GlobalFoundries Inc, a full-service semiconductor foundry, has appointed Sanjay Jha as the company's new chief executive officer. Jha replaces Ajit Manocha who was appointed as the CEO in mid-2011 and earlier served as an advisor to the company's shareholder. Manocha will now return to his previous role as an adviser and will work with Jha on his transition.
Most recently Jha was with Motorola Holdings Inc. During his tenure at Motorola, he held multiple chief executive roles including co-CEO of Motorola Solutions Inc and CEO of Motorola’s mobile devices business. He moved on after Google acquired Motorola.
Prior to joining Motorola, he worked at Qualcomm where he served as COO of Qualcomm and president of Qualcomm CDMA Technologies. Before joining Qualcomm in 1994, Jha held design engineering roles with Brooktree Corporation, San Diego and GEC Hirst Research Labs, London.
Born in Bihar, Jha went on to grab a BS in engineering from University of Liverpool. He also added a Ph.D. in electronic and electrical engineering from the University of Strathclyde, Scotland.
In his new role at GlobalFoundries, Jha will lead the company's build out and ramp of its Fab 8 leading-edge facility in Malta, New York, supporting customers at the 14 nm technology node.
"Sanjay is one of the most respected leaders in the technology industry and has a proven track record of consistently delivering shareholder value. His industry background and experience as a foundry customer will position GlobalFoundries for continued growth," said Ibrahim Ajami, vice-chairman of the GlobalFoundries board.
Commenting on his appointment, Jha said, "I am thrilled to have the opportunity to lead a company with such a strong track record in an industry that I know and love. I look forward to working closely with Ajit during the transition and with a very talented global team to continue to make our customers successful.”
Last year, Jha invested in Hyderabad and Silicon Valley based semiconductor startup Ineda Systems along with dozen other investors.
Launched in March 2009, GlobalFoundaries is the second largest semiconductor foundry in the world, counting more than 160 customers. The company's three 300mm fabs and five 200mm fabs provide the full range of process technologies from mainstream to the leading edge. It has operations in Singapore, Germany and the United States.
Headquartered in California, it was created by splicing the manufacturing arm of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and followed by the acquisition of Chartered Semiconductor in 2010. The Emirate of Abu Dhabi is the owner of the company through its arm Advanced Technology Investment Company (ATIC). Two years ago ATIC acquired the AMD’s stake in the venture.
Last week, ATIC said it plans to invest up to $10 billion over the next two years in GlobalFoundries' upstate New York semiconductor factory.
