Nothing could be a more significant pointer to the importance STMicroelectronics puts on its new wireless joint venture with NXP, called ST-NXP Wireless, than the appointment of Alain Dutheil to be CEO of the new company.
Dutheil is ST's best executive. An ex-Texas Instruments guy, he went on to join Thomson Semiconducteurs in its period of renewal under Jacques Noels, and then, when Thomson joined with SGS to form STMicroelectronics, Dutheil was appointed to a senior position in the combined company.
It is a telling testimony to Dutheil's qualities that he, a Frenchman, should have survived at the top of ST while the Italians gradually took over the top jobs.
If anyone can perform the extremely difficult task of getting the NXP culture and the ST culture to work together, it is Dutheil, who is both a semiconductor man through and through, and a leader by personal example.
Dutheil has chosen his top people well. Tommi Uhari is an ex-Nokia IC designer who became a senior manager there before joining
It's a formidable team, but it needs to be to take on Qualcomm which has twice the revenues of ST-NXP Wireless, and claims to spend $1bn a year on R&D.
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