Infineon boosts Malaysia investment as Q3 revenue above forecast

GERMAN chipmaker Infineon said on Thursday (Aug 3) it was massively increasing its investment in its Malaysia plant, while reporting slightly better-than-expected quarterly revenue in a semiconductor market where trends remain a mixed picture.

Infineon, whose chips are used in cars and data centres, reported third-quarter revenue of 4.1 billion euros (S$6 billion), up 13 per cent from the same period last year.

“Semiconductor market trends continue to present a mixed picture with both light and shade,” said chief executive Jochen Hanebeck, with demand high in electromobility and renewable energy but low for consumer products like PCs and smartphones.

For the full year, Infineon expects investments amounting to approximately three billion euros.

One investment focus is construction at its site in Malaysia, where it said on Thursday it plans to build the world’s largest 200-millimetre silicon carbide power fab.

The planned expansion of the Kulim fab is backed by customer commitments covering about five billion euros and about one billion euros in pre-payments, said Infineon, which said it would invest up to an additional five billion euros over the next five years.

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Ford and China’s Cherry and SAIC are among the first customers from the automotive sector, in additional to SolarEdge and three leading Chinese photovoltaic manufacturers.

“With the Kulim expansion, we will secure our leadership position in this market,” said Hanebeck.

The company expects the expanded facility – together with its plant in Villach, Austria – to generate annual revenues of seven billion euros.

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Infineon Q1 revenue comes in slightly below expectations

The company on Thursday confirmed its revenue outlook of around 16.2 billion euros, which it had raised in May.

Infineon’s third-quarter adjusted – or “segment” – result was down 10 per cent from the previous quarter at 1.1 billion euros, while its margin came in slightly lower than expected, at 26.1 per cent. REUTERS