Wolfson Microelectronics on Monday said it had appointed Michael Ruettgers, former head of EMC, to take over as chairman when John Carey retires at the end of the year after seven years in the post.

Mr Ruettgers was chief executive of the digital storage company from 1992 until 2001 when he became executive chairman and then chairman, leaving the group in 2005. During his period at EMC’s revenues grew from $120m to $9bn, despite the bursting of the dotcom bubble, which saw EMC report a third-quarter loss of $1bn in 2001.