SGS-Thomson Microelectronics NV on Friday confirmed that France has won out over Italy and its Supervisory Council approved the construction of a new $800m, 800-employee high-volume chip plant at Rousset in the Bouches du Rhone region of southeast France. The 8 wafer fab will handle more advanced generations of products using 0.5 micron, 0.35 micron and finer geometries. It will mainly make microcontrollers, EEPROM non-volatile memory chips, new-generation bank and telephone Smart Card chips and multi-function parts. Weekly throughput of 5,000 wafers is planned. Construction is due to begin in the first quarter of 1996, with the first chips ready at the beginning of 1998.
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