Chartered denies takeover rumours

RUMOURS THAT Singapore foundry Chartered Semi is up for grabs are unfounded, its founder and CEO told the Wall Street Journal on Friday.

Like many Singapore institutions, Chartered is partly owned by the government and so the rumours seemed unlikely anyroad, despite the fact it warned last week that gross margins on wafers would be down next time round.

It declared a fall in its net profit and blamed that on a slowdown on demand and overstock. It reckons it will make a loss in its second financial quarter. µ