Acer Appoints Former TSMC Executive Jason Chen As CEO

Acer has appointed Jason Chen, a former sales executive for the semiconductor giant TSMC, as its next CEO, replacing Stan Shih, who had led the struggling company since November.

Chen will assume his new role on 1 January and faces a tough task ahead of him as Acer, one of the world’s largest PC manufacturers, has struggled to cope with falling demand and has so far failed to diversify into mobile technology.

“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. Moreover, he shares the consensus on our strategy and development for Acer’s future,” said Shih.

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The company once ruled the notebook market but is currently in the middle of restructuring. In November, the company reported its quarterly revenues fell 11.8 percent year-on-year, resulting in losses of around $446 million.

Numbers were significantly worse than had been expected, and on the same day, chairman and CEO J.T. Wang and president Jim Wong both resigned. The company also announced the intention to cut seven percent of its workforce in hopes of saving $100 million (£62m) annually.

The situation was so dire the board of directors called Shih out of retirement, to reinstate him as the president and chairman. However, the search for next CEO ended in just two months.

US-educated Chen previously spent over a decade at Intel, three years at IBM and has been working as TSMC’s senior vice president of worldwide sales for the past five years. Shih described him as an “excellent manager with extensive management experience and proven execution capability”.

Shih will remain Acer’s chairman for the foreseeable future.

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