German chipmaker Infineon is in negotiations with the government over state guarantees worth several hundred million euros (dollars), the Welt am Sonntag paper reported Sunday.

Infineon Technologies AG HAS announced that it has signed a letter of intent for framework purchase agreement amounting US$68 million with Huawei Technologies of China. Infineon will provide semiconductor solutions for Huawei in the area of central office solutions (CO), customer premise equipment (CPE) and mobile phone platforms.

Infineon sites in Asia are working far below capacity. The company denied to break down utilization rates by fab, but provided figures more or less in line with the industry-wide average.

Infineon Technologies AG, Europe's second-largest chipmaker, would consider merging with another company although a partner may be hard to find because of the economic crisis, CEO Peter Bauer said.

Germany's economy shrank by 2.1% in the fourth quarter of 2008 compared to the previous quarter, its worst quarterly performance since 1990. This was the third consecutive quarterly drop in Europe's biggest economy, according to the initial data from the Federal Statistics Office.

Infineon Technologies AG CEO Peter Bauer said he will take a 20% pay cut in 2009 as Europe's second-largest maker of semiconductors faces a "difficult year" filled with "many tough challenges."

German technology company Infineon Technologies AG has said it would expand a Hungarian production facility which makes components for solar and wind power systems, as a result of strong demand for the products.

Struggling German chip maker Infineon is considering a partnership in Europe or Asia even though it can survive alone, its chairman told a newspaper, but analysts said chances for an alliance were slim.

German chipmaker Infineon Technologies AG reported Friday a ？404 million ($513 million) net loss for its fiscal first quarter as the global economic slowdown crimped demand and caused sales to fall.

Michael Jaffe, the insolvency lawyer for Qimonda AG, will fly to Asia by the end of this week to meet potential investors for the German memory-chip maker.

European Union Industry Commissioner Guenter Verheugen sees no chance to save Germany's insolvent chip maker Qimonda with the tools available to the EU, he said in a newspaper interview on Tuesday. 'Nobody can save a company whose owner does not want to save it.'

The collapse of German chip-maker Qimonda into insolvency sparked worries over its parent company Infineon. Qimonda has more than 12,000 workers worldwide, with some 3,500 in Saxony, 1,500 in Munich and several thousand in Portugal. Its New York-listed shares have fallen 95.0% over the past year, while Infineon's Frankfurt shares have fallen 88.2%.

Infineon Technologies (Kulim) Sdn Bhd, Germany-based Infineon's front-end wafer fabrication plant at the Kulim Hi-Tech Park, will not retrench any of its 1,000 workers despite of the global economic downturn.

Ulrich Schumacher, former Chief Executive Officer of Infineon Technologies AG, has been charged in a bribery case, the Munich Public Prosecutor said.

STMicroelectronics, Infineon Technologies, NXP, and Renesas Technology each said they received surprise visits from investigators in late October. All of them were raided by European Commission investigators seeking information of collusion in the market for chips used in smart cards.

Shares of Infineon Technologies AG rose as much as 21% on Monday after spun-off offspring Qimonda received a 325 million-euro ($456 million) loan.

"We deeply regret that the state of Saxony has not taken our proposals into account," says Peter Bauer, CEO of Infineon Technologies AG. "In spite of the extremely difficult situation of the world market and the semiconductor industry, Infineon has offered to provide a loan in combination with the sale of a substantial package of Qimonda shares to the state of Saxony. This offer represents the largest possible burden we can reasonably take on."

Saxony will lend 150 million euros (US$205 million) to Qimonda AG, which will be matched by a capital increase from parent company Infineon Technologies AG.

Infineon Technologies has indicated it could contribute 50 million euros ($66 million) to help rescue its loss-making chipmaker Qimonda, German magazine Focus said, citing sources close to negotiations.

Forecast downgrades from American chipmakers Texas Instruments and Broadcom sapped yet more investor confidence from technology stocks in Europe on Tuesday, with German semiconductor firm Infineon bearing the brunt of the sell-off.

"The electronics group Hynix was already rescued once by the South Korean state bank and now has emerged as interested in Qimonda." Asked about the comment, a Hynix spokeswoman in South Korea denied any interest in Infineon or Qimonda assets.

Including Qimonda, Infineon posted a net loss of ？763 million for the period ending Sept. 30 compared with a net loss of ？280 million a year earlier and a net loss of ？592 million in the previous quarter.

Infineon said on Saturday that Fairchild Semiconductor's patent lawsuit against the German chip maker had been filed in response to a similar case brought by Infineon against its US rival. The two companies are in a legal tussle over so called power chips that regulate electricity supply in computers, sold by Infineon under its CoolMOS and OptiMOS as well as Infineon IGBT and CanPak brands.

German micro-chip maker Infineon (IFXGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) plans to step up its recent cost cutting programme and is in talks with shop stewards about shortened working weeks, it said on Saturday. A spokesman for the company confirmed a pre-release of a report in Sunday paper Welt am Sonntag that Infineon was to slash costs beyond the 200 million euro ($258.8 million) programme already announced.

In October, Qimonda sold its 35.6% interest in Korean chipmaker Inotera for US$400 million to Micron and is using those proceeds to restructure its core business. German newspaper WirtschaftsWoche said that after Micron has completed the restructuring process it could acquire Qimonda with the purchasing price of the Korean chipmaker being credited against the purchase of Qimonda.

Germany's state of Saxony and Infineon's loss-making unit Qimonda are in talks about a possible rescue plan, a spokesman for Saxony's Economics Ministry said on Monday. A company spokesman declined to comment on the report but said Qimonda and the state in eastern Germany were in constant contact. Qimonda runs a production plant in Dresden -- the capital of Saxony.

German chipmaker Infineon said it would not honor a wage deal reached on Wednesday for the 3.6 million workers employed in the country's engineering sector. Only hours after employers and unions in the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg agreed on a pilot deal for a 4.2% wage hike through April 2010 in two stages, Infineon issued a statement declaring its intentions and withdrew from the VBM employers' federation. For the current fiscal year to end-September 2009, Infineon would not increase any wages for some 6,000 engineering workers.

..the 3G iPhone has poor reception and forces him to spend more time on the 2.5G EDGE network than he thought, but the issue may be with Infineon’s 3G chip, according to Richard Windsor, an analyst with Nomura Securities. In a research note today, he said: “We believe that these issues are typical of an immature chipset and radio protocol stack where we are almost certain Infineon is the 3G supplier.” That comment might cheer AT&T, but it's bad news for Infineon, and perhaps a warning to the chip industry about quality control...

Infineon Technologies is examining the options of either selling all or part of its 77% stake in Qimonda, Infineon chief executive Peter Bauer said. In an interview with Sueddeutsche Zeitung's weekend edition, Bauer said: 'We are speaking currently with financial investors and interested companies from the branch regarding a sale.'