October 9, 2007 – A pair of Japanese banks have signed on to give Singapore foundry Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing a $300mm infusion to help the foundry purchase Japanese-made equipment for its Fab 7 300mm facility.
The funds will be used to support the Phase 2 ramp of Fab 7, slated to be a push to 39,000 wafers/month utilizing 90nm down to 45nm processes. Earlier this year Chartered nailed down $610M from US banks also to support this Phase 2 ramp.
The term loans, provided by Japan Bank for International Cooperation and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp., will be repaid over five years, with half the loan carrying a 5.65% interest and the other a funding cost of approximately that of the London Interbank Offering Rate (LIBOR), plus 0.57%. (One-year LIBOR rates currently stand at 4.99%.)