The demand for chips by automakers has led to a steady rise in profits for Infineon.
German semiconductor manufacturer Infineon Technologies topped estimates of its first-quarter margins and reported a revenue forecast of around $4.3 billion and a segment result margin of around 25%, for the second fiscal quarter.
The chip maker’s net profit jumped to $794 million from $498.2 million. It maintained its full-year revenue outlook of around $16.79 billion, plus or minus $541.8 million, despite a less favourable exchange rate.
CEO Jochen Hanebeck announced that the company would increase its guidance slightly for the fiscal year, adjusting for currency effects. “In particular, the energy transition and expansion of electromobility are causing a continuously high need for our solutions in industrial and automotive applications. In contrast, we are seeing significantly weaker demand in areas such as smartphones, PCs and data centres,” he elucidated.
While the demand for consumer electronics, such as PCs and smartphones, has fallen resulting in losses for giants such as Intel, chipmakers such as Infineon are enjoying heavy profits. Infineon manufactures chips used in cars and data centres. Carmakers have been buying chips to stock up inventories after a global semiconductor shortage slowed down production, proving profitable for chipmakers such as Infineon.
Infineon’s rival STMicroelectronics has pushed its 2023 revenue to $16.8-$17.8 billion. , based on strong demand from automotive and industrial customers. The chipmaker topped investors’ estimates by reporting stellar fourth-quarter net revenues of $4.42 billion, up 24.4% over the same period last year and 2.4% up on the previous quarter.
