ZHUHAI, China, Nov. 8, 2011 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- Actions Semiconductor Co., Ltd. (Nasdaq: ACTS), one of China's leading fabless semiconductor companies that provides comprehensive mixed-signal system-on-a-chip (SoC) and multimedia digital signal processing (DSP) solutions for portable consumer electronics, today announced that Dr. Zhenyu Zhou will replace Mr. Niccolo Chen as Chief Executive Officer, effective December 1, 2011. Mr. Chen is stepping down as CEO effective November 30, 2011 and will assume the role of Chief Strategy Officer at Actions, where he will focus on strategic investments. Dr. Zhou currently serves as Senior Vice President at Actions Semiconductor.
Dr. Zhou has over 16 years of senior management experience, with expertise in establishing R&D teams, setting strategy and product road maps, and driving revenue growth through design win activity. A native of China who has extensive U.S. management experience, Dr. Zhou has proficiency in effectively running a China-based company that serves the global markets. In his current role as Senior Vice President at Actions Semiconductor, he leads the effort for the company's Android-based product line. Dr. Zhou spent the last six years in Shanghai, China as Founder and CEO of Mavrix Technology, a developer of multimedia and mobile TV SOCs for brand name and non-branded cell phone makers in China. He founded Mavrix technology in 2005 and the company was acquired by Actions Semiconductor in 2010. Prior to that, Dr. Zhou served as Senior Vice President of digital imaging products at ESS Technology, Inc., based in Fremont, California and a developer of CMOS sensors for cell phone makers such as Motorola, Samsung and LG. In January 1999, Dr. Zhou founded NetRidium Communications, Inc., in Irvine, California, a leader in high speed home networking. In February 2000, NetRidium, Inc. was acquired by ESS Technologies, Inc. Prior to founding NetRidium, Inc., Dr. Zhou held multiple senior level engineering positions at Conexant/Rockwell in Newport Beach, California.
Dr. Zhou graduated with a master's degree and a PhD from the Signal and Image Processing Institute at the University of Southern California, Viterbi School of Engineering. Dr. Zhou holds a master's degree and a bachelor's degree from Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China.
"I am confident that during his tenure at Mavrix and Actions Semiconductor, Zhenyu has developed a strong understanding of our business that will ensure a smooth transition," commented Mr. David Lee, Chairman of Actions' Board. He has extensive experience in cultivating relationships with global customers and brings valuable knowledge of the capital markets. As Actions continues to focus on global expansion and penetrating brand name customers, we believe Zhenyu's expertise will be a tremendous asset.
"On behalf of the Board, I would like to extend our appreciation to Niccolo for his exceptional contributions to Actions over the past two years. As CEO, he strategically focused our engineering program and created a diversified product platform that has generated increased design win activity. Additionally, he helped drive the improvement of the company's bottom line. We look forward to Niccolo's continued participation in the growth of Actions in his new role in the company," concluded Mr. David Lee.