business visibility remains limited,” said George Thomas, senior vice president & CFO of Chartered.

Chartered plans to release first quarter 2009 results on Friday, April 24, 2009, Singapore time, before the Singapore market opens. Chartered’s original guidance for first quarter 2009 was published in the Company’s fourth quarter 2008 earnings release dated January 30, 2009, which can be found on Chartered’s Web site at www.charteredsemi.com, under Investor Relations, Earnings Releases section.

The revised outlook for first quarter 2009 is as follows:

	4Q 2008
	Actual	January 30 Guidance Midpoint/Range	Revised Guidance Midpoint/Range
Revenues	$351.7M	$238M, ± $6M	$238M, ± $6M
Revenues including Chartered’s share of SMP	$359.0M	$246M, ± $7M	$246M, ± $7M
ASP (a)	$909	$932, ± $20	$932, ± $20
ASP including Chartered’s share of SMP (a)	$907	$933, ± $25	$933, ± $25
Utilization	59%	37%, ± 3%	37%, ± 3%
Gross profit	$13.8M	($64M), ± $6M	($44M), ± $6M
Net income (loss)	($114.0M)	($147M), ± $5M	($127M), ± $5M
Basic earnings (loss) per ADS (b)	($0.46)	($0.59), ± $0.02	($0.51), ± $0.02

(a) Eight-inch equivalent wafers.

(b) Basic earnings (loss) per ADS is computed by deducting from net income or adding to net (loss) the accretion to redemption value of the convertible redeemable preference shares, projected to be approximately $2.6 million in first quarter 2009.

About Chartered

Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing Ltd. (Nasdaq: CHRT, SGX-ST: CHARTERED), one of the world’s top dedicated semiconductor foundries, offers leading-edge technologies down to 65 nanometer (nm), enabling today’s system-on-chip designs. The company further serves its customers’ needs through a collaborative, joint development approach on a technology roadmap that extends to 22nm. Chartered’s strategy is based on open and comprehensive design enablement solutions, manufacturing enhancement strategies, and a commitment to flexible sourcing. In Singapore, the company operates a 300mm fabrication facility and five 200mm facilities. Information about Chartered can be found at www.charteredsemi.com.