Durn replaces Robert Krakauer as CFO. Krakauer is leaving Globalfoundries to pursue other interests, the company said.
Greg Bartlett, formerly Globalfoundries' senior vice president of technology and R&D, was promoted to chief technology officer. KC Ang, formerly vice president of the firm's 300-mm foundry operations, was named head of customer engineering and quality and will retain responsibility for the Globalfoundries Fab 8 in upstate New York, which is expected to ramp to mass production next year.
Last month, Globalfoundries board of directors named Ajit Manocha, who had been acting as the company's interim CEO, to the position on a permanent basis. Krakauer is the second member of Globalfoundries' management team to step down in the past six months. In June, Doug Grose, who had been Globalfoundries' CEO since its inception, became a senior advisor to the company when Manocha was named interim CEO. Grose's ouster from the top spot was reportedly triggered by problems with manufacturing yields at the 32-nm node.
The moves come a week after it was widely reported that Advanced Micro Devices Inc.—the firm from which Globalfoundries spun out in 2009—decided to cancel APUs that Globalfoundries was set to build on 28-nm process technology. Instead, AMD opted to start fresh using the 28-nm gate-last high-k metal-gate manufacturing process technology from rival foundry Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd., according to the reports.
In September, AMD warned that third quarter sales would be up less than expected compared to the second quarter, primarily because of 32-nm yield issues at Globalfoundries Inc. The two companies reportedly rewrote their supply agreement over the summer, requiring AMD to pay only for good die. Despite the warning, AMD beat its revised guidance for the third quarter.
Globalfoundries (Milpitas, Calif.) said the appointments are part of an effort by the company to align operations and technology to meet customer needs and market opportunity. Separating technology strategy and its roadmap from technology development—and better coordinating technology development with manufacturing operations—will enhance time to market and operations, according to the company.
"Our customers want us to be the preferred choice for them, so we are taking a hard look at our structure to ensure we are organized to meet their needs," Manocha said through a statement.
Durn, Bartlett and Ang will report directly to Manocha, Globalfoundries said.
Durn most recently served as executive director of the investment and strategy unit of Advanced Technology Investment Co., the parent company of Globalfoundries. Prior to joining ATIC, Durn was an investment banker and a member of the merger leadership group at Goldman Sachs. He played a key role in semiconductor industry transactions, including the sale of Artisan Components to ARM Holdings, the sale of Avago Technologies to a private banking consortium, the acquisition of PortalPlayer by Nvidia and others, Globalfoundries said. Manocha also affirmed Globalfoundries' intent to significantly ramp capacity in Germany, New York and Singapore, with additional investments in all three facilities in 2012. He said Fab 8 continues to install new tools and would begin manufacturing operations in December 2012. Fab 8, which currently employees about 1,000 people, will ramp up to 1,500 employees with an annual payroll of about $190 million by the end of 2012, Manocha said.
"Globalfoundries will continue to seek out world-class talent to help drive the company to the next level," Manocha said.
Globalfoundries announced that Suresh Venkatesan would step into Bartlett's old role as the head of the company's R&D organization on an interim basis.
Globalfoundries replaces CFO, appoints CTO
