Stock News: Chartered Semiconductor signed agreement with Microsoft!

Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing said it signed an agreement with Microsoft Corp. to manufacture CPU products for Microsoft's Xbox 360 game consoles. Financial terms were not disclosed. Production is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2007. Separately, Chartered Semiconductor also said it has licensed the 90-nanometer Silicon-on-Insulator technology from International Business Machines. Financial terms were not disclosed. Singapore-based Chartered said the agreement allows it to expand its use of the technology to areas such as consumer, multimedia, communications, automotive and industrial applications. Chartered shares were up 4 cents at $10.11 in after-hours trading Thursday.