SINGAPORE, EAST FISHKILL, N.Y., and SEOUL, S. KOREA - June 7, 2005 - IBM, Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing and Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. today announced that they are jointly developing design kits for the 65-nanometer (nm) base and low-power processes. The agreement further reinforces the commitment to the common platform to enable design support for the jointly developed 65nm process technologies and enhance sourcing flexibility for 65nm customers.
Specifically, IBM, Chartered and Samsung will offer 65nm designers common design kits that consist of physical verification [design rule checking (DRC) and layout versus schematic (LVS) matching] and parasitic extraction (RCX) technology files. Additionally, the companies will also make available common SRAM kits for single- and dual-port memories, eFUSE kit and electrostatic discharge (ESD) kit. These initial design kits have been validated using a test chip, which further demonstrates their capabilities for realizing fast and silicon-accurate 65nm designs.
"Extending our collaboration from technology development to design enablement development, IBM, Chartered and Samsung are accelerating efforts to enable a comprehensive ecosystem of design support around the 65nm technology platform," said Steve Longoria, vice president, Semiconductor Technology Platform for IBM. "This model of true collaboration and open design differentiates the common platform and provides customers cutting-edge technology, enhanced design portability, and multi-sourcing flexibility."
"At 65nm, IBM, Chartered and Samsung have taken steps to define and develop process-optimized solutions in tandem with the design community," said Kevin Meyer, vice president of worldwide marketing at Chartered. "The customer benefits are the early availability of manufacturing-aware design solutions tuned for enabling the manufacturability of 65nm designs."
"Combining our efforts with IBM and Chartered at 65nm will result in a very compelling solution that is the base for a unique compatibility in the industry," said KP Suh, Executive Vice President of Technology Development at Samsung. "This strategy also significantly expands the expertise required by our internal users and external customers to address the complex design requirements for a range of cutting-edge system-on-chip products."
About IBM
IBM is the world's largest information technology company, with 80 years of leadership in helping businesses innovate. Drawing on resources from across IBM and key IBM Business Partners, IBM offers a wide range of services, solutions and technologies that help enable customers, large and small, to take full advantage of the new era of e-business on demand. For more information about IBM, visit http://www.ibm.com. For more information on IBM's on demand strategy, visit http://www.ibm.com/ondemand.
About Chartered
Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing (Nasdaq: CHRT, SGX-ST: CHARTERED), one of the world's top dedicated semiconductor foundries, offers leading-edge technologies down to 90 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 45nm. 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 four 200mm facilities. Information about Chartered can be found at www.charteredsemi.com.
Chartered is a founding member of Power.org, an open standards community formed in December 2004 around chips and systems, which use Power Architecture technology.
About Samsung Electronics
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. is a global leader in semiconductor, telecommunication, digital media and digital convergence technologies with 2004 parent company sales of US$55.2 billion and net income of US$10.3 billion. Employing approximately 113,000 people in over 90 offices in 48 countries, the company consists of five main business units: Digital Appliance Business, Digital Media Business, LCD Business, Semiconductor Business and Telecommunication Network Business. Recognized as one of the fastest growing brands, Samsung Electronics is the world's largest producer of color monitors, color TVs, memory chips and TFT-LCDs. For more information, please visit www.samsung.com.
Chartered 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, the statements relating to the low-power library offering available for the 65-nm low-power process; the semiconductor industry's recognition of the IBM-Chartered common platform; and the benefits of our open business model and open design environment 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: changes in market outlook and trends; demands from our major customers, excess inventory and life cycles of specific products; competition from other foundries; unforeseen delays or interruptions in our plans for our fabrication facilities; the performance level of and the technology mix in our fabrication facilities; our progress on leading edge products; the successful implementation of our collaborative efforts with IBM, Samsung and our library support partner; the timing and rate of the semiconductor market recovery; economic conditions in the United States as well as globally and the growth of fables companies and the outsourcing strategy of integrated device manufacturers. 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.
