Acer solves CEO puzzle

After previous pick Jim Wong resigned before even starting role, Taiwanese vendor settles on former Intel man to lead restructuring efforts

Acer has rounded off a topsy turvy year by naming former Intel executive Jason Chen as its new chief executive - and this time it is convinced it has the right man.

Only last month, the Taiwanese vendor announced that internal candidate Jim Wong would take the reins of the struggling vendor following the resignation of previous chief executive J T Wang.

But just two weeks later, Wong - who was previously corporate president of Acer - followed Wang through the exit doors before he had even begun his tenure as chief executive as Acer moved to stem the widening losses associated with both men's leadership of the firm.

Acer founder Stan Shih briefly came out of retirement to sort out the mess but the 68-year-old has wasted no time in picking a replacement for Wong.

Chen, who will seize the tiller on 1 January, is currently senior vice president of worldwide sales and marketing at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC). Before joining TSMC in 2005, Chen worked at Intel for 14 years, latterly based out of the US as the chip vendor's corporate vice president of Sales and Marketing Group, and previously worked for IBM.

Shih, who will continue to serve as chairman of Acer, described Chen as an "excellent manager with proven execution capability".

"Acer's search committee met with him on several occasions for in-depth dialogue and exchange of views. We consider him to be the ideal executive to lead our transformation with his wealth of new thinking, international perspective, and willingness to face this challenge."

Shih added that Chen "shares the consensus on our strategy and development for Acer's future" - presumably referring to the ongoing structural overhaul that will see headcount cut by seven per cent (with the UK not immune).