June 24, 2011 — The board of directors of GLOBALFOUNDRIES, along with majority shareholder Advanced Technology Investment Company (ATIC), appointed new leadership to run GlobalFoundries, effective immediately. It will be the company’s first CEO change since its inception.
Ajit Manocha has been appointed interim CEO of GLOBALFOUNDRIES. Doug Grose will step down and transition to senior advisor to both companies, focusing on new technology generations. An executive search for a permanent GLOBALFOUNDRIES CEO has begun. Manocha will work closely with top management and talent to optimize performance, drive progress on the customer and technology roadmap, and continue capacity ramp ups in Dresden and New York.
Manocha was recently an ATIC advisor, and has held positions with semiconductor companies in operations, management, and manufacturing divisions. Manocha was EVP, worldwide operations at Spansion, EVP and chief manufacturing officer of NXP (formerly Philips Semiconductor), and held positions with AT&T Microelectronics and AT&T Bell Laboratories. He holds over a dozen patents in the microelectronics field.
James A. Norling will serve as executive chairman. Norling is the former Chairman of Chartered Semiconductor and also served as interim CEO of that company in 2002. He has worked at Motorola Inc. (serving 7 years as president of the Semiconductor Products Sector), and spent 30 years in the electronics sector.
Ibrahim Ajami will serve as vice chairman of the GLOBALFOUNDRIES board of directors, and retain the position of CEO of ATIC. Ajami led Mubadala Development Company’s initial investment in AMD in 2007, and helped create GlobalFoundries with ATIC. Prior to Mubadala, he held several positions in Silicon Valley, including Packard Bell/NEC.
Chia Song Hwee, COO, will remain with the company as COO until August 2011, when he will pursue business interests in Singapore.
Customers want more capacity, faster technology delivery, and greater agility, said Norling. The Board also expects stronger operational performance. Investment in GLOBALFOUNDRIES will double over the next 18 months, added Ajami.
Through end of May 2011, ATIC had invested over $6 billion to acquire the former manufacturing assets of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) in Dresden, Germany ($2.1 billion in March 2009) and the assets of Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing of Singapore ($3.1 billion in December 2009) as well as an estimated $1 billion to construct a new fab in upstate New York.
Through the end of 2012, ATIC will invest another approximately $6 billion in manufacturing capacity in Dresden, Singapore, New York, and Abu Dhabi.
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