GlobalFoundries appoints next general manager for Malta factory

Hui Peng Koh, the new general manager for GlobalFoundries' $15 billion plus factory in Malta, has been appointed by the computer chip maker.

She will succeed Peter Benyon who retires in July after four years as the Malta Plant's leader.

Koh was most recently vice president of engineering for the Saratoga County Manufacturing Complex, where she managed a team consisting of 1,200 engineers. She held several leadership positions after joining the Malta Plant in 2010.

Benyon has completed a career in the semiconductor sector spanning 40 years. He spent 12 years at Chartered Semiconductor, which was later acquired by an Abu Dhabi government investment arm and merged with GlobalFoundries. Benyon was the plant manager for GlobalFoundries in Singapore before moving to Malta.

Koh graduated from high school in Malaysia, and then earned a master’s degree in materials technology at Nanyang Technological University.

As the region waits to hear when GlobalFoundries plans to build a second factory on Malta, the leadership transition is taking place. Last year, the company was granted municipal approval to build a factory of 633,000 square feet adjacent to its current complex. According to estimates made last summer, the project will require an investment of $6 billion to 8 billion dollars.

GlobalFoundries, Inc. (Nasdaq GFS), paid $13.2 Million to purchase the remaining 800 acres in the Luther Forest Technology Campus of Saratoga County. This investment provided the real estate required to build a new factory at Malta.

Koh is the sixth general manager to lead the Malta complex since the construction began in 2009.