Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing struck a deal to borrow $610 million to push ahead the ramp-up of its first 300-millimeter wafer fab.

The loan, taken from J.P. Morgan, is being guaranteed by the Export-Import Bank of the United States and will be used to buy chip making equipment from US suppliers.

Chartered is moving into the second phase of building capacity at Fab 7, a $3.5 billion project. The fab is a key asset in Chartered's strategy to participate in an alliance with IBM and Samsung to craft common process technologies that can be easily ported among the facilities.

It is expected to begin qualification of the companies' jointly developed 45-nanometer low-power process in late 2007.

By: DocMemory
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