Chartered Semiconductor reported its 4Q08 results this morning, with a revenue of US$351.7m (-0.3% YoY, -24.1% QoQ), which is in line with its mid-quarter guidance of US$343-353m. Its net loss (before preference share accretion) came in at US$114.0m, missing its guidance of US$76-84m loss, but this is due mainly to a reversal of tax credit amounting to US$34m. Excluding this, 4Q08 net loss before tax stood at US$81.0m, compared to net loss before tax of US$8.7m in 4Q07 and US$13.6m in 3Q08. For FY08, Chartered racked up revenue of US$1,661.1m (+22.5%), spot on with our FY08 sales forecasts, while its net loss of US$92.6m was larger than our projected loss of US$57.2m. Going forward, the group expects the negative macroeconomic environment and difficult end market conditions to continue to impact the foundry industry and the visibility of its business. As such, Chartered is guiding its 1Q09 revenue to drop approximately 31-34% QoQ to US$232-244m, and its net loss to deteriorate to US$142-152m. In addition, it is also cutting its 2009 capex to US$375m, 35% lower than US$576m registered in 2008. We will provide with more updates after our teleconference with Chartered. For now, we put our HOLD rating and S$0.17 fair value under review.