Nokia has decided to increase their efforts in the development of evolved 3G technologies by expanding their partnership with STMicroelectronics. This comes as part of the Finnish company's new chipset development strategy and will start taking effect in the near future.

Under the extended agreement, STMicroelectronics will design and manufacture 3G chipsets based on Nokia's modem technologies, energy management and RF (radio frequency) technology. Moreover, they are also expected to deliver solutions to Nokia and the open market as well.

As part of the agreement, some of Nokia's Integrated Circuit (IC) operations will be transferred to STMicroelectronics. This will also concern an average number of 200 Nokia employees in Finland and the UK.

"We have worked with STMicroelectronics for many years and the company is a perfect partner for this expanded collaboration", said Niklas Savander, Executive Vice President, Technology Platforms, Nokia. This is not the only company that the Finnish company has worked with for developing such evolved technology. "Nokia's strategy will be to collaborate with its semiconductor partners for full chipset solutions", Niklas Savander further added.

"The intended IC technology transfer, with the world-class engineering skills and licensing of Nokia's world-leading 3G modem technologies, will enhance our relationship with Nokia and will improve our competitive position", considers Tommi Uhari, Executive Vice President and General Manager of ST's Mobile, Multimedia & Communications Group.

As a result of the partnership's extension, Nokia will continue work on the development of its modern technology. This includes protocol software and related digital design for WCDMA/GSM and will be licensed to chipset manufacturers who will later develop and produce this type of technology for Nokia at a large scale. The two companies hope for an effective partnership, one which will strengthen both their positions on the telecom market.

STMicroelectronics is one of the main developers and deliverers of semiconductor solutions across the spectrum of microelectronics applications at a worldwide scale.