Sir Peter Bonfield (pictured), who is chairman of NXP, is to be a non-executive director of Imagination.

Bonfield used to work for TI before leaving to be No.2 at ICL to his fellow TI-er Robb Wilmott. When STC bought ICL, Wilmott left ICL and Bonfield took over as CEO.

ICL became loss-making in Bonfield’s final year there.

Bonfield then became CEO at BT where he had an unsuccessful tenure piling up debts of nearly £30 billion in a series of unproductive alliances.

In October 2006, shortly after private equity firm KKR bought 80% of NXP, Bonfield was appointed chairman of the NXP supervisory board.

Imagination recently emerged from a row with the government over what was seen as an attempted coup to move the HQ to China in breach of undertakings given by its China-backed owner Canyon Bridge.