ST joins Chinese open-platform push
The Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) and the French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) in association with Bull and ST signed the agreement in Beijing on October 9, 2004. ST will work closely with Chinese, French and other partners to develop low-cost, high-performance hardware/software platforms for a complete chain of compatible open-source systems, from servers to mobile terminals and consumer appliances.
An open-source system is one in which the source code of the software and a detailed technical description of the interfaces to the hardware are both available to the general public for use and, in the case of the software, modification and redistribution. Open-source systems tend to be less expensive and more reliable than proprietary systems and are better suited to being maintained and improved by a community of collaborators. China has been a strong advocate of open-source platforms for many years and has already adopted Linux as a standard.
The agreement between MOST and ST-CEA-Bull follows an earlier memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the French and Chinese Governments to build a wide-ranging technical co-operation for the Chinese and broader global high-performance open-source platform markets.
ST operates one of China's most advanced semiconductor assembly and test plants in Shenzhen and currently employs more than 2500 people in China. In addition, ST has established R&D and product-development alliances with Chinese universities, research institutes and manufacturing enterprises with particular expertise in the Chinese electronics market, especially in next-generation communication and consumer products.