Infineon Technologies

History

Infineon Technologies was created as the result of a spin-off from the German engineering firm Siemens. The spin-off, which formally took place on 1 April 1999, was claimed to be the largest high-tech spin-off in Europe. It had been Siemens semiconductor division, which had experienced considerable growth during the 1990s, rising from the 19th largest semiconductor manufacturer in the world in 1993 to the tenth largest in 1999. In March 2000, Infineon's initial public offering (IPO) on both the Frankfurt and New York stock exchanges was met with strong institutional demand that led to the offering being 33 times over subscribed. Infineon raised in excess of $5 billion, despite Siemens having retained a 74 percent stake in the firm, making it the world's largest tech IPO at the time.

Initially, Infineon's main business was the memory market, such as DRAM; this sector proved to be intensely competitive as well as volatile. Seeking to expand its presence in this market, in January 2004, Infineon purchased the Taiwanese chip designer ADMtek in exchange for $100 million; it was the company's first acquisition in Asia. Shortly thereafter, a sweeping restructuring of Infineon was conducted that reoriented the firm around the core businesses of automotive and industrial semiconductors; accordingly, Infineon's memory division was carved out as Qimonda AG, which remained a subsidiary of Infineon. At its height, Qimonda employed about 13,500 people and had its own listing on the New York Stock Exchange. However, following a major downturn in chip prices amid the Great Recession, Qimonda filed for bankruptcy with the district court in Munich in January 2009.

In July 2009, Infineon sold Wireline Communications to Golden Gate Capital to raise €250 million, resulting in the creation of Lantiq. Two years later, Infineon also sold off its wireless business segment to Intel in exchange for US$1.4 billion; leading to the creation of Intel Mobile Communications (IMC). In August 2014, Infineon agreed to buy the International Rectifier Corporation (IR) for roughly US$3 billion, which was paid one-third by cash and two-thirds by credit line; this acquisition was officially closed on 13 January 2015.

In July 2015, it was reported that Infineon was looking to sell off its 200mm wafer fab in Newport, Wales; it was ultimately sold to Neptune 6 in September 2017. In July 2016, Infineon agreed to buy Wolfspeed, a company in North Carolina, from Cree Inc. in exchange for US$850 million in cash, although this deal was eventually stopped due to U.S. security concerns. That same year, Infineon acquired the Dutch firm Innoluce, a specialist in MEMS and Lidar systems for use in autonomous cars. During 2017, it joined the recently-created 5G Automotive Association. In March 2018, Infineon sold its RF Power Business Unit to the US firm Cree Inc. in exchange for €345 million. In May 2018, Infineon announced what was at the time the largest single investment in its history: €1.6 billion for a semiconductor plant and research centre at its site in Villach, Austria, with construction completed in September 2021. Infineon announced in June 2019 that it would acquire Cypress Semiconductor for $9.4 billion. The acquisition, completed in April 2020, was the largest in Infineon's history. Following its acquisition, Infineon moved up to eighth place among the world’s largest semiconductor manufacturers.

Throughout the late 2010s and early 2020s, Infineon expanded its manufacturing capacity. During the early 2020s, the firm promoted its plans to build two additional plants in Dresden, employing 3000 staff, at a cost of €5 billion and requested a subsidy of €920 million from the German government towards its construction; in February 2025, this was approved by the European Commission, having been financed through the €43 billion European Chips Act. A new chip fab at the Dresden site opened in February 2026, which is considered the largest factory for semiconductors in the world. In 2023, Infineon opened a semiconductor development centre in Hanoi, Vietnam, for the verification of automotive microcontrollers and for test and adaptation processes for integrated analogue and digital circuits.