| On 17 December 2017, Thales announced that it intended to acquire Gemalto to create a global leader in the fast growing digital security market. I am pleased to inform you that we have now completed the acquisition, allowing us to start operating as one company.
This marks the start of a bold new chapter in the history of our Group, and I am excited to share our vision with you today.
In a world that is increasingly fast moving, unpredictable – and full of opportunities – our customers come to us with big ambitions: to make life better, to keep us safer. Today, Thales will integrate Gemalto, bringing Thales’s total employees up to approximately 80,000 across 68 countries. This acquisition creates a Group with the talent and expertise to master the technologies that underpin the critical decision chains of the world’s most demanding companies and states.
Thales is a global organisation with operations on all continents delivering extraordinary, high-technology solutions to governments, institutions, cities and enterprises. From the bottom of the ocean to the depth of space and cyberspace, Thales provides a unique range of technologies and services that make tomorrow possible, today.
Gemalto’s 3,000 R&D engineers working in 35 centres around the globe will feel at home at Thales. The Group will now have more than 28,000 engineers, 3,000 researchers and an investment of more than €1 billion per year in self-funded R&D. With regard to future R&D, Thales has already announced a ramp-up of its R&D spending which will be supplemented by Gemalto.
Together, Thales and Gemalto will have the ability to cover the digital needs of all clients, in civilian and defence businesses, across all Thales market segments, with a unique portfolio of advanced technologies in the realms of IoT, mobile and the cloud.
This integration puts even greater expertise at the service of our customers, and will enable us to offer enhanced and accelerated solutions, while maintaining the highest levels of quality for all existing services. We remain committed to helping our customers think smarter and act faster – mastering ever-greater complexity along the way.
A new journey starts today for the Group and all of its employees. As the digital world around us evolves, we continue to evolve with it, equipping ourselves to create and secure the solutions to master every decisive moment. Whatever it takes.
I look forward to working closely with you during this exciting new phase in our history.
Yours sincerely,
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Philippe Vallée,
Executive Vice President
Digital Identity & Security |
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