Gao, who was appointed as the acting chairman last September, has been the chipmaker's chief financial officer since 2014.

SMIC, the largest chipmaker in the country and which is partly backed by a state-affiliated chip fund, also said former chairman Zhou Zixue stepped down as an executive director, citing health reasons.

SMIC is at the forefront of China's charge to catch up with Japan, South Korea and the United States in chip technology.

The company is on a U.S. blacklist that denies access to advanced manufacturing equipment from U.S. suppliers due to its alleged ties to China's military, claims that SMIC rejects.

(Reporting by Tejaswi Marthi in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)