British chipmaker Wolfson Microelectronics  said on Monday it had picked Motorola Inc's  Mike Hickey as its new chief executive to replace Dave Shrigley, who is stepping down for personal reasons.

Hickey, who is expected to take over on Jan. 1, 2009, has held senior positions in Motorola's mobile device business, and most recently headed the multimedia product organisation, Wolfson said in a statement.

Wolfson chairman Michael Ruettgers said: "(Hickey's) knowledge and insight of the consumer electronics industry will be a great asset to Wolfson."

The Edinburgh-based company, which makes chips for products including Apple Inc's iPhone, said in July that falling demand for consumer devices was hitting sales, and jobs and costs would be cut to fight the downturn.

Source:Reuters