Ericsson and STMicroelectronics agree on strategic way forward for ST-Ericsson

Press-release, via LTE-Depot. Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) and STMicroelectronics (NYSE:STM) today announced an agreement on the way forward for the joint venture (JV) ST-Ericsson. As communicated by the parent companies in December 2012, both have been working together toward a strategic solution for the JV. After months of intensive joint work, the parent companies have selected the strategic option which maximizes their respective future prospects and growth plans.

The main steps agreed upon to split up the JV are the following:

• Ericsson will take on the design, development and sales of the LTE multimode thin modem products, including 2G, 3G and 4G multimode
• ST will take on the existing ST-Ericsson products, other than LTE multimode thin modems, and related business as well as certain assembly and test facilities
• Starting the close down of the remaining parts of ST-Ericsson

The formal transfer of the relevant parts of ST-Ericsson to the parent companies is expected to be completed during the third quarter of 2013, subject to regulatory approvals.

After the split up it is proposed that Ericsson will assume approximately 1,800 employees and contractors, with the largest concentrations in Sweden, Germany, India and China.

It is also proposed that ST will assume approximately 950 employees, primarily in France and in Italy, to support ongoing business and new products development within ST.

Today, it is also announced that Carlo Ferro is appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of ST-Ericsson, effective April 1, 2013. Ferro is currently Chief Operating Officer of ST-Ericsson and succeeds Didier Lamouche who, as previously announced, will pursue opportunities outside the company. Ferro will lead the work in securing both business continuity of ST-Ericsson and effective completion of the transition phase.

Hans Vestberg, President and CEO, Ericsson and Chairman of the Board of Directors, ST-Ericsson said: "I welcome Carlo Ferro as the new President and CEO of ST-Ericsson. Carlo has over twenty years of experience in the semiconductor industry and a strong track record in driving and managing complex transformation projects. He has been a contributor to the solid progress ST-Ericsson has made the past year in terms of strategy execution and significantly lowering the breakeven point."

"Ericsson continues to believe that the thin modems hold a strategic value to the wireless industry. With this move Ericsson will create a highly focused "thin modem only" operation - an area in which both parents have invested significant amounts to establish industry leading technology and Intellectual Property," said Hans Vestberg. "Initial customer contacts give support to the belief that our modems will meet the requirements of the manufacturers in the rapidly growing smartphone and tablet market."

As previously communicated, Ericsson has made provisions of SEK -3.3 b. in 2012 which will cover costs related to the implementation of the strategic option. Once the multimode thin modem business has been fully integrated into Ericsson in Q4 the operation will be reported as a standalone segment. Our current best estimate is that it will generate operating losses of approximately SEK 0.5 b. in Q4, 2013, primarily related to R&D expenses.

The thin modem technology developed within ST-Ericsson has evolved into a unique architecture for low power, highly integrated multimode multi-band modems covering GSM/GPRS/EDGE, TD-SCDMA, HSPA+, LTE (TDD/FDD), LTE-Advanced, the widest array of frequency bands and a feature set that includes Single RF Chip Carrier Aggregation, VoLTE and IMS.

An LTE/HSPA+/3G/2G modem based on this evolved architecture was recently demonstrated at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and has received its first global operator certification.

Source: http://www.ericsson.com/news/1685852

ST-Ericsson brings PC speeds to mobile devices: first 3 GHz smartphone prototype demo at Mobile World Congress

February 20, 2013, press release, via LTE-Depot. L8580 is the fastest, coolest, integrated Application Processor and LTE Advanced Modem platform based on 28nm FD-SOI process technology.

Geneva, February 20, 2013 – Next week at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, ST-Ericsson, a world leader in wireless platforms and semiconductors, will demo the NovaThor™ L8580 integrated smartphone platform with a 3Ghz eQuad™ application processor and a multimode LTE Advanced modem supporting Carrier Aggregation. By demonstrating the L8580 at this speed, ST-Ericsson is revealing the world’s fastest smartphone processor and validating the company as an innovator in the wireless market.

“Our next-generation NovaThor platform is creating a disruption for the wireless industry by combining some of the most advanced technologies on the market, including STMicroelectronics’ 28nm FD-SOI process technology, to deliver a real industry breakthrough in terms of speed, power consumption and overall performance,” said Didier Lamouche, President and CEO of ST-Ericsson. “We focused on innovation on real world use cases and delivered a ModAp that lets applications run significantly faster – up to 35% faster CPU while GPU and multimedia accelerators run 20% faster. With the NovaThor L8580, ST-Ericsson is bringing speeds normally reserved for the PC market to mobile devices.”

The initial commercial version of the NovaThor L8580 integrates an eQuad 2.5GHz processor based on ARM Cortex-A9’s, a powerful Imagination PowerVR™ SGX544 GPU running at 600Mhz and an advanced multimode LTE modem supporting Carrier Aggregation on a single 28nm FD-SOI die. 

The NovaThor L8580 supports 3GPP Release 10, LTE category 4, with downlink speeds up to 150Mbps. It supports LTE-FDD, LTE-TDD, HSPA+, GSM and TD-SCDMA in the same chipset as well as VoLTE and HD voice. With up to 17 bands in the same device and a single radio for Carrier

Aggregation the L8580 addresses device manufacturers’ needs for a simple and cost effective solution to build global LTE smartphones with the smallest number of manufacturing variants.

“In addition to speed and multiband support, the NovaThor L8580 consumes 35% less power than rival architectures at comparable high frequencies. And last but not least, the L8580’s ground breaking 0.6V low power mode consumes 50% less power at 1GHz redefining the active standby experience for users of mobile devices while adding hours of battery life,” continued Lamouche. “All of these factors highlight the innovation and product differentiation that ST-Ericsson can now deliver to its customers.”

The complete platform includes outstanding multimedia performance and pre-integrated connectivity with support for Bluetooth™, GNSS (GPS+ GLONASS), FM, WLAN, WiFi Direct™, Miracast™ and NFC. With ST-Ericsson’s connectivity solutions, CG2905 and CW1260, the platform comes optimized for wireless radio co-existence and low power consumption.

The NovaThor L8580 is pin-to-pin and Software compatible with ST-Ericsson’s first generation NovaThor LTE multimode platform the L8540.

The NovaThor L8580 will be demoed at Mobile World Congress in the ST-Ericsson Public Booth in Hall 7 (#E111) and, by appointment only, in our Private Pavilion in Hall 2 (#D90).

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