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Infineon posts heavy losses, plans to cut 3,000 jobs

German semi-conductor group Infineon yesterday posted a heavy quarterly loss and announced the elimination of 3,000 jobs.

“It will be necessary to reduce headcount by a gross figure of approximately 3,000 employees,” a company statement said. “This figure refers to all sites, functions and levels across the company.”

The cuts are part of a broader program designed to save the company 200 million euros (US$315 million) per year. Infineon employs a total of 43,000 workers, including 13,500 at Qimonda, a loss-making subsidiary that it wants to sell. The German group owns a 77.5 percent stake in Qimonda, which produces memory chips.

In the three months to last month, the third quarter of its 2007-2008 fiscal year, Infineon lost 592 million euros, following a loss of 1.37 billion euros in the previous quarter, the statement said.

The latest loss stems in part from a write down of 411 million euros in the value of its stake in Qimonda, which posted a quarterly loss of 592 million euros late on Thursday.

Infineon said that sales in the quarter had amounted to 1.03 billion euros, down 2 percent from the previous quarter. At the operating level, Infineon managed to turn in a profit of 71 million euros, however, better than expected by analysts.

It has already warned that fourth quarter results would be hit by one-off restructuring costs.
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