Troubled semiconductor company ST-Ericsson announced the departure of Didier Lamouche, its president and CEO, who has “decided to resign from the company to pursue other opportunities”.

Lamouche, previously COO of ST-Ericsson parent STMicroelectronics, took up the CEO position at the joint venture late in 2011, becoming the third person to hold this position since the company was created in 2009.

ST-Ericsson is currently facing something of an uncertain future, after STMicro announced its intention to exit the joint venture after a transition period.

Co-owner Ericsson has made little comment on the future shape of the partnership, other than stating that it will “explore various strategic options for ST-Ericsson assets”.

The silicon company had already announced a restructure earlier in 2012, which saw some of its work on application processors transferred to STMicro, which would then be integrated with ST-Ericsson products under licence.

ST-Ericsson has been loss-making for some time. In 2012, it reported a non-GAAP net loss of $749 million, compared with a prior-year loss of $841 million, on revenue of $1.35 billion, down from $1.65 billion.

Lamouche will remain in his current role until 31 March 2013.