Hitachi Sells 8-Inch Fab to Chartered Semiconductor

Chartered Semiconductor has just announced having signed an agreement with Hitachi regarding the buyout of its 8-inch fab in Singapore for $233 million. The purchase is meant to expand Chartered's production capacity for eight-inch wafer semiconductors.

The agreement between Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing Pte. Ltd and Hitachi Semiconductor Singapore Pte. Ltd stipulates that 100 percent of Hitachi's shares will be taken by Chartered. The stock value of the shares pack is $233 million, to be paid in cash.

Chartered will take over the 8-inch fab in Singapore, in order to add it to the other four eight-inc wafer fabs the company is currently operating. Chartered also operates a 300-millimeter wafer fab in Singapore. The acquisition of the new 8-inch fab was critical for Chartered, as the semiconductor manufacturer could not meet the increased demand from its already existing customers, such as Renesas Technology. Moreover, the increased production power will facilitate the process of attracting more and more business partners.

"Chartered remains committed to providing a full suite of foundry services to customers, enabling them to deliver market-leading solutions not only in advanced technologies but also in mature technologies,'' said Chia Song Hwee, president & CEO of Chartered, in a statement.

The newly-acquired production plant is situated in a 90,000 square-meter campus with building space of 28,000 square meters. It is capable of producing about 24,000 8-inch wafers per month with production technologies from 0.15-micron to 0.25-micron.

''This announcement reflects the progress we have made so far with our value-added technology offerings and allows us to capitalize the investments we have already made in that area by adding immediately available capacity near our existing campus with a trained employee base of approximately 800 people," he said.

The transaction is expected to get completed until the end of this quarter. Chartered will fund the operation through its existing cash balance, cash flow from operations and credit facilities.