(Bloomberg) -- Giorgia Meloni’s government is demanding that a bigger share of investments made by chipmaker STMicroelectronics NV go to Italy, the latest sign of tension over business ties with France.

Italy, which owns a stake in the semiconductor company, is opposed to a new three-year term for Chief Executive Officer Jean-Marc Chery, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Italy believes that the company’s investments favor France, the people said. 

With a market capitalization above €40 billion, the Franco-Italian chipmaker is one of the few European companies of global importance in the strategic semiconductor business. It specializes in semiconductors used in the smartphone industry and electric cars among other sectors, counting Apple Inc. and Tesla Inc. among its customers.

Under Meloni, Rome has ramped up its rhetoric and actions over French business acquisitions in Italy that were seen as domineering. Meloni picked a fight in January against Amsterdam-based Stellantis NV, which owns Italian brands such as Fiat and Alfa Romeo as well as the French Peugeot and Citroen, for its efforts to move car production to lower-cost countries. In November, Meloni vetoed the takeover by France’s Safran SA of a local aerospace business. Safran said last month that it was “in dialog” with Italian authorities on resuming the purchase.

The Italian and French governments each own 50% in a holding company that itself owns a 27.5% stake in the chipmaker, through Rome’s Finance Ministry and French public lender Bpifrance SA, according to a company filing.

Italy was displeased with Chery’s recent decision to change the company’s structure from three major business units to two, according to a person familiar with the move. An automotive unit that was cut was mostly led by Italians, including top executive Marco Monti who has since left the company. 

The move reinforced an overall perception that Chery, whose current mandate expires later this year, was prioritizing the French and pushing back against efforts by the Italians to have a stronger say in overall decision-making, the person said. 

Bpifrance didn’t respond to a request for comment. The Italian Finance Ministry declined to comment. Spokespeople for Meloni and Macron did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

AI Report

A spokesman for STMicro said the company noted what he called recent media speculation concerning its leadership, adding that its board had taken no further action on the issue since proposing Chery’s reappointment in September. French magazine Marianne first reported on Italian opposition to Chery on March 10.

Later this week, a committee of experts mandated by the government of President Emmanuel Macron will publish a report about artificial intelligence that will urge France to invest more in the production of chips with a low carbon footprint like STMicro’s, highlighting the important role the company can play in the green transition, another person said.

STMicro’s manufacturing is focused on increasing capacity in 300mm chips in France and Italy, the spokesman said, as well as wide bandgap semiconductors known as silicon carbide with a global footprint around the core site of Catania in Italy.

STMicro has a plan to build a semiconductors production site near Grenoble in France with US-based GlobalFoundries Inc., for which France is providing €2.9 billion ($3.2 billion) in subsidies as part of Macron’s push to relocalize key technologies in Europe. 

--With assistance from Alessandra Migliaccio and Albertina Torsoli.

(Updates with magazine report in ninth paragraph)

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