Chartered and NTU Implement High-Performance 10-GHz VCO in 0.18-Micron Process.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SINGAPORE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 2, 2003

Leading Foundry and Research Center of Excellence Achieve Research

Breakthrough Utilizing RF CMOS Process

Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing (Nasdaq:CHRT) (SGX-ST:Chartered), one of the world's top three dedicated semiconductor foundries, today announced that the Center for Integrated Circuit & Systems at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University (NTU) has successfully designed and manufactured a 10-GHz voltage control oscillator (VCO) utilizing Chartered's proven 0.18-micron RF CMOS semiconductor process. This research achievement is considered an industry breakthrough for RF integrated circuit (IC) design as most 10-GHz VCO circuits commercially available today are manufactured using more costly silicon germanium processes. High-speed, high-performance VCOs are integral RF components for supporting rapid data transmission by wireless and optical communications networks.

"This is a powerful success story of the symbiotic relationship between industry and research organizations," said Dr. Sun Shi-Chung, senior vice president of technology development for Chartered. "Chartered believes that ongoing technological and intellectual exchange among its global research network and industry partners are key for bringing to market sophisticated system-on-chip (SoC) solutions at next-generation technology nodes. We applaud NTU for its advanced research initiatives to drive technology innovation in complex yet cost-effective SoC designs."

"Chartered has been a committed and an important partner in NTU's ongoing RF IC research program, where our objective is to deliver cost-effective and silicon-verified RF design solutions to the wireless and optical communications markets," said Dr. Do Manh Anh, professor and head of division of circuits and systems at NTU. "We are very excited to be able to implement a 10-GHz VCO using Chartered's cost-effective CMOS technology platform. It is clear that Chartered's RF CMOS process is superior and supports the extremely stringent requirements of high-performance SoC applications."

The VCO designed by NTU is the first to adopt a complementary cross-coupled structure for high-frequency low-phase noise oscillators. This circuit is an important building block in transceiver designs for Synchronous Optical Network (SONET) and Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH) applications. Combined with the high-performance, low-noise and low-power consumption capabilities of Chartered's RF CMOS manufacturing platform, NTU designers were able to overcome the constant battle between signal speed and noise faced by RF IC designers.

NTU optimized design performance along four critical parameters to achieve high-speed frequency at 10-GHz with a wide tuning range of 1.1-GHz. The power consumption of the core VCO is only 5.8-mW and 22.6-mW with buffer. The circuit demonstrates low phase noise of -91-dBc/Hz at 100-kHz-offset frequency. The outstanding quality and first-pass design success are also attributed to the highly accurate RF CMOS models made available in the process design kits provided by Chartered, coupled with a robust manufacturing platform.

Chartered's 0.18-micron RF CMOS process is currently available for volume production. The RF CMOS module features high-performance transistors and a complete suite of passive components characterized and tuned for RF applications. The RF CMOS process is supported with Chartered's comprehensive product design solution that, in addition to process design kits, includes silicon-validated standard cell libraries, memory compilers and I/O components, as well as production-proven design kits for the ARM7TDMI(R) core and the ARM946E(TM) core, two of the most popular 32-bit RISC ARM(R) microprocessors.

About Chartered

Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing, one of the world's top three dedicated semiconductor foundries, is forging a customized approach to outsourced semiconductor manufacturing by building lasting and collaborative partnerships with its customers. The Company provides flexible and cost-effective manufacturing solutions for customers, enabling the convergence of communications, computing and consumer markets. In Singapore, Chartered operates five fabrication facilities and has a sixth fab, which will be developed as a 300mm facility.

A company with both global presence and perspective, Chartered is traded on both the Nasdaq Stock Market (Nasdaq:CHRT) and on the Singapore Exchange (SGX-ST:CHARTERED). Chartered's 3,500 employees are based at 11 locations around the world. Information about Chartered can be found at www.charteredsemi.com.

About NTU

Nanyang Technological University (www.ntu.edu.sg), formerly known as Nanyang Technological Institute (NTI), was established in August 1981 as a tertiary institution for education and research in various branches of engineering and technology. As of March 2003, the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering has more than 260 academic staff and 400 administrative, research and technical staff. The School also has 482 doctorate, 203 Masters of Engineering and 833 Masters of Science students. The full-time and part-time undergraduate engineering students are 3,447 and 386 respectively.

The School's mission is to excel in teaching, research and professional services in Electrical and Electronic Engineering thereby contributing to the technological and economic advancement of Singapore. The School has adopted the motto E3 to promote and cultivate the identity and culture in the School to achieve excellence in engineering education. E3 covers three main areas: excellence in teaching and learning, excellence in research and development and excellence in services to industry.

Chartered Safe Harbour Statement under the provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995

This news release may contain forward-looking statements, as defined in the safe harbour provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements reflect Chartered's 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. For example: changes in market outlook and trends; the rate of semiconductor market recovery; economic conditions in the United States as well as globally; customer demands; the successful implementation of our co-operation with NTU; the performance level in our fabrication facilities and competition. 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.

Note: In "E3," the 3 should be read as superscript.