Chartered CEO says seeking new factory acquisitions

Thu Apr 24, 2008 11:10pm EDT

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SINGAPORE, April 25 (Reuters) - Contract chipmaker Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing Ltd (CSMF.SI: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said on Friday it remains on the lookout worldwide to buy more factory capacity for eight-inch wafers.

"The demand for eight-inch (wafers) continues to be there, and is staying strong -- we will constantly be on the lookout for capacity additions globally," Chartered Chief Executive Chia Song Hwee told Reuters in a telephone interview.

"It tends to be opportunistic -- you never know when equipment will be released into the market."

He declined to say how much Chartered plans to spend on its acquisitions.

Last month, Chartered paid $240 million to acquire Hitachi Semiconductor Singapore Pte Ltd, an eight-inch wafer fabrication plant, which uses older chip-making technologies.

"The opportunity is on eight-inch -- we're not interested in a smaller size like six-inch, and 12-inch is new, so there's no-one disposing of 12-inch (factory equipment)," he added.

Earlier on Friday, state-controlled Chartered reported a 62 percent drop in first-quarter net profit to $2.4 million as demand for video game consoles, personal computers and communication equipment weakened.

Chartered ranks alongside China's Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC) (0981.HK: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) in the market for custom-built microchips, which is dominated by larger rivals Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd (2330.TW: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and United Microelectronics Corp (2303.TW: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).