Infineon Expands in Asia - New Production Plant for Automotive and Industrial Power Technologies in Malaysia
MUNICH, Germany—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Dec. 8, 2004—
Infineon Technologies AG (NYSE:IFX)(FWB:IFX) will build
a new front-end production plant in Kulim High Tech Park, Malaysia.
The facility will mainly produce power and logic chips used in
automotive and industrial power applications. The company announced
today that it plans to invest in total approximately US-Dollar 1
billion. Groundbreaking is planned for early 2005. Ramp-up is
scheduled for 2006. At full capacity, the fab will employ
approximately 1,700 people.
"This new fab is an important step in continuing our successful
business with chips for automotive and industrial power applications.
With this move, we are systematically expanding our presence in the
future market of Asia," commented Dr. Wolfgang Ziebart, President and
CEO of Infineon Technolgies. "Our continuous investment in Asia also
reduces our market risk concerning fluctuations of the US
dollar-to-euro exchange rate."
The new plant complements Infineon's already existing production
sites for non-memory products in Munich-Perlach, Regensburg, Villach,
and Dresden as well as Altis Semi-conductors, a joint venture with IBM
in Essonnes, France.
Due to strong penetration of electronics in vehicles as well as
the ongoing substitution of semiconductor solutions for mechanical
components, the worldwide automotive semiconductor market is expected
to experience substantial growth of about ten percent over the next
few years. More demanding requirements with respect to reliability,
security, and weight as well as emission control and power reduction
of cars, will also fuel growth.
According to the market research company Strategy Analytics (May
2004), the auto-motive semiconductor market amounted for about
US-Dollar 13.3 billion in calendar year 2003 growing by 14.1 percent
from 11.5 billion in 2002. Infineon is Europe's number one
manufacturer of automotive semiconductors with an overall sales market
share of 15.0 percent. Worldwide the company ranks as number two with
an overall sales market share of 8.7 percent in the year 2003, thus
growing by 21.2 percent year on year.
About Infineon
Infineon Technologies AG, Munich, Germany, offers semiconductor
and system solutions for the automotive and industrial sectors, for
applications in the wired communications markets, secure mobile
solutions as well as memory products. With a global presence, Infineon
operates in the US from San Jose, CA, in the Asia-Pacific region from
Singapore and in Japan from Tokyo. In fiscal year 2004 (ending
September), the company achieved sales of Euro 7.19 billion with about
35,600 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.
This news release is available online at
http://www.infineon.com/news/.
Contact:
Infineon Technologies AG
Worldwide Headquarters
Guenter Gaugler
Phone/Fax: +49 89 234 28481 / 28482
guenter.gaugler@infineon.com
or
U.S.A.
Christoph Liedtke
Phone/Fax: +1 408 501 6790 / 2424
christoph.liedtke@infineon.com
or
Asia
Kaye Lim
Phone/Fax: +65 6840 0689 / 0073
kaye.lim@infineon.com
or
Japan
Hirotaka Shiroguchi
Phone/Fax: +81 3 5449 6795 / 6401
hirotaka.shiroguchi@infineon.com
or
Investor Relations
EU/APAC +49 89 234 26655
USA/CAN +1 408 501 6800
investor.relations@infineon.com
