Dow Jones reports a rumour from Paris quoted in the French business magazine L'Usine Nouvelle, that former French finance minister Thierry Breton, is to take over from STMicroelectronics CEO Carlo Bozotti. ST has denied the rumour.

The French government has recently increased its stake in ST, and has said it will provide financial support to ST's Crolles R&D and manufacturing site.

France has always had strong support for Crolles providing 40 per cent of its funding, via tax concessions, when ST, Freescale and NXP were developing core CMOS process technology at the site.

Jacques Chirac, former president of France, opened Crolles2, the second laboratory and first 300mm manufacturing line at Crolles, in 2003.

When ST's former CEO, Pasquale Pistorio, handed over the CEO job to Carlo Bozotti in march 2004, the shares were worth over Euros 20 each. Currently they are standing at Euros 7.42.