French energy equipment giant Schneider Electric has removed CEO Peter Herweck.

The company, a significant supplier of the data center industry, said that it had appointed long-time employee Olivier Blum as the new chief executive, effective immediately.

In a statement, Schneider said that its Board of Directors "decided to remove from office Peter Herweck as chief executive officer due to divergences in the execution of the company roadmap at a time of significant opportunities."

The company declined to comment on specifics. Herweck spent just 18 months at the job.

Schneider's share price last month hit an all-time high, and last week it reiterated its full-year financial targets that benefit from both the AI data center boom and a wider shift to renewable energy. In October, the company announced it would acquire a controlling stake in data center liquid cooling firm Motivair for a reported $850 million.

Last week the company, along with Legrand and two distributors, was also fined €470m ($512m) by the French competition watchdog for allegedly fixing electrical equipment prices. The company plans to appeal the ruling.

“I welcome Olivier Blum as our new CEO and I wish to thank Peter Herweck for leading Schneider Electric over the past 18 months," former CEO and board chairman Jean-Pascal Tricoire said.

"For more than 30 years, Olivier has been an outstanding and transformative leader at Schneider Electric, deeply understanding our business, our operating model and culture and focusing on future technology and strategic development, while delivering strong and consistent operational performance, as shown by the acceleration of Energy Management under his tenure."

Blum has spent nearly 32 years at Schneider, most recently as its head of the Energy Management Business. In the past, he was the chief human resources officer, and served as country head for India and strategy and business leader in China.

He has also sat on the board of software company Aveva for the past five years - a business that Schneider tried to acquire in 2017, and finally managed to take over in 2023.

Shares in Schneider fell around one percent on the news.