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Washington, D.C.: A long-term loan from the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) will help a Malaysian semiconductor manufacturer, Silterra Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., to purchase $800 million of technology, equipment and services from LSI Logic Corporation in Milpitas, Calif., Fluor Daniel Intercontinental in Irvine, Calif., and 23 other U.S. companies for the construction of a semiconductor wafer fabrication plant in the state of Kedah, Malaysia. Ex-Im Bank's loan to Silterra Malaysia is guaranteed by Malaysia's Ministry of Finance.

Signing the documents today at a ceremony at Ex-Im Bank headquarters in Washington, D.C., were Ex-Im Bank Vice Chair and Chief Operating Officer Jackie Clegg and Silterra Malaysia Chairman Tan Sri Dato' Mohd Sheriff bin Mohd Kassim. Also in attendance was Malaysia's ambassador to the United States, Dato' Ghazzali Sheikh Abdul Khalid.

This transaction will sustain and create U.S. jobs and will also support economic growth in Malaysia. The new plant will help Malaysia to grow as a manufacturing center and market for U.S. technology and services, said Ex-Im Bank Vice Chair Clegg at the signing today.

Silterra Malaysia, a Malaysian start-up company, is building the semiconductor manufacturing plant in Kulim Hi-Tech Park in Kedah. The new plant will manufacture semiconductors according to customer design specifications and will produce the current industry standard chip (0.25 micron) and the next generation chip (0.18 micron) but not DRAM semiconductors. LSI Logic Corporation has the major technology transfer contract on the project and Fluor Daniel Intercontinental has the major construction contract.

Ex-Im Bank is an independent federal government agency that helps to finance the export of U.S. goods and services primarily to developing markets around the world by providing loans, loan guarantees and export credit insurance. In fiscal year 1999, Ex-Im Bank helped to support nearly $17 billion of U.S. exports worldwide.