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| GUIDO HARARI/CONTRASTO FOR TIME |
Posted Sunday, Oct. 13, 2002; 2.15 p.m. BST
Pistorio has helped turn Europe's microelectronics
industry into a global force. Born into a humble Sicilian
family, he earned a degree in engineering and then worked
his way up from a sales job in Motorola's Italy office to
a position as a U.S.-based vice president with global responsibilities.
He returned to Italy in 1980 to run SGS Group, a money-losing
state-owned microelectronics company, during the days when
Italian executives were regularly kidnapped by Red Brigade
radicals. Believing that Europe's economic future was at stake
if the
Japanese and Americans got a lock on semiconductors, he
set out to build a global player. As CEO of what eventually
became STMicroelectronics, Pistorio developed a diverse product
portfolio — including custom chips for the computer,
telecom, consumer electronics and automotive industries —
and an aggressive research and development program that have
helped the company weather the sector's dramatic cycles. In
2001 — one of the chip industry's worst years ever —
STMicroelecronics moved up from No. 6 to No. 3 worldwide,
according to Gartner Dataquest, just behind Toshiba and Intel.
The Vision Thing: "No advanced society can
exist without controlled access to an electronics industry."
Forward Spin: Some analysts say STMicroelectronics
could overtake Toshiba this year for the No. 2 spot in global
market share.
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