Nokia, TI, 15 others in China tie-up

BEIJING: Finnish mobile phone giant Nokia , Texas Instruments and 15 other

Chinese and foreign firms said on Thursday they had formed a company to develop

software, semiconductors and multimedia electronics.

Nokia and Texas Instruments, along with Korea's LG Electronics, would each

hold about a 13.5 per cent stake in the consortium, to be called Commit Inc, the

companies said in a statement.

Commit, which would have an initial investment of 230 million yuan ($28

million), would develop software and design semiconductors for multimedia

electronics products, it said.

At a news conference, one executive declined to give specifics on the

products the consortium would make.

But the statement said: "Functions such as Internet surfing, mobile

communications, mobile offices and video processing will be expected on a single

terminal, such as a PDA (personal digital assistant) or even an MP3

player."

The China Academy of Telecommunications Technology and China PTIC Information

Industry Corp would each own a stake of about 13.5 percent, while the remaining

shares would be held by seven other Chinese companies and five other foreign

companies, the statement said.