Ad-hoc | 31 January 2001 08:44

Ad hoc-Service: Infineon Technologies AG Q1 e

Ad-hoc announcement sent by DGAP. The sender is solely responsible for the contents of this announcement. —————————————————————————— Infineon Announces Strong First Quarter Performance in a Volatile Market Environment The semiconductor manufacturing group Infineon Technologies today announced results for its first quarter in fiscal year 2001 (ended December 31, 2000). Revenues in the first quarter reached EUR 1.66 billion, an 8% increase from the first quarter of the previous fiscal year driven by continued strong demand in Infineon’s communications business groups, especially in Smart Card ICs and Wireline Communications. The revenue decline of 30% from the record level in fourth quarter of fiscal year 2000 was due to the weakening of the market for memory products. Despite difficult market conditions, Infineon achieved a gross margin of 40% compared with 53% in the fourth quarter and 37% in the first quarter of 2000. EBIT (earnings before interest, minority interest and tax), including a one-time pre-tax gain of EUR 202 million from the divestment of Infineon’s Image & Video business, reached EUR 446 million, up 83% over the first quarter of fiscal year 2000 but down 45% from the record level of the previous quarter. Apart from this gain, Infineon’s earnings increase over last year’s first quarter was achieved through significant productivity gains, especially in the communications segments. The expected decrease in EBIT from the record level in the previous quarter reflects the current difficult market environment for memory products caused by a strong price decline in this segment. Net income in the quarter increased to EUR 280 million, up 111% from the first quarter of fiscal year 2000 but a decrease of 52% from the previous quarter. Earnings per share/per ADS (basic and diluted) for the first quarter 2001 reached EUR 0.45 as compared with EUR 0.22 and EUR 0.93 in the first and fourth quarter of fiscal year 2000, respectively. Outlook Infineon is confident about a strong business development in 2001 based on the company’s key competencies in high growth markets and its valuable strategic customer base. Growth drivers for the company will be the continued strong demand in communications, particularly in smart card applications and in the infrastructure business, like broadband and optical networking, where so far demand has exceeded capacity. Overall, Infineon expects significant growth in the mobile handset market. However, based on the reduction of previously very aggressive forecasts of key customers Infineon expects market growth not to be as strong as last year. The outlook for Infineon’s Automotive & Industrial business also remains positive. Based on a gradually improving allocation situation, Infineon will be able to better fulfill the demand of its key customers. The market environment for memory products, especially in the PC market, will remain difficult during the second quarter (ending March 31, 2001). Thereafter, Infineon expects the high inventory levels at PC manufacturers to come down and thus allow for a more stable price development for memory products. Infineon currently expects the DRAM market outlook for the full fiscal year to remain positive with demand rising in the second half of the year. ———————————————————————— This discussion includes forward-looking statements about our future business. These forward-looking statements include statements relating to future developments of the world semiconductor market, especially the market for memory products, Infineon’s future growth, the benefits of research and development alliances and activities, our planned levels of future investment in the expansion and modernization of our production capacity, the introduction of new technology at our facilities, the transitioning of our production processes to smaller structures, cost savings related to such transitioning and other initiatives, our successful development of technology based on industry standards, our ability to offer commercially viable products based on our technology, our ability to achieve our growth targets, and the continuation of current developments in our financial results in the 2001 financial year. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of uncertainties, including trends in demand and prices for semiconductors generally and for our products in particular, the success of our development efforts, both alone and with our partners, the success of our efforts to introduce new production processes at our facilities and the actions of our competitors, the availability of funds for planned expansion efforts, as well as the other factors mentioned herein. As a result, our actual results could differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. ———————————————————————– FURTHER INFORMATION will be available on our web site www.infineon.com from today (Wednesday, January 31) circa at 9:00 a.m. Central European Time (CET). The Management Board of Infineon Technologies will conduct a telephone conference with analysts and institutional investors on the same day at 3:45 p.m. (CET), to discuss operating performance for the first quarter of 2001. A broadcast of the telephone conference will be available live and for download on Infineon’s web site at http://www.infineon.com. End of Message