STMicroelectronics dedicates IT center in Rabat
Morocco, Business, 2/7/2003

A ministerial delegation, led by Morocco's premier Driss Jettou, dedicated on Wednesday in Rabat a center for the development of integrated circuits and software at the Rabat Mohammedia Engineers school (EMI).

The center, the fruit of cooperation between a private company "STMicroelectronics" and the Mohammed V university of Rabat, will help students acquire experience in information technologies, participate in scientific research and offer job opening for young graduates.

The new lab, which is part of the company's world network of research centers, will develop microchips for numeric TV sets, DVD players, flat screens and cameras. The Rabat center will also develop software for European customers.

The French-Italian company (formerly SGS-Thomson Microelectronics), ranked as the sixth largest semiconductor company in the world has already hired over forty higher schools graduates for the 1st stage of the center development. By 2004, it will recruit an additional 150 computer science engineers.

The company's president and CEO, Pasquale Pistorio, said the opening of the center comes to crown the success of his company's other centers in Morocco and marks a new stage in relations with Morocco.

STMicroelectronics, whose shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange, on the Paris Bourse and the Milan stock exchange, had opened in April 2001 at Bouskoura, near Casablanca an assembly and test plant that uses state-of-the-art fully automated integrated circuits production techniques.

The company's presence in Morocco dates back to 1952 when a small plant was established in Casablanca, followed by another plant in Bouskoura (1979). Both plants were considerably upgraded.

The IT firm achieved in 2002 a sales of US$ 6.32 billion.

It is Morocco's largest foreign employer with 4,900 persons working in its three plants.

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