Chartered updates Q1 guidance

SINGAPORE: In a mid-quarter update, Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing Ltd revised its first quarter 2009 guidance, which was originally provided on January 30, 2009.

“For the first quarter, our current outlook for revenues and revenues including our share of SMP is in line with our previous guidance. As the quarter is progressing, our business seems to be stabilizing with wafer starts for second quarter shipments showing increases due to additional orders from customers, compared to our view in January. This is expected to result in lower cost per wafer during the first quarter due to higher production volumes over which fixed costs are allocated. Therefore, we are now expecting our net loss to improve approximately $20 million, compared to our previous guidance. While we are seeing this improvement in customer orders, the macroeconomic environment continues to be challenging and business visibility remains limited,” said George Thomas, senior vice president & CFO of Chartered.

Chartered plans to release first quarter 2009 results on Friday, April 24, 2009, Singapore time, before the Singapore market opens. Chartered’s original guidance for first quarter 2009 was published in the Company’s fourth quarter 2008 earnings release dated January 30, 2009, which can be found on Chartered’s Web site, under Investor Relations, Earnings Releases section.