Posted at: 11/02/2009 10:11 AM
Updated at: 11/02/2009 10:13 AM
By: DREW KERR
The Post-Star

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GlobalFoundries Chairman steps down

MALTA - GlobalFoundries Chairman Hector Ruiz is stepping down as the company's chairman, officials announced Monday morning.

The move comes as Ruiz, the former chief executive officer at Advanced Micro Devices, comes under scrutiny for potentially playing a role in the Galleon Group insider trading case.

Ruiz is said to have given a defendant in the case information about AMD's plans to spin-off its manufacturing arm and create GlobalFoundries, the computer chip maker that is currently building a $4.2 billion factory at the Luther Forest Technology Campus in Malta.

In a statement, GlobalFoundries officials said Ruiz is taking a "voluntary leave of absence effective immediately" before resigning from the company on Jan. 4, 2010.

Alan E. "Lanny" Ross will serve as the company's interim chairman until a permanent chairman is appointed to the board, the company said. Ross currently serves on GlobalFoundries' board of directors.

AMD officials had said as recently as last week that they were "thoroughly reviewing" reports that Ruiz could be linked to the Galleon case, but they stressed at the time that no criminal allegations had yet been made.

This story originally appeared on PostStar.com.