After the Foundry Company, formerly manufacturing operations of Advanced Micro Devices, became independent on Monday, Hector Ruiz, who once was chief executive officer of the company, stepped down from his chairman post at AMD and became chairman of TFC. Bruce Claflin will succeed Mr. Ruiz as the chairman of AMD.

Mr. Claflin (56) has 33 years of experience in senior positions with IBM, Digital Equipment and most recently as chief executive officer and member of the board of directors of 3Com Corp., a provider of voice and data networking products and services, from where he retired in early 2006, about 1.5 years before 3Com went private. He has run major personal computer businesses and has extensive international experience, including the founding and management of international joint ventures, according to AMD.

In addition, AMD board of directors also appointed Waleed Al Mokarrab to the board. Mr. Al Mokarrab is chief operating officer of Mubadala Development Company, a major stakeholder in AMD, and the chairman of Advanced Technology Investment Company, AMD’s partner in TFC joint-venture.

“Bruce Claflin brings a wealth of business experience that applies directly to the challenges and opportunities relevant to our company. We are also honored to welcome Waleed Al Mokarrab to the Board. His experience in business development across a broad range of industries will be an invaluable asset to AMD,” said Dirk Meyer, president and chief executive officer of AMD.

Hector Ruiz joined AMD in January 2000 as president and chief operating officer, just months after AMD released its first AMD Athlon microprocessor that helped the chipmaker to seriously challenge long-time market leader Intel and stop to be a “second source” supplier of low-end microprocessors. Hector Ruiz was named chief executive officer in April 2002, when founder of the company Jerry Sanders stepped down, just a little ahead of AMD’s triumphal launch of AMD Opteron and Athlon 64 processors, which had been outperforming rivals from Intel for years. He was appointed as chairman of the board in April 2004.

Tags: AMD, TFC, Asset smart