From silicon to communicating objects.

The Côte d'Azur Microelectronics cluster is characterized by the long-established presence of world leaders boosted by young and innovative start-ups.
In all, about 75 firms concentrate on developing chips and semiconductors, designing integrated circuits and Bluetooth technology, or producing smart cards and embedded systems.

A STRONG INDUSTRIAL & ACADEMIC COMMUNITY DEDICATED TO R&D INNOVATION

- Long-Established world leaders in contactless and RFID technologies

- A science cluster supported by a robust microelectronics industry community

- An attractive region that offers considerable opportunities for mobility between science and industry

- Standard-setting capacity for business dissemination

- Seven engineering schools with training programs that cover all of the industry's needs, federated within the national center for training in microelectronics (CNFM)

- Europe's largest design community

- The only industrial cluster (Secured Communicating Solutions) comprising the full value chain, from silicon to its applications

A WORLDWIDE EXPERTISE IN CHIP DESIGN

- The only place with the Silicon Valley to concentrate the 3 EDA world leaders : CADENCE, MENTOR GRAPHICS & SYNOPSYS

-Home of the Center for Integrated Microelectronics (CIM PACA) Design Platform which offers to its members a collaborative research platform for the development of microelectronics applications.

A MAGNET REGION FOR R&D CENTERS

Recent success stories highlighting the Côte d'Azur appeal and recognized global expertise in the design and development of high value-added microchips

  • Greenfield installation of ICERA (USA)
  • Greenfield installation of CSR (UK)
  • Greenfield installation of SUNPLUS mMobile (Taïwan)
  • Acquisition of Stepmind par MSTAR SEMICONDUCTORS (Taïwan)

Usefull links

They chose the Côte d'Azur

"Sophia-Antipolis is a very attractive region for any semiconductor company, for several reasons. The first one is that in the technology park of Sophia-Antipolis there is a solid tradition of analog and digital design, which is due to the presence of other big companies working in the same or similar markets, like Texas Instruments, Intel, STM and others. The second reason is linked to presence in the technology park of the Polytech'Nice-Sophia and other important schools.

That will guarantee our future growth since the region will always offer both experienced design engineers and you talents to hire."

Interview with Paolo Cusinato, Design Director of MAXIM Sophia-Antipolis design center

Talents

"For me, Sophia Antipolis is unique in Europe because of its multicultural nature which is evident daily, but also the concentration of a multitude of companies from the computing world in a single location."

Interview with Davide NOARO, Computer Engineer, Ausy, Sophia Antipolis

Our Experts

Jean-François CHAPPERON

•Inward Investments Manager

chapperon
+ 33 (0)4 92 17 51 58 ↵

Jean-François CHAPPERON was appointed in 2008 as Inward Investment Manager within the Business Unit in charge of  Information Technologies. Jean-François' direct responsibility covers Microelectronics & StatNav /ITS sectors.
Previously, Jean-François was responsible of Asian & Middle East markets for TEAM COTE D'AZUR. His major tasks included supervision of Asia Representative Office & Definition, Execution & Budgeting of Strategic Marketing Policies of Côte d'Azur area and Sophia-Antipolis International Science Park in Asia (Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Taïwan, China, India, Singapore , Malaysia, Middle East region).
He holds a Master Degree in Economics with a specialization in Marketing Management from the Institute for Business Administration of The Nice Sophia Antipolis University.

Key Figures

 

- 90 companies

- 40% of national turnover

- 50% of companies have an international activity

- 5,200 jobs in microelectronics

- 3,720 jobs in R&D

- 235 million € of private investments in R&D programs

Who’s Who on the Côte d'Azur : Côte d'Azur

ABCDEFGH
IJKLMNOP
QRSTUVWX
YZ
Top