Infineon revises communications outlook

NEUBIBERG, GERMANY: Infineon Technologies has revised the outlook for its Communication Solutions segment due to lower volumes in certain wireless platform projects. Infineon now anticipates revenues in the third quarter of fiscal year 2008 to be about flat from the previous quarter.

The company also expects that the revised revenue outlook in combination with customization expenses associated with the ramp of new platforms should lead to a decline in EBIT excluding gains and charges from the previous quarter. The company anticipates revenues and EBIT excluding gains and charges to improve in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2008 compared to the previous quarter.

Earlier this week, Dr. Wolfgang Ziebart had stepped down as CEO of Infineon. Peter Bauer, Member of the Management Board will assume the position as Spokesman of the Management Board. Furthermore, Supervisory Board and Management Board have decided the “IFX Plus-10” program to improve the company’s results.

During his term of office, Ziebart strategically re-positioned the company and carved-out the memory business to form Qimonda, a separate legal entity, in August 2006. Operative results of the core business improved considerably during this period. Last year, Infineon got back into the top ten semiconductor companies due to its superior growth.

Max Dietrich Kley, Chairman of the Infineon Supervisory Board: “We would like to thank Ziebart for his efforts and merits. He took over the position as CEO four years ago in an extremely difficult situation. At today’s meeting, the Supervisory Board appreciated Ziebart’s efforts. With his vast experience, Peter Bauer will focus on executing and expanding according to the “IFX 10-Plus” program the necessary and already initiated measures and programs. This will allow us to further improve the company’s strengths and to accelerate the operational execution of the strategic re-alignment.”

The IFX 10-Plus program comprises the following three central points:

- Margin improvement through optimized portfolio management.

- Margin improvement through a stronger cutting of cost of manufacture.

- Margin improvement through increasing the efficiency of the organization.

In a related news on Yahoo, Nokia has said that its single-chip plans were on track, despite Infineon's warning earlier that its single chip for Nokia was delayed.