MILAN: Nokia, the largest maker of cellphones, said Wednesday that it was retreating from most development of chips in favor of products made in collaboration with other semiconductor manufacturers.

Nokia said it would transfer chipset technology and about 200 workers in Finland and Britain to STMicroelectronics in a move to increase cooperation between the two companies on third-generation, or 3G, mobile technology.

“This is a pragmatic move in the face of an increasingly complex technology environment,” said Niklas Savander, Nokia executive vice president for technology platforms.

Nokia also plans to work more closely with Texas Instruments, Broadcom and Infineon Technologies. The agreement will allow Nokia to reduce the price it pays for chips as well as cut expenses related to research and development. Nokia spent €3.9 billion, or $5.38 billion, on developing products last year, or 9.5 percent of revenue, compared with 11.2 percent in 2005.

“Nokia will continue to develop its leading-edge modem technology,” the company said, adding that it would then be licensed to other chip makers. “These manufacturers will also be able to produce and sell to the open market chipsets based on Nokia's modem technology.”

Broadcom's semiconductors for phones using Edge, or enhanced data rates for global evolution, technology, target a market that may grow from 245 million units this year to more than 408 million units in 2009, according to estimates from iSuppli, a market research firm in El Segundo, California. Nokia's biggest market segment is in GSM technology.

Nokia sells more than 100 million phones each quarter, or about 13 a second, and commands a market share of about 39 percent, according to Strategy Analytics.

Nokia also said it would defend itself against two complaints by subsidiaries of InterDigital with the U.S. International Trade Commission, which has accused Nokia of engaging in unfair trade practices by infringing on two InterDigital patents.