SGS-THOMSON ANNOUNCES THE CONSTRUCTION OF A NEW SUBMICRON SEMICONDUCTOR PLANT.ST. GENIS POUILLY, France--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 8, 1995-- SGS-THOMSON Microelectronics (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange : STM (Scanning Tunneling Microscope) A microscope that can image down to the atomic level. An STM uses a piezoelectric tube with a tiny sharp tip at the end that is moved within nanometers of the object being sampled. ) announced today that its Supervisory Council has approved the construction of a new high volume integrated circuit integrated circuit (IC), electronic circuit built on a semiconductor substrate, usually one of single-crystal silicon. The circuit, often called a chip, is packaged in a hermetically sealed case or a nonhermetic plastic capsule, with leads extending from it for production facility at Rousset, in the Bouches du Rhone region of southeast France. This advanced 200 mm. (8-inch) submicron facility, the company's fourth of this kind after Crolles (France), Phoenix (Arizona, U.S.) and Catania (Italy), will provide SGS-THOMSON with a vital new resource. SGS-THOMSON already has a large-scale industrial facility at Rousset, with a work force of more than 1,000, manufacturing semiconductor ICs on 150 mm. (6-inch) wafers. The new unit, called Rousset 2000, will handle more advanced generations of ULSI (Ultra Large Scale Integration) More than one million transistors on a chip. See SSI, MSI, LSI and VLSI. (Ultra Large Scale Integration) products using 0.5 micron, 0.35 micron and even smaller scale technologies. The product range will mostly comprise future micro-controllers, EEPROM-type non-volatile memory Refers to memory chips that hold their content without power being applied. It may refer to chips that are not changeable, such as ROMs and PROMs, or to chips that can be rewritten many times such as flash memory. chips, new-generation bank and telephone smart-card chips, and more recent multi-function technology-driven products. ROUSSET 2000 will use the latest equipment currently available in the semi-conductor industry for 200 mm. (8-inch) size wafers. A weekly throughput of 5,000 wafers is planned, thus providing the volume production for the basic technologies designed and developed in SGS-THOMSON's advanced research centers in France (at Crolles, near Grenoble) and Italy (at Agrate, near Milan). However, the new ROUSSET 2000 facility will contribute to the development of technology options that are specific to the products under its responsibility. The Crolles and Agrate R&D centers will continue to develop the Company's most advanced technology portfolio, with ROUSSET 2000 will provide SGS-THOMSON with a rapid high-volume facility for transforming their R&D output into volume end-products. After an in-depth design phase, building work is due to begin during the first quarter of 1996, with the first chips ready at the beginning of 1998. Total investment in Rousset 2000 will be approximately US $800 million (FRF FRF The ISO 4217 currency code for the French Franc. 4 billion), and will create 800 additional jobs. Commenting on this decision, Mr. Pasquale Pistorio, President and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. of SGS-THOMSON, said that, "Large scale investments are already being made by our Group to the current Rousset facility, which will consequently double its capacity by the end of 1996, when the conversion from 5 to 6-inch wafers will be completed. The quality of the unit's management and human resources, together with Rousset's excellent industrial results, were a key factor in selecting the site for the new 8-inch unit." The second critical factor behind this choice was the response and financial support from French authorities as whole - the Ministry of Industry, DATAR DATAR Délégation à l'Aménagement du Territoire et à l'Action Régionale (French) DATAR Distributed Aperture of Tethered Array Radar DATAR Digital Automatic Tracking and Ranging (the Regional Planning Body), Provence Alpes and Cote d'Azur Region, the Bouches du Rhone departmental authority and the municipality of Rousset - aiming at improving the local employment situation. Mr. Pistorio also added, "By expanding Rousset 1, and bringing Rousset 2000 onstream, we shall have the resources to fully meet our customers' needs in a market where submicron technology products are in high demand." SGS-THOMSON Microelectronics is a global independent semiconductor supplier listed on the New York Stock Exchange New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) World's largest marketplace for securities. The exchange began as an informal meeting of 24 men in 1792 on what is now Wall Street in New York City. (NYSE: STM) and on the Bourse bourse (b  rs), term applied to a European stock exchange. The first international bourse was established in Antwerp in the 16th cent. de Paris. It designs, develops, manufactures and markets a broad range of semiconductor integrated circuits (ICs) and discrete devices used in a wide variety of microelectronics applications including telecommunications systems, computer systems, consumer products, automotive products and industrial automation and control systems. CONTACT: Maria Grazia Prestini Corporate Press Relations Manager Business Development & Investor Relations Investor relations The process by which the corporation communicates with its investors. 33.50.40.25.32 St. Genis Pouilly (France) 39.39.603.5901 Agrate Brianza (Italy) or Michele Katz/Jason Langer Press: Brian Maddox Morgen-Walke Associates, Inc. 212-850-5600 |
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