Infineon Technologies AG, the second-biggest maker of semiconductors in Europe, will report its eighth consecutive quarterly loss in the fiscal second quarter as prices for computer-memory chips plummeted, analysts said.
Infineon's net loss widened to 125.8 million euros (US$132 million) for the three months through March from 108 million euros in the year-ago quarter, analysts said.
Bigger rival STMicroelectronics NV has said revenue in the quarter was less than forecast as clients pared orders in March.
CEO Ulrich Schumacher aims to return the German company to profit in the fourth quarter after 2 billion euros of losses in the last seven quarters. He expects chip prices to extend declines in the third quarter after a global capacity glut left all rivals but South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co and Taiwan's Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技) unprofitable last year.
"The quarter is seasonally weak, spot prices were down and you never know what contract prices were and how much cost cuts came through," said Frank Joachim, who helps manage US$11.9 billion at Trinkaus Capital Management in Dusseldorf.
Infineon shares declined 11 percent in the first quarter, while shares of Samsung Electronics, the world's largest maker of computer-memory chips, fell 9.6 percent. US rival Micron Technology Inc lost 16 percent of its value.
The Munich company will release figures today.
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