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Vice Presidential Appointments at STMicroelectronics

24 February 2000

Vice Presidential Appointments at STMicroelectronics

    GENEVA--Feb. 24, 2000--STMicroelectronics has announced the appointment of Enrico Villa as Corporate Vice President, Director of European Region. He succeeds Pietro Fox, who has retired after a long and successful career with ST. At the same time, the Company has also announced the appointment of Carmelo Papa as Corporate Vice President, Region Five, the position previously held by Mr. Villa.
    Enrico Villa has held several key technical and marketing positions during a long career with ST, including Vice President for External Technological Coordination and General Manager of the Group's Italian subsidiary, in which capacity he was in charge of sales for Southern European countries. In January 1998, he became Corporate Vice President of the newly created "Region Five", a Sales and Marketing organization specifically created to address emerging geographical markets around the world, including the Eastern European countries, Russia, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and India. Under Mr. Villa's leadership, this has been the fastest growing region of ST, with sales doubling in only two years.
    "Europe's strength in communications, consumer and automotive systems presents many exciting synergies with ST's expertise in developing leading-edge silicon solutions in these areas. With many of our strategic partners based in Europe, I am greatly looking forward to extending the key role ST has already played in Europe's technological renaissance", said Enrico Villa.
    Carmelo Papa joined ST in 1983 and since 1986 has been Director of Product Marketing and Customer Service for Transistors and Standard ICs. During this time, he has overseen a substantial growth both in the product portfolio and the sales volume, which rose from less than $100 million in 1986 to more than $500 million in 1999. He has also played a key role both in the expansion of ST's facility in Catania, Italy, from its origin as a low-cost assembly plant to its present position as one of the Company's most important and dynamic centres, hosting advanced R&D in areas ranging from process technology to fuzzy logic and other "soft computing" disciplines, leading-edge wafer manufacturing and the Sales and Marketing HQ for ST's Discrete and Standard Circuits division.
    "Historically, the semiconductor industry has addressed the world market in terms of the four major macroeconomic regions - America, Asia-Pacific, Europe and Japan - but the accelerating globalization of the electronics industry has created a rapidly growing demand for our products and technologies in countries that need special attention with respect to this traditional geographic organization. Region Five was created to enable us to focus on the particular needs of these emerging markets and I look forward to building on the excellent results that have already been achieved", said Carmelo Papa.
    Announcing the new appointments, Pasquale Pistorio, President and CEO of STMicroelectronics, said that the distinguished track records of Mr. Villa and Mr. Papa would ensure the continuation of the management excellence that has long been a hallmark of ST and has played a key role in helping the Company achieve and consolidate its position among the world's leading semiconductor manufacturers.

    Some of the above statements are forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. In addition to factors discussed above, among the other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially are the following: general business and economic conditions such as possible future financial turbulence; the cyclicality of the semiconductor and electronic systems industries; capital requirements and the availability of funding; competition; excess or obsolete inventory and variations in inventory valuation; new product development and technological change, including acceptance of new products by particular market segments; manufacturing risks; changes in customer order patterns, including loss of key customers, order cancellations or reduced bookings; intellectual property developments; international events and currency fluctuations; problems in obtaining adequate raw materials on a timely basis; the loss of key personnel; and the impact on the Company's business due to internal systems or systems of suppliers and other third parties adversely affected by year 2000 problems. Unfavorable changes in the above or other factors listed under "Risk Factors" from time to time in the Company's SEC reports, including the Prospectus dated September 16, 1999 could materially affect the Company.

    About STMicroelectronics

STMicroelectronics (formerly SGS-THOMSON Microelectronics) is a global independent semiconductor company, whose shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange, on the ParisBourse and on the Milan Stock Exchange. The Company designs, develops, manufactures and markets a broad range of semiconductor integrated circuits (ICs) and discrete devices used in a wide variety of microelectronic applications, including telecommunications systems, computer systems, consumer products, automotive products and industrial automation and control systems. In 1999, the Company's net revenues were $5.056 billion and net earnings were $547 million. Further information on ST can be found at www.st.com.