Manufacturing partners Ericsson and STMicroelectronics will be shuttering ST-Ericsson, its poorly performing mobile chip joint venture, and will divide parts of the business between the two companies. The venture had been suffering from a large drop from its largest customer, Nokia, as market share of the companies handsets plummeted against competition from Apple and Samsung. ST-Ericsson had not turned a profit since it was formed in 2008, despite one in four smartphones sold in 2011 having some fort of its technology integrated.
