Jan. 9, 2007 – After a five-month search, fabless firm Xilinx has hired Moshe Gavrielov, former EVP/GM of Cadence Design Systems’ verification division, as its next president/CEO effective immediately, taking over for the retiring Willem Roelandts, who will remain chairman of the board.

Gavrielov brings nearly 30 years’ experience in semiconductor and software engineering and executive roles, most recently at Cadence, whom he joined through a 2005 acquisition of Verisity. Before that he spent nearly 10 years at LSI Logic including EVP of its $1.3B products group, SVP/GM of international markets, and GM of its ASIC division. He started his career at National Semiconductor and Digital Equipment.

“Moshe has an excellent track record in building semiconductor and software businesses, applying an outstanding blend of strategic, analytic, business and leadership skills,” said Roelandts, in a statement. “We’re fully confident that he is the right person to lead Xilinx through its next stage of growth.

“We have a great opportunity to bring the benefits of Xilinx technology to a broader range of industries and applications in the coming years, building upon a solid foundation of technology innovation and market leadership,” stated Gavrielov.

Since Roelandts took the company’s reins in 2006 (he formerly led HP’s $6B global computer systems biz), revenues have nearly quadrupled, with global business expanding and diversifying into high-growth end markets — e.g., consumer, automotive, industrial, and defense have grown from 12% of revenues in 2002 to 45% in 2007, the company noted. Xilinx ranked No.8 in global fabless revenues in 2Q07 with $443M, and No.7 overall in 2006 ($1.9B), according to the Global Semiconductor Association (nee FSA).