ARM CEO East to retire in July; Segars waiting in wings

ARM Chief Executive Warren East will retire on July 1, leaving the company in the hands of its president.

The news came down today from the company, saying that Simon Segars, ARM's current president, will succeed East. The company's current chief executive joined ARM in 1994 to head up its consulting business. He became chief executive in October 2001.

East will be no easy act to follow. During his tenure as ARM's chief executive, the company's revenue has soared from $213 million in 2001 to $913 million last year. Only 420 million ARM-based chips were produced in 2001, compared to 8.7 billion in 2012. When East took over the company, it had just 77 processor customers; ARM now has 322 processor customers. The company's employee base has risen from 722 workers to 2,392.

ARM's success has been the result of the dramatic uptick in mobile devices around the world. The vast majority of those products are running processors that ARM developed and its partners produced. ARM-based processors are running in nearly all of the world's most successful smartphones and tablets.

Segars, though, is no slouch. He joined ARM's board in 2005 and has been president of the company since January. He joined ARM in 1991 and has held several executive positions, including executive vice president of engineering.

"I am keen to lead the Company into the next phase of growth, working even more closely with [Board Chairman] John [Buchanan], the Board, our employees and our customers as well as continuing to develop the ARM partnership," Segars said today in a statement.

For his part, East said he was proud of what was accomplished during his time as CEO and believes Segars "is an excellent choice to lead ARM."

"It has been a privilege to lead ARM during such a momentous and exciting time for our industry and I am proud of what the ARM team of employees and partners has achieved together while I have been CEO," East said.