Long-serving SMIC chief Richard Chang resigns

HONG KONG, Nov 10 (Reuters) - SMIC (0981.HK), China's largest contract chip maker, said on Tuesday that Richard Chang has resigned as the company's long-serving chief executive, as SMIC tries to settle a major lawsuit against it.

Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMI.N) said that David Wang will become CEO and an executive director of the Shanghai-based company effective immediately.

"The board announces that Dr. Richard R. Chang has resigned as an authorised representative of the company for the purpose of the listing rules with immediate effect, and Mr. Jiang Shang Zhou has been appointed as an authorised representative of the company for the purpose of the listing rules with immediate effect," SMIC said in a statement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

The company's shares have been suspended since Nov. 4 pending an announcement of price sensitive information.

Last week, sources told Reuters that SMIC was in talks to settle a U.S. court case that found it guilty of stealing trade secrets from Taiwan's TSMC (2330.TW). [ID:nHKG215742] (Reporting by Doug Young; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)