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To: Dave B who wrote (68736)	3/21/2001 6:52:22 PM
From: Don Green	Respond to of 93625

Infineon stays on track while others hit brakes By Anthony Cataldo, EE Times Mar 21, 2001 (1:00 PM) URL: eetimes.com SAN JOSE, Calif. — While mass layoffs have hit the electronics industry in the United States, the broad-based German semiconductor supplier Infineon Technologies so far has no plans to scale down its operations, said Jan du Preez, president of Infineon Technologies North America Corp. Even as many of the industry's key sectors suffer from the slowdown, du Preez said in an interview with EE Times that "we'll continue to look at what areas are not core to our focus, but there's no specific plan right now to change our structure." He added, "We're not retrenching or laying off people." Rather, Infineon (San Jose, Calif.) is looking at ways to expand its product portfolio by forging ties with other companies. "What you'll see more of is investment in outside companies to expand our product spectrum," he said. In some cases, the company is looking to make investments in exchange for intellectual property, as it did recently when it invested $30 million in ferroelectric memory provider Ramtron International Corp. The company has also been trying to woo young companies that might want to tap its specialized process technology, such as silicon germanium, as competitors IBM and Motorola are doing, others said. "Infineon is now in the process of learning how to work with early startups," said one venture capitalist who declined to be named. "It is very much interested in taking equity for foundry access." Though Infineon's biggest sales gains have been coming from wireless and wireline communications products, DRAMs are by far its largest revenue source, accounting for some 40 percent of revenue last year. Since 1998, the company's shipments of DRAMs, measured in megabits shipped, have been growing at about twice the industry rate. Infineon plans to build three 300-mm fabs located in Dresden, Germany; Hsinchu, Taiwan; and Richmond, Va., the first products for which will be DRAMs. Because the first of the new lines isn't scheduled to come online until late this year, it should not stand in the way of a price recovery this year as long as bit demand stays strong and other suppliers don't expand capacity aggressively, du Preez said. Even so, DRAM revenues for the industry are going to be down significantly from last year. In 2000, the DRAM industry raked in about $40 billion in revenues, but du Preez said he'll be surprised if the industry garners $30 billion this year. He blamed DRAM prices on a PC industry that has lost much of its sizzle. "There's been no compelling reason to upgrade a computer in the last six months," he said. The company expects continued growth for its devices used in mobile handsets and basestations, but du Preez said the company had built up capacity expecting much larger phone sales. Mobile phone manufacturers have recently predicted 2001 phone sales will be anywhere from 450 million to 550 million units. "Only 18 months ago, people were saying 1 billion handsets in 2001," du Preez said. One area where Infineon aims to gain more traction in the United States is embedded systems. For example, the company has been making a push to expand its sales of controller-area network microcontrollers, which are used primarily in cars, to industrial control. In one case, by placing sensors around an industrial plant and connecting them to a CAN bus, the number of errors was extrapolated not to exceed one every 1,000 years, said Michael Erwin, senior director of mass-market marketing and engineering for Infineon.

To: Dave B who wrote (68736)	3/21/2001 6:52:32 PM
From: pompsander	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 93625

Does anyone speak German? Man, I would love a solid translation.....although I think I get the tone. <vbg>