By Carl O'Donnell and Liana B. Baker

Sept 17 (Reuters) - Bank of America Corp has appointed Marco Chisari and Rob Brass as co-heads of global semiconductor investment banking in a move aimed to deepen the bank’s focus on the sector, according to a memo published on Monday and confirmed by a spokesman.

Brass recently started at Bank of America and Chisari will be joining later this year, the memo said. They will both be based in Palo Alto, California, and report to Gary Kirkham, head of technology at Bank of America.

Chisari previously worked for Credit Suisse Group AG , where he was managing director in the technology M&A group. He focused primarily on the semiconductor, software and internet space.

He was previously head of M&A for the technology group at Mubadala, an Abu Dhabi-based investment fund. Over the course of his career, Chisari worked on transactions for companies including Toshiba Memory and NXP Semiconductors NV.

Brass spent the majority of his career at Morgan Stanley , where he was managing director, head of West Coast semiconductors, and head of internet of things and connected electronics.

He was most recently chief financial officer at DAQRI, a company that produces augmented reality technology. He worked with clients including Micron Technology Inc, Microsemi Corporation and Cavium Semiconductor Solutions.

The semiconductor industry has undergone rapid consolidation in recent years driven by technological advances including automated driving and artificial intelligence.

Bank of America has advised on major deals in the semiconductor space including Broadcom Inc's attempt to acquire Qualcomm Inc, which was shot down by U.S. regulators earlier this year.

Bank of America's previous semiconductor banker, Bill Frauenhofer, went to Morgan Stanley earlier this year, a spokeswoman for Morgan Stanley said.

Bank of America has made a number of recent hires in the technology, media and telecommunications space.

Earlier this year, Bank of America announced that Steve Pettigrew was joining from Citigroup Inc to co-head global software investment banking, according to an internal memo that was confirmed by a spokesman.

It also hired Sam Powers, who was previously head of technology, media and telecom for the Americas at UBS Group AG , and Randy Russell, who was previously head of Americas media and telecom at Deutsche Bank AG, Reuters previously reported.

Powers was brought on to head Americas media and telecom investment banking. Russell was brought on to be managing director for media and telecom, the memo said. (Reporting by Carl O'Donnell Editing by Leslie Adler)