The move maintains the heavily South Korean leadership team in place at China-based Hanwha SolarOne, while bringing in a fresh perspective from Korea's largest company.

Hong, Hanwha SolarOne’s chief executive since 2011, was promoted from within the Hanwha Group, whose solar subsidiary bought a 49% stake in 2010 in the ingot-to-module maker then known as Solarfun, since renamed Hanwha SolarOne.

Nam served most recently as executive vice president and general manager of Samsung Electronics' huge IT Solutions business.

Having