| Infineon Comm Chips Up 25% |
| Written by Dave Burstein |
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"We are not happy," Peter Bauer said frankly, but went on to say "We will survive." However, led by remarkable sales of chips for the iPhone, the Infineon division that produces DSL chips revenues of Euro 389 million, up 24 percent compared to
Peter Bauer put a brave face on future prospects, "We are, however, concerned about the prospects for the quarters to come. The financial crisis and economic slow-down have already impacted the worldwide semiconductor market, which is reflected in significantly weakened demand in all of our target markets. With our IFX10+ program in place, we had begun to optimize our business operations before the economic slow-down started. During the downturn, we will focus on maintaining our excellent customer relationships and product portfolio," but his statement also predicted 2009 declines of "at least 15 percent compared to the 2008 fiscal year. The year-over-year decrease is expected to be driven in particular by the Automotive segment." He predicts wireless will continue well, but a decline in wireline. Infineon has a particular strength in VDSL at 100/100, which is due to expand. |
the prior quarter and up 22 percent year-over-year. Results in the broadband business decreased slightly, driven by the weakening market environment and corresponding to other chipmaker results. Fortunately, the company is not planning major cutbacks in staffing. They will be cutting back payroll expenses in other ways, perhaps emulating Cisco with mandatory use of vacation days over the holidays, etc. Infineon will also be cutting workers' hours, especially at the large chip plants.