Infineon Technologies

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the raceway, see Infineon Raceway.

Infineon Technologies AG

Type	Public ISIN: DE0006231004, FWB: IFX, NYSE: IFX
Founded	1999
Headquarters	Munich, Germany
Key people	Dr. Wolfgang Ziebart, CEO
Industry	Semiconductors
Products	Microcontrollers Memory Tuner ICs
Revenue	Euro 4.1 billion or 5.275 billion USD (excluding Qimonda AG) (2006)
Employees	41,100
Slogan	Never Stop Thinking
Website	www.infineon.com

Infineon Technologies AG (ISIN: DE0006231004, FWB: IFX, NYSE: IFX) was founded in April 1999 when the semiconductor operations of parent company, Siemens AG, were spun off to form a separate legal entity. As of June 30, 2006 Infineon has about 41,100 employees worldwide, 7,400 of them involved in research and development. In the 2006 financial year, the company achieved sales of 5.275 billion USD. The EBIT loss came to 278 million USD (excluding Qimonda AG). In the first quarter of 2006 Infineon was among the Worldwide Top 4 Semiconductor Sales Leaders.

On May 1, 2006, Infineon's Memory Products division was carved out as a distinct company called Qimonda AG. It employs about 12,000 people worldwide. Qimonda has been listed on the NYSE.

1 The markets of Infineon Technologies
2 What Infineon means
3 Product lines
- 3.1 Apple iPhone Chips
4 Competitors
5 Investors
6 Price Fixing Controversy
7 Community Support
8 AENEON
9 External links

[edit] The markets of Infineon Technologies

Infineon Technologies AG, Munich, Germany, offers semiconductor and system solutions for automotive, industrial and multimarket sectors, for applications in communication, as well as memory products through its subsidiary Qimonda. With a global presence, Infineon operates through its subsidiaries in the USA from San Jose, California, in the Asia-Pacific region from Singapore and in Japan from Tokyo.

Infineon has a number of facilities in Europe. Infineon's high power segment is in Warstein (Germany) and Cegléd (Hungary). It also runs R&D centers in Taiwan & Bangalore, India & fabrication units in Malaysia & China.

Infineon is listed on the DAX 30 index of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and on the New York Stock Exchange (ticker symbol: IFX).

[edit] What Infineon means

The name Infineon combines the English word "infinity" with "eon," the ancient Greek word for eternity, in an attempt to call to mind positive associations with the idea of infinity.

[edit] Product lines

Infineon's main product lines are ICs in the following areas:

Communications (wired and wireless)
- VoIP products, VINETIC
- ISDN products
- Mobile Phone Products
- Ethernet over VDSL 10Base-S products
Automotive & Industrial
- Smartcards
- TriCore Micro-controller
Memory Products - Now with Qimonda
- DRAM
- Flash memory

Infineon also has got a HPS (High Power Segment). The front-end of this production is in Warstein (GER), the back-end is in Cegléd (Hungary). Thyristors, diodes and IGBTs are manufactured here.

[edit] Apple iPhone Chips

According to analysts the Apple iPhone will contain baseband processor & RF chips supplied by Infineon[1].

[edit] Competitors

[edit] Investors

Institutional Investors in Infineon are: Brandes Investment Partners: 5,13%, Dodge and Cox International: 5,07%, Capital Group International: 4,95%, General Capital Group (0,8%).

[edit] Price Fixing Controversy

In 2004-2005 an investigation was carried out into a worldwide DRAM price fixing conspiracy during 1999-2002 that damaged competition and raised PC prices. As a result, Samsung is to pay $300 million fine, Hynix was to pay $185 million in 2005, Infineon: $160 million in 2004. Micron Technology cooperated with prosecutors and no fine is expected.

[edit] Community Support

Infineon technologies supports local high schools with F.I.R.S.T. robotics [2]. They currently help three local schools in Richmond, Virginia - Atlee HS, Tucker HS, and Highland Springs Tech Center (HTA)

[edit] AENEON

AENEON™ was introduced in 2005. AENEON is a DRAM memory family of Infineon and fits into standard PCs and notebooks.

AENEON targets whitebox (non-brand) PC and notebook manufacturers world wide, as well as the European retail segment and end users (web shop). AENEON DRAM memory focuses the "price-performance" segment.

Price advantages are obtained due to a limited product portfolio (only unbuffered and SO-DIMM), and due to outsourced modul assembly. The DRAM components, however, are "Made by Infineon™".