Chartered retakes chipmakers' No. 3 spot

Chartered Semiconductor Manu-facturing Ltd (特許) regained its position as the world's third-largest provider of made-to-order semiconductors, overtaking International Business Machines Corp, a market researcher said.

Chartered, based in Singapore, had sales growth last year of about 49 percent as IBM's revenue from made-to-order chips slumped 27 percent, according to IC Insights. Chartered slipped to fourth behind IBM in 2002.

IBM, based in New York, has chosen to offer the most advanced chip-making technology to a few customers rather than aiming for a wider range of clients, analysts said.

Chip companies have problems implementing their designs at the most advanced levels, and a higher percentage of chips are defective, they said.

"This bleeding-edge strategy has problems," said Joe Osha, a Merrill Lynch & Co analyst. "IBM hasn't thought about how they're going to compete in this business."