PARIS — Fred Shlapak, president of Motorola's Semiconductor Products Sector, confirmed here Wednesday (June 4)that he plans to step down in October and said has no plans to work elsewhere.
Shlapak was here for Motorola's Smart Networks Developer Forum.
While he would consider joining the board of another company after his retirement, Shlapek said in a brief interview that has no plans to "work full time." He added, "Now that I am leaving Motorola, everyone is asking me, 'Come to us, help us cut workforce,'" Shlapak said with an ironic smile. "But we've already done enough of that. It's time to move on and to look ahead."
Shlapak said he won't completely cut his ties with the chip maker after he retires this fall. "I will continue to help out Motorola," he said.
Shlapak, who became president of Motorola's semiconductor unit at the outset of the worst slump in the industry's history, called his tenure trying. "The last three years have been horrible—horrible for everyone."
Shlapek helped forge partnerships with competitors STMicoelectronics and Philips Semiconductors to operate a 300-mm wafer fab called the Crolles2 project. The partnership calls for splitting capital expenditures, R&D costs and wafer capacity at the fab.
While seeking to reduce the unit's costs, Shlapak also spent much of his presidency cutting spending and laying off about 10,000 employees within the Semiconductor Products Sector.
Motorola showed off a variety of new architectures and development platforms for wireless infrastructure, packet telephony and others at the development conference.
