Employees

STE7

The overall company headcount has increased again in 2005, especially in Asia (+1,070 headcount). The other regions are globally flat, with a slight decrease in Europe (-342 headcount) and Africa (-59 headcount). See Employment, attraction and retention for more details.

In 2005, we announced a headcount restructuring plan that, combined with other already announced initiatives, will aim to reduce our workforce by 3,000 outside Asia by the second half of 2006. Our workforce gross reduction in Europe will represent about 2,300 jobs of the 3,000 already announced. For more information about our restructuring activities in 2005, see page 8 of our 20-F report and the Restructuring Update section of this report for the status at the end of 2005.

Our employees in Asia now represent 35.2% of our population, up from 27.5% in 2001. This increase goes hand in hand with increased production in this part of the world. Our 6-inch wafer production capacity in Asia (Singapore) is now more than 60% of our total 6-inch capacity worldwide. However, we still maintain a strong presence in Europe and Americas (+1,340 headcount since 2002).

We hired 5,543 staff in 2005, including 3,100 operators primarily employed in manufacturing sites (Asia). This level of hiring was necessary to compensate the natural turnover (overall headcount increase was only 500 people in 2005), and also to adapt our workforce profile to the needs of the market.