Infineon CEO Eyes Acquisition Targets – Report

The CEO of Infineon Technologies AG has made clear the German chip maker will be in acquisition mode going forward into 2023.

Reuters noted that Infineon’s chief executive Jochen Hanebeck said in an interview published on Wednesday by Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), that his firm is ready to spend several billion euros on the right takeover target.

Infineon itself has been at the centre of acquisition reports previously. Back in 2009, it was widely reported that Intel was seeking to acquire it’s wireless chip business. A year later in 2010, Intel succeeded in buying the chip maker’s wireless chip unit.

Acquisition hunt

Fast forward 12 years and Infineon’s chief executive Jochen Hanebeck reportedly said the German chip maker is constantly “on the lookout” for suitable companies. “I see it in the range of up to a few billion (euros),” he told Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ).

The chipmaker said that it sees growth in particular in electromobility, autonomous driving, renewable energy, data centres, and the so-called internet of things – in which items like appliances, factory equipment and health monitors are connected to the internet or other communications networks.

According to Reuters, in its fiscal year through September 2022, Infineon posted a rise in revenue by nearly 30 percent to 14.2 billion euros ($15.1 billion), while segment profit jumped 63 percent to 3.4 billion euros.

It is quite conceivable that start-ups that are not sufficiently well financed, for example, would want to join a corporation, Hanebeck told FAZ.

The CEO would not comment on individual takeover candidates, according to FAZ.

He said the company could expand its portfolio in several fields, including power semiconductors, sensors, software and artificial intelligence.

Cypress Semiconductor

Infineon is perhaps best known as a leading provider of GSM chips found in all mobile phones, and now has four divisions that focuses on automotive; industrial power control (IPC); power and sensor systems (PSS); and connected secure systems.

It was founded back in 1999 and is based in Neubiberg, Germany, and has approximately 50,280 staff.

Its last notable acquisition was back in April 2020, when it acquired US semiconductor design and manufacturing company Cypress Semiconductor for $9.4 billion.