GlobalFoundries culls top tier management, ex-Motorola man placed in charge

GlobalFoundries has fired its top tier management this morning, effective immediately, replacing the CEO, COO and chairman of the board with appointees of the Abu Dhabi government investment arm ATIC.
“The board of directors of GlobalFoundries – along with its majority shareholder, the Advanced Technology Investment Company – announced today it has appointed new leadership to run the company,” a terse statement from a spokesman said this morning.
This means that founding CEO Doug Grose has been given the boot along with Chia Song Hwee, the firm’s COO. In their places, ATIC has appointed Ajit Manocha of Spansion as interim CEO and James A. Norling former chairman of Chartered Semiconductor as executive chairman. ATIC’s own CEO Ibrahim Ajami has stepped in to become vice chairman of the GlobalFoundries board of directors.
Norling also spent 35 years with Motorola Inc. from 1965 to 2000 holding various positions, including president of the Semiconductor Products Sector from 1986 to 1993.
Reasons for the sudden leadership cull are sketchy, but insiders say it lead from a lack of execution in the business and the fact it was shaping up to be “a tough year.”