Franco-Italian firm STMicroeletronics and Sweden's Ericsson have set up a new joint venture for building mobile Internet platforms and semiconductors, Ericsson said in a statement on Tuesday.
"STMicroelectronics and Ericsson today announced the closing of their agreement merging Ericsson Mobile Platforms and ST-NXP Wireless into a 50/50 joint venture," the statement said. The plan for a company merging the two wireless operations was launched last summer amid major restructuring in the semiconductor industry, where sales have been badly hit by the global economic downturn.