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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. With a global presence, Infineon
operates through its subsidiaries in the US from San Jose, CA, in the
Asia-Pacific region from Singapore and in Japan from Tokyo. In fiscal year 2005
(ending September), the company achieved sales of Euro 6.76 billion with about
36,400 employees worldwide. Infineon is listed on the DAX index of the Frankfurt
Stock Exchange and on the New York Stock Exchange (ticker symbol: IFX). Further
information is available at www.infineon.com.
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Siemens
Semiconductors? Infineon Technologies? Qimonda?
the names change but
the problems remain the same
Munich,
Germany - March 31, 2006 - Infineon Technologies AG announced today
more details of its makeover strategy.
The splitting out of its
memory business group into a new company, called Qimonda, will be effective on
May 1st. Qimonda, headquartered in Munich, will have the legal form of a German
Aktiengesellschaft (AG) and will be the world's 4th largest
DRAM company.
The
new company will initially be a wholly owned subsidiary of Infineon but may be
spun off in an IPO later. ...Infineon profile,
renamed storage companies
Editor's
comments:- there are two root tensions behind the long running business
soap opera which predate the 1999 spin off of Siemens Semiconductors as
Infineon, and the next episode as Qimonda.
First - the DRAM business
has historically followed a pattern of boom to bust business cycles - which
makes it more like gambling than a sensible form of business investment. The
stakes required to stay in the game at each new cast of the DRAM technology
dice are huge.
Second -
Germany is
not a good location to site the headquarters of a high tech world class chip
company. The local EU currency market is slow/no growing. Labor costs are high.
The best thing would have been for all assets to be taken out of Germany
altogether and moved to Asia or the US. Failure to do this in the past has had
more to do with top management comfort levels and arcane legal restrictions than
best business practice. |
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