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STMicroelectronics is an international leading supplier of semiconductors.

History

The ST group was formed in June 1987 from the merger of two semiconductor companies: the Italian company SGS Microelettronica (Società Generale Semiconduttori) and the French company Thomson Semiconducteurs, the semiconductor arm of the French company, Thomson. In May 1998, the company changed its name from SGS-THOMSON to STMicroelectronics following the withdrawal of Thomson SA.

Looking back farther:

  • The Italian company SGS was initially named SGS-ATES (Aquila Tubi E Semiconduttori) and resulted from the merger in 1972 of the company ATES (Aziende Tecnica ed Elettronica del Sud), initially founded in 1963 and the company SGS (Società Generale Semiconduttori), founded in 1957 by Adriano Olivetti.

In 1989, SGS-Thomson purchases the British company Inmos, formerly known for its transputer microprocessors.

Share-holders and revenues

After the merger of SGS and Thomson Semiconducteurs, the balance was maintained between French and Italian shareholders. 8 December 1994, the company completed its initial public offering. Since then, shares have been traded on the New York Stock Exchange () and on Euronext, Paris (). Since June 1998, ST has also been listed in Milan on Borsa Italiana.

In 2005, the balance of the shares is held by STMicroelectronics Holding II B.V. Of the shareholders:

  • 72.4% are public.
  • 27.6% are split 50/50 between Italian shareholders (40/60 between the Italian company Finmeccanica and the Cassa Depositi e Prestiti) and French shareholders (the French company Areva).

Corporate Headquarters, as well as the headquarters for Europe and for Emerging Markets, are in Geneva. The company’s U.S. Headquarters are in Carrollton, Texas; headquarters for Asia/Pacific are based in Singapore and Japanese operations are headquartered in Tokyo. Finally, the recently-established “Greater China” region that includes Hong-Kong, China and Taiwan is headquartered in Shanghai.

Net revenues by year (sources : ST financial reports from www.st.com)
Year Net revenues (Millions $) Net incomes or loss (Millions $)
- 		2005 $8 876 + $266
- 		2004 $8 756 + $601
- 		2003 $7 234 + $253
- 		2002 $6 270 + $429
- 		2001 $6 356 + $257
- 		2000 $7 813 + $1 452
- 		1999 $5 056 + $547
- 		1998 $4 247 + $411
- 		1997 $4 019 + $406
- 		1996 $4 122 + $625
- 		1995 $3 554 + $526
- 		1994 $2 645 + $362
- 		1993 $2 037 + $160
- 		1992 $1 568 + $3
- 		1991 $1 374 - $102

Competitors

When created in 1987, SGS-Thomson pointed at the 14th position of the TOP 20 semiconductors suppliers ranking with around $850 Millions USD. In 2005, 'ST's position was number five , behind Intel, Samsung, Texas Instruments and Toshiba, but ahead of Infineon,Renesas, NEC, Philips, and Freescale. ST is also the first European semiconductors supplier, just ahead of Infineon and far ahead of Philips.
For more informations, refer to the Worldwide Top 20 Semiconductor Market Share Ranking Year by Year.

Product portfolio

The company holds a large portfolio. ST is leader in many markets including :

Since 2001 ST has been involved in developing MEMS at the Castelletto site. This plant has been closed in June, 2006 and the MEMS activities moved to the Agrate main fab.

Since the beginning, ST took the decision to stay out of the markets for DRAM and microprocessors for PC. A brief exception occurred with the small and limited attempt in 1994 to introduce compatible Intel x486 microprocessors in partnership with the American company Cyrix and the 1995 production of the Cyrix M1 microprocessor, a competitor to the Intel Pentium family.

The company totals around 1500 customers. The most important are :

Company organization

The company is based on four top organizations :
  • The Product Groups
  • The Sales, divided in five regions ((Europa, USA, Asia/Pacific, Japan, China and Emerging Markets). The group totals 78 sales offices in 36 countries.
  • The manufacturing facilities which group the wafer fabs (where chips are manufactured) and the assembly and test facilities (where chips are assembled in plastic or ceramic packages).
  • The corporate R&D group.

Products Groups and R&D

There are four Product Groups, each groups is composed of several divisions. Each division manages itself the design, industrialization, manufacturing (using the ST manufacturing machine) and marketing for its product portfolio. They are helped by the corporate R&Da nd the local sales offices.
  • HPC : Home Personal Communication : All consumer, multimedia & wireless/wireline divisions.
  • MPG : Memory Product Group : All stand-alone memories : eeprom, Flash memories (nand & nor), serial flash memories and also smartcards.
  • APG : Automotive Product Group : All chips related to Automotive business (car body , power train, safety, etc.
  • MPA : Micro, Power & Analog Group : All analog & power circuits plus the microcontrollers.

The corporate R&D labs are developing leading-edge process technology and innovative design methodologies. In addition, each division operates its own R&D to design, industrialize, and build the applications of its products

The group totals 16 advanced research and development units, 39 design and application centers.

Major Sites

External links

Companies of Switzerland | Electronics companies

STMicroelectronics | STMicroelectronics | STMicroelectronics | STMicroelectronics

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "STMicroelectronics".

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