Trawling around the antiseptic halls and corridors of the Novotel Congress Hotel in Budapest during the MEDEA+ conference, I learn that Europe gave up its microelectronics independence for a lousy $150m.
The bill for the core CMOS R&D programme at Crolles 2 was, apparently, $250m, but the French government defrayed 40 per cent of that in tax concessions, leaving Freescale, STMicroelectronics and NXP to share the cost of $150m. $50m each.
Ironically, $50m is the minimum amount charged by IBM for companies joining their core CMOS R&D programme. ST and Freescale have joined IBM and are believed to be paying a figure more than $50m each.
So Europe's birthrigtht of independence in core microelectronics technology was sold for a mess of pottage.
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