September 6, 2006 – Singapore foundry Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing is maintaining its expectations for 3Q06, with sales flat to slightly down in a range of $356-$368 million, and profits of $6-$16 million. “The quarter is essentially progressing in line with what we had anticipated earlier,” stated George Thomas, SVP and CFO.

In the initial July 21 discussion of 3Q outlook, Chartered indicated it saw weakness in the third quarter, with customers concerned about inventories due to softer-than-usual seasonality in end markets, plus an anticipated decline in revenues from video game devices. However, that weakness was expected to be partially offset by new business, such as the ramp of AMD’s newest microprocessors. Utilization rates were projected to slow down slightly to 75%, with a 5% increase in overall capacity.

The company posted $364.8 million in 2Q06, up about 3% from the prior quarter and 88% from a year ago. 2Q net income totaled $12.3 million, down from $25.3 million in 1Q06 but reversing a $67.1 million loss in 2Q05.