Texas Instruments said that its chief executive, Rich Templeton, is stepping down after more than 13 years in the captain’s chair of the company he turned into the largest manufacturer of analog chips. On Thursday, the company chose Brian Crutcher, its chief operating officer, to replace him.
The switch from Templeton to Crutcher is scheduled to take place on the first of July. Crutcher, who joined Texas Instruments in 1996, has been in charge of business operations and global manufacturing since he was promoted to chief operating officer last year. He previously presided over the company’s analog and digital light processing businesses.
Choosing Crutcher seems meant to preserve the stability of Texas Instruments, the largest maker of analog chips that handle physical signals flowing inside everything from cars to the industrial machines that put them together. The company’s chips are inside tens of thousands of different electronic devices, and that has effectively turned its financial results into a thermometer for the economy.
The Dallas, Texas-based company has been supplying more analog chips as cars and industrial machines are equipped with computers to make them smarter and more efficient. The company’s revenue has spiked more than 10% every quarter for three straight quarters. It expects to report fourth quarter revenue next week between $3.57 billion to $3.87 billion, up from $3.41 billion the year before.
“The directors have had a number of years to assess Brian’s ability, results and style, and we are highly confident he is TI’s next great leader,” Wayne Sanders, lead director of the Texas Instruments board and its chairman of governance and stockholder relations, said in a statement. “There could not be a better time for an effective transition.”
Templeton is known for ushering Texas Instruments into analog. He was chief executive when, in 2011, Texas Instruments acquired National Semiconductor for $6.5 billion in cash. He also wound down the company’s wireless operations, allowing it to plough cash into embedded and signal processing chips.
“He has been a transformative C.E.O., one of the industry's finest,” said Sanders. The 59-year-old Templeton has worked at Texas Instruments since 1980, the company said. He became president and chief executive in May 2004 and will remain as chairman of the board after he steps down.