Advanced Semiconductor Engineering (ASE), a Taiwan-based IC packaging and test services provider, has expressed interest in the packaging and test unit of STMicroelectronics, two industry sources close to ASE told mergermarket.

ST to show key applications for energy efficiency at IIC-China 2009, including green air-conditioning, eBike, and Solar-LED street lights in Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center - Booth 2G01

Swiss chipmaker STMicroelectronics says in a warn letter that a three-year plan to phase out positions as the company moves towards the closing of its Carrollton plant is going forward with a staffing reduction that will impact 36 workers in the near future.

STMicroelectronics and Ericsson has announced the closing of their agreement merging Ericsson Mobile Platforms and ST-NXP Wireless into a 50/50 joint venture. The deal was completed on the terms originally announced on August 20, 2008. Ericsson contributed US$1.1 billion net to the joint venture, out of which US$0.7 billion was paid to ST.

STMicroelectronics, Infineon Technologies, NXP, and Renesas Technology each said they received surprise visits from investigators in late October. All of them were raided by European Commission investigators seeking information of collusion in the market for chips used in smart cards.

STMicroelectronics NV, Europe's largest semiconductor maker, plans to shut its plants in Italy over the Christmas period, affecting about 8,000 workers, as demand slides amid a deteriorating economy and an industry glut.

Investors are also expecting a decline in mobile phone demand in 2009. Dow component Intel Corp slid 1.3 percent to $13.80 while Applied Material was off 0.9 percent to $9.64 and National Semiconductor slid 1.8 percent to $11.05.

STMicroelectronics NV, Europe's largest semiconductor maker, said fourth-quarter revenue and gross margin will miss forecasts after a slowdown in demand from the wireless, automotive and computer peripherals industries.

The European Commission on Thursday officially approved an Ericsson-STMicroelectronics joint venture to provide wireless platforms for handsets and semiconductors for mobile communications.

The European Commission Wednesday cleared Swedish mobile telecommunications company Ericsson (ERIC) and STMicroelectronics NV to jointly produce chipsets for mobile phones.

When the American subprime crisis first knocked the dollar off its pedestal last year, boosting the euro to record levels, European chip-maker STMicroelectronics felt the pain. So in some ways, the threat of a truly global downturn has come as something of a relief to STMicro as the currency environment becomes more favorable and allows its restructuring efforts to shine through.

Swiss chip maker STMicroelectronics has begun laying off workers at its Phoenix factory after a hoped-for sale of the plant never materialized. Spokesman Mike Michael Markowitz said about 100 of the plant's 850 workers were let go this week and that the process would continue. The company announced plans to close the 25-year-old plant last year and move those jobs to lower-cost facilities overseas.

According to Numonyx employees, the memory spin-off from Intel and STMicroelectronics is to close its R&D center in Santa Clara, known as the California Technology Center (CTC). Continued price declines and weakening macro-economic climate is forcing Numonyx to restructure, forcing the company to close facilities and reduce its headcount. Employees at the CTC were told of the closure last Tuesday, which is believed to come into effect by April, 2009. According to the Numonyx sources,

Created from the mobile and wireless businesses of STMicroelectronics and NXP, which together generated $3 billion USD in revenue in 2007, the new company will begin operations in a strong position to meet customer needs in 2G, 2.5G, 3G, multimedia, connectivity and all future wireless technologies. ST-NXP Wireless is expected to enter the market in number three position once full closure of the joint venture takes place, as scheduled, in the third quarter of 2008.