Moody’s senior analyst Ken Chan put Chartered Semiconductor’s (CHRT) speculative-grade Ba2 rating under review for a possible downgrade after Abu Dhabi’s nationalized investment firm, ATIC, proposed to buy the Singapore-based company for $1.8 billion.

The acquisition would transfer the majority holding from Singapore investment agency, Temasek (Moody’s rating Aaa) to ATIC (Abu Dhabi’s sovereign rating Aa2).

Analysts differed on how the acquisition would affect Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), which had earlier united with ATIC to form Globalfoundries. Although Chartered and Globalfoundries will continue to operate as separate entities, increased scale of operations could result in cost synergies. Since AMD includes Globalfoundries in its consolidated results, the deal could shorten its road to profitability.

The deal would also open up Globalfoundries to several big customers, such as Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), Broadcom Corp. (BRCM), Marvell Technology Group (MRVL) and Texas Instruments (TXN). Its end market

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While the recession could certainly be blamed for much of the current softness, it does not adequately explain the state of semiconductor manufacturing today.

Since the bursting of the tech bubble in the late 1990s, semiconductor companies have improved inventory management, streamlined operations and transferred manufacturing to cheaper locations. This enabled a stronger focus on research, helping differentiation and consequently profit margins.

Although companies like Intel (INTC), STMicroelectronics (STM), Texas Instruments (TXN) and National Semiconductor (NSM) continue to operate their own facilities, many smaller players, such as Intersil Corp. (ISIL) and Semtech Corp. (SMTC) decided to take the outsourcing route.

This was a boon for Asian manufacturers, especially Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSM) and United Microelectronics (UMC), which were the first to capitalize on the opportunity. Chartered Semiconductor (CHRT) and Semiconductor Manufacturing International (SMI) joined later, but continued to

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL - April 14, 2009 - Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: United States Steel Corporation (X), MIPS Technologies, Inc. (MIPS), Chevron Corp. (CVX), Montpelier Re Holdings Ltd ( MRH) and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSM).

Get the most recent insight from Zacks Equity Research with the free Profit from the Pros newsletter: http://at.zacks.com/?id=4579.

Here are highlights from Monday's Analyst Blog:

U.S. Steel Bending to Pressure

United States Steel Corporation (X) is a leading steel manufacturer in the U.S. Rising supply from China, low demand from the automotive and residential sectors and rising labor costs are affecting

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Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSM) is the world's largest pure-play foundries. December top and bottom-line results met consensus estimates. Despite the firm being an industry leader, macro conditions and inventory issues will be tremendous headwinds in the coming quarters.Management has developed a six step plan to combat the industry conditions. We look for spending to pick up in 2009 for 45-nanometer products, but much of this will be dependent on macro conditions. We are reiterating our Hold rating with a target price of $10.00.The six-point plan initiated by management will allow the firm to emerge from the economic down turn in an even stronger position, yet the exposure to shrinking orders will make the next few quarters difficult. Our implied forward multiple is 13.5x our fiscal 2010 estimate. Read the full analyst report on "TSM"Zacks Investment Research

Highlights include Intel Corporation (INTC), Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (INTC) and ARM Holdings, Inc. (ARMH).The AgreementOn March 2nd 2009, Intel Corporation (INTC) and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., or TSMC (TSM) announced an agreement to collaborate on addressing technology platform, intellectual property (IP) infrastructure and System-on-Chip (SoC) solutions.  This raised some eyebrows in semiconductor circles. Under the agreement, Intel would port its Atom processor CPU cores to the TSMC technology platform including processes, IP, libraries, and design flows. The collaboration is intended to expand Intel's Atom SoCs availability for Intel customers for a wider range of applications through integration with TSMC's diverse IP infrastructure.The Intel Atom processor features 47 million transistors and is Intel's smallest processor. Products manufactured through the agreement may find adoption in embedded CPU market segments such as mobile internet Devices (MIDs), ...