Feb. 27, 2002 – Singapore – Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing Ltd. has signed two agreements in hopes of making its technology more widely available for chip designers.

Under the first agreement, Chartered said customers can gain access to Chartered’s manufacturing processes from Avant! Corp.’s library of technical designs for chipmaking, reported Dow Jones and Co.

The agreement, in which Avant! Corp. will charge a fee if a design is released to Chartered for wafer processing, gives designers use of Chartered’s current technology standards of 0.35-, 0.25- and 0.18-micron processes.

In a similar agreement, Chartered and Artisan Components Inc., which provides semiconductor IP, will give customers access to their 0.13-micron technology processes.

The agreement with Artisan is expected to help Chartered ramp up production of 0.13-micron technology wafers.

Chartered is trying to shift toward leading edge technologies such as 0.13-micron, as the industry shifts away from older technologies.

But Chartered’s 0.13-micron business is at a nascent stage. The No. 3 chip foundry is capable of using 1% of its production capacity for the manufacture of 0.13-micron wafers, while the majority of its revenue comes from older technologies like 0.25-micron and 0.35-micron processes.