From March 1st, Christopher Belden will oversee all global manufacturing operations for NXP Semiconductor. As Senior Vice President of Global Manufacturing, Mr. Belden also assumes responsibility for the company’s front- and back-end operations. 

Currently serving as COO and Deputy to the CEO at ECI Telecom Ltd., Avi Cohen (pictured) brings more than 27 years of industry experience to his new role as a member of the Board at Nova Measuring Instruments. 

BASF’S R&D team has enlisted the expertise of Professor YuZhuo Li (pictured) to lead research activities in the realm of chemical mechanical planarization (CMP). Bringing more than 20 years of research expertise to the company, Professor Li is widely regarded as a leading expert in the area of CMP. 

Fujitsu Limited has outlined its plans to hire 585 university graduates in April, in line with its intended recruitment of the same number in April 2008. The graduates will be hired in divisions including system engineering, administrative, R&D and sales to support its IT products, solutions and services businesses. 

The Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA) has appointed new members to its EMEA Leadership Council. The Council supports the GSA’s mission, which is to accelerate growth in the industry through collaboration and innovation. 

Fran Barton (pictured), CFO at UTStarcom, Inc., has been added to both the Board of Directors and the Audit Committee for ON Semiconductor. This news accompanies the announcement that TPG’s John Marren has stepped down from the Board, effective from February 14th. 

Fairchild Semiconductor has appointed Adrian Chu (pictured) to the role of Senior Vice President of the company’s Standard Products Group with immediate effect. He joins Fairchild from NXP Semiconductor, where he held the role of Vice President with responsibility for marketing, accounts and sales for Greater China. 

Last week saw Freescale Semiconductor announce the departure of its CEO Michael Mayer, and the beginning of a search for a replacement leader. The company has revealed the new face of Freescale Semiconductor as Rich Beyer (pictured), who has resigned his role as Intersil CEO to join Freescale. 

Rich Beyer has announced his resignation from the roles of CEO and Director of Intersil to move to lead Freescale as CEO. Replacing Mr. Beyer as CEO is David Bell (pictured), company President and COO since April 2007. 

In its recent financial results release, Brooks Automation’s CEO Robert J. Lepofsky announced the company’s intention to cut 5% of its workforce by March 1st. With a current staff of approximately 1,900, this announcement will see almost 100 job losses, but will mean accrued savings of between $12 and 15 million for the company.