Acer names ex-TSMC sales executive new CEO

(Reuters) - Acer Inc has named former TSMC sales executive Jason Chen its new CEO as of January 1, appointing a chipmaking industry veteran to the helm of a Taiwanese company struggling to overcome sluggish PC sales. Chen takes over executive duties from company founder Stan Shih, who returned to the company in November and will remain Acer's Chairman, Acer said in a statement on Monday. Acer, one of the world's largest PC makers, has seen its fortunes wane after failing to make inroads into the mobile market, as tablets and smartphones walloped global PC sales. Last month, it reported a worse-than-expected quarterly loss of T$13.12 billion ($446 million) for the June-September period, which prompted then-CEO J.T. Wang to resign and the company to announce a 7 percent reduction in its workforce. Chen, who worked for Intel Corp for 14 years before joining Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, is currently TSMC's senior vice president of worldwide sales and marketing, a job he has held since 2008. "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," Shih said in a statement on Acer's website. "Moreover, he shares the consensus on our strategy and development for Acer's future." (Editing by Diane Craft)