If you’ve not notice, all of the Windows Phone 7 handset on the market now are powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon, making us wander if there’s some secret tie somewhere around. The chip is featured in Microsoft’s original and updated chassis spec for the platform, but soon there might be a second party in the house.

STMicroelectronics (the ST in ST-Ericsson) boss Carlo Bozotti is cited by Forbes as saying that Nokia will use ST-Ericsson hardware to power at least some of its Windows Phones. The dual-core U8500 is touted as the first such system-on-chip to appear, with its successors helping to populate Nokia’s expansive WP lineup in 2012.

However, it’s not going to power Nokia’s entire WP lineup thought. Thus far, Nokia’s prototype handsets for the new OS are revolved around Qualcomm-based devices, so the ST-Ericsson chip might not arrive on the first wave of Nokia’s WP handsets.

SOURCE via Forbes