STMicroelectronics – A Multinational Company Which is the Largest Semiconductor Chip Maker in Europe.
STMicroelectronics is the largest semiconductor chip maker in terms of revenue in Europe. The company uses the most advanced innovations intelligently and efficiently for making chips. STMicroelectronics company was established as a result of merging a French and an Italian company in 1987. The companies are, namely, Thomson Semiconducteurs (French) and SGS Microelettronica (Italian). STMicroelectronics is mostly famous as ST. The main headquarters of the company is based in Geneva, Switzerland. Since ST operates across the globe it has other headquarters in various regions including Texas, Singapore, Shanghai, and Tokyo. The company is currently led by Jean-Marc Chery (CEO and President).
About STMicroelectronics
The chips manufactured today are highly complex because of their multipurpose functions and high efficiency. In everyday life, we use devices that have several chips integrated into them. And, it is through these chips that ST is creating a big influence in our life. We are not even aware of how often we use products that have ST chips embedded in it. From factory machines to an electric toothbrush, ST has its advanced chips embedded everywhere. ST currently has 46,000 employees and more than 100,000 customers who have created a strong community. With extensive collaboration and advanced research labs, ST is very dedicated to R&D. Every year, 16 percent of the total revenue of the company is invested in R&D across the world. The company’s main target is to become carbon neutral and operate fully in renewable energy by 2027.
History of Company
In 1987, the merger of Thomson Semiconducteurs and SGS Microelettronica, two government-owned semiconductor companies marked the foundation of ST. After the merger, the new company was named SGS-THOMSON, and then it was renamed STMicroelectronics in 1998 as Thomson sold its shares. The company soon became one of the leading semiconductor manufacturers and ranked among the top 20 semiconductor suppliers. ST became a publicly-traded company in 1994 as it filed its first IPO both in Paris and New York Stock Exchange.
ST expanded its business in other continents as it started acquiring geographically diverse businesses from the late 1980s. It started off with the acquisition of Inmos, a British company in 1989 followed by the semiconductor division of Nortel, a Canadian company. In 2000, ST acquired WaterScale Integration Inc, a company based in California for flash memory-based chips. In 2002, ST acquired the microelectronics division of Alcatel which helped the company enter into the wireless-LAN market. ST also acquired a leading company in video processing technology called Genesis Microchip (a US-based company) in 2007. This company has design centers in Asian countries as well which strengthens the market of ST even more. ST also went into a joint partnership with Motorola and TSMC for designing a new tech. The company eventually became one of the top 5 companies from ranking in the top 20 list within a decade.
Present Day
ST’s strong passion to build more efficient products based on advanced tech led to another joint venture with Intel in 2007. This partnership started in the memory application called Numonyx and it led to the merger of ST and the activities of Intel Flash Memory. NXP is one of the leading semiconductor companies and in 2008 ST announced a joint venture with the company for their mobile activities. Another partnership started in 2009 which included Ericsson Mobile Platforms and ST-NXP Wireless.
ST is currently working on three major fields, namely, Smart Mobility, Power & Energy, and IoT & 5G. The company has designed car electrification solutions that will help manufacturers build better electric vehicles at affordable rates. ST has always focused on better energy management and being an active participant in the green technology movement, the company is using wide bandgap materials like Silicon Carbide and Gallium Nitride for saving energy.
Jean-Marc Chery – CEO of STMicroelectronics
Jean Marc Chery, an engineer by profession, has been serving as the President and CEO of the company since 2018. Jean was a part of the Thomson Semiconducteurs before the merger and worked in various management positions, product planning, and manufacturing. He is also the President of the European Semiconductor Industry Association (ESIA), President of the European microelectronics R&D program AENEAS, etc.
Annasha Dey is an NIT student, who apart from studying engineering is also a content writer. She has a great interest in photography, writing, reading novels, and travelling as well. She is a foodie who loves socializing and hanging out with her friends. She is also a trained Kathak dancer and a big fashion enthusiast. Dey also loves watching TV series, which includes F.R.I.E.N.D.S. and Big Bang Theory. To be a better writer she prefers to read more