May 17, 2007 — /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — WASHINGTON, DC — An Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) $610 million loan guarantee approved by the bank’s board of directors Wednesday will finance U.S. exports of wafer fabrication equipment to expand Chartered Semiconductor Mfg. Ltd.’s Fab 7 facility in Singapore.
Chartered will use the financing to buy U.S.-manufactured equipment from Applied Materials Inc., Santa Clara, CA; Novellus Systems Inc., San Jose, CA; LAM Research Corp., Fremont, CA; Varian Semiconductor Equipment Assoc., Gloucester, MA; KLA-Tencor Corp., Milpitas, CA, and numerous other U.S. exporters. JPMorgan Chase Bank, New York, NY, is the guaranteed lender on the transaction.
The equipment will be used in Phase 2 of the Fab 7 facility. When fully completed, Fab 7 will be able to fabricate up to 45,000 300-mm non-DRAM wafers per month. The wafers will use processing technology from 90 nm to 45 nm over the life of the project.
“We supported Phase 1 of Fab 7 and welcome participation in Phase 2,” said Ex-Im Bank chairman and president James H. Lambright. “This export sale will help create and sustain jobs at the U.S. exporting companies involved in the project and their sub-suppliers throughout the country.”
“Chartered is pleased with the continued support from Ex-Im Bank,” said George Thomas, senior vice president and chief financial officer of Chartered. “Today’s announcement follows the US$653 million term-loan facility we signed with Ex-Im Bank in 2004 and have been utilizing for our capacity expansion. This new financing will help us further build the capacity that is needed to support our customers in the U.S. and elsewhere in the world.”
“We are delighted to support the development of Phase 2 of Fab 7 and to further the support of U.S. exports,” said Margo Gill, JPMorgan Chase’s Ex-Im Bank program manager.
The Ex-Im Bank financing is a corporate finance transaction, with Chartered being the primary source of repayment. Chartered is an independent specialized contract manufacturer of semiconductors in the world.
Ex-Im Bank is an independent U.S. government agency that assists in financing the export of U.S. goods and services to markets around the world through export credit insurance, loan guarantees, and direct loans. In fiscal year 2006, Ex-Im Bank authorized over $12.1 billion in transactions supporting an estimated $16.1 billion in U.S. exports.
Source: Export-Import Bank of the United States
Contact:
Marianna Ohe of Ex-Im Bank, +1-202-565-3200
Web site: http://www.exim.gov/