Waite has been Chartered's president and CEO since May 1998, but last year, the 53-year-old executive successfully underwent heart surgery in the U.S. and returned to the job as Chartered and the entire silicon foundry business struggled with the worst semiconductor downturn in history.

To fill the position temporarily, Chartered's board of directors has named Jim Norling, a retired executive from Motorola Inc., as the interim president and CEO. Norling, 60, joined Chartered's board as deputy chairman in March 2001 after a 35-year career at Motorola.

Singapore-based Chartered said it has commenced its search to find a CEO successor to Waite. The pure-play silicon foundry company said it expects the process to take up to nine months.

Waite requested early retirement to spend more time with his family, according to Chartered. The foundry's chief executive officer successfully underwent heart surgery a little more than a year ago (see March 15, 2001 story), and Waite has now asked the board to allow him to step down with Chartered's financial outlook improving after the severe downturn in the chip industry.

Last week, Chartered--the world's third largest pure-play chip foundry--reported an 11% sequential increase in revenues to $84.4 million in the first quarter, which helped to narrow the company's net loss to $128.4 million vs. a loss of $127.2 million in Q4 of 2001. Chartered said it was increasing capital spending in 2002 to $500 million from an original $400 million budget and pulling up the start of its delayed 300-mm wafer fab to the third quarter of 2003 in response to an expected recovery (see April 18 story).

"We are pleased to have Jim lead the organization at this juncture as the foundry industry is entering a new period of growth," said Ho Ching, chairman of Chartered's board of directors. "He is relocating to Singapore and will be fully engaged at every level as CEO, deeply involved in Chartered's day-to-day operations as well as its long-term strategy.

Norling retired from Motorola in July 2000 after 35 years at the U.S. electronics giant. Norling held numerous management positions at Motorola, with the last being president of the company's Personal Communications Sector. He also was deputy to the CEO at Motorola, president of the Semiconductor Product Sector, and president of Motorola's regional operation for Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Prior to joining Chartered four years ago, Waite held various positions at Motorola's Semiconductor Products Sector, including senior vice president and general manager of its microprocessor and memory technology group. He also was general manager of the semiconductor group's regional operation for European, Middle East and Africa. Waite also worked for Texas Instruments Inc. from 1970 to 1982.