The joint venture in wireless between STMicroelectronics and NXP in which ST has an 80 per cent share, will be headed up by Alain Dutheil, currently COO of ST. The company will be called ST-NXP Wireless.

The joint venture in wireless between STMicroelectronics and NXP, in which ST has an 80 per cent share, will be headed up by Alain Dutheil, currently COO of ST. The company will be called ST-NXP Wireless.

Dutheil becomes CEO with  an executive committee which includes:  Marc Cetto, currently executive vice president and general manager of  the mobile & personal business unit at NXP, Tommi Uhari, currently executive vice president and general manager of the mobile, multimedia &  communications group at ST,  and Abhijit Bhattacharya, currently financial controller for the multimarket semiconductors business unit at  NXP, who will be CFO of ST-NXP Wireless.

"Our new company will be uniquely positioned to continue and extend customer relationships with the key players in the mobile and wireless industry, leveraging the passion and expertise of what is one of the best pools of talents in the industry," said Dutheil.

The wireless activities of ST and NXP combined had revenues of $3bn last year, which makes ST-NXP Wireless the third largest player in the wireless industry after Qualcomm and Texas Instruments.

The rationale for the merger is that it creates a player big enough to invest the necessary amount in R&D to stay in the wireless game. However Qualcomm says it invested $1bn in R&D last year, which will be difficult for ST-NXP Wireless to match.

See also: Mannerisms, the blog of David Manners. Updated twice daily, it's the distinctive, entertaining, authoritative and never dull commentary on the semiconductor industry, from someone who knows. Sign up for the Mannerisms eNewsletter.