The new company, named Ipdia, has obtained a capital investment of more than 5 million euros ($6.8 million)from a consortium of investors, including NXP. Ipdia is also purchasing some of the assets from the Cote de Nacre fab. The initial staff will consist of 90 people, the majority of which will be recruited among NXP's laid-off employees.

Ipdia will focus on two main activities: the production of LED bases and integrated passive devices. Franck Murray, one of the founding directors, becomes CEO of the startup. He was most recently director of technology for NXP Semiconductors France.

Ipdia will be officially launched in June of this year. Its investors consist of the following entities: Prime Technology Ventures, Emertec Gestion, Masseran Gestion, NCI Gestion, CEA Investissement, the founding directors of the company and NXP.

In addition, Ipdia plans to enter into R&D partnerships with CEA-LETI and CNRS-LAAS to strengthen its technology.

Last year, NXP appointed ATREG, the semiconductor sales division of Colliers International, to sell its Integrated Passives Device business (IPD) and related operational 150-mm semiconductor manufacturing facility in Caen, in the French region of Normandy.

At that time, NXP (Eindhoven, the Netherlands), the chip company formed by a spin-off from Royal Philips Electronics, unveiled a major restructuring plan that is expected to cost about $800 million but it is hoped it will save $550 million annually.