STMicroelectronics, NXP merge wireless biz

GENEVA/EINDHOVEN: NXP, the independent semiconductor company founded by Philips, today signed an agreement with STMicroelectronics to combine key wireless operations to form a joint venture company with strong relationships with all major handset manufacturers.

The new company will have the scale to meet customer needs in 2G, 2.5G, 3G, multimedia, connectivity and all future wireless technologies, NXP said in a press release.

The combined venture will be created from successful businesses that together generated $3 billion in revenue in 2007 and will own thousands of important communication and multimedia patents.

The new organization will combine key design, sales and marketing, and back-end manufacturing assets from both companies into a streamlined worldwide joint venture that will rely on its parent companies and foundries for wafer fabrication services.

"The strength of this venture is its relationships with key customers, as well as the complementary IP and product portfolios transferred from ST and NXP that create a broad offering with the capability to deliver innovations to the market,” said Carlo Bozotti, president and CEO of STMicroelectronics.

“The JV’s strong positioning leads us to expect immediate and future top- and bottom-line synergies for the exciting new enterprise and establishes a powerful foundation to build on its parents’ 2G, 2.5G, 3G, multimedia and connectivity efforts,” Bozotti added.