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Author: wallpapers4mobile.net

Description: The world's top cell phone maker said STMicro would design and build 3G chips based on Nokia technologies for Nokia and other customers, freeing up research and development resources for other areas.

Nokia will continue to develop its own modems -- the interfaces between chips and radio signals. Its decision to license out the technology will bring in additional revenue and allow new players to enter the technically difficult market.

The news, which marked STMicro's first design win for a complete 3G chipset, lifted shares in both companies.

By 7:26 a.m. EDT, shares in STMicro were up 5 percent at 12.90 euros, and Nokia shares were up 2.1 percent, both among top contributors to a 1.8 percent rise in the DJ European technology index on Wednesday.

Nokia's decision to effectively exit the chip business is part of a trend by makers of handsets and consumer electronics to concentrate on their core competencies.

"This is a pragmatic move which increases our competitiveness in the future," Niklas Savander, head of technology platforms at Nokia, told Reuters in an interview.