While the company for some time tried to increase the focus on non-PC markets, the gyrations of the volatile PC market still drag the Infineon subsidiary deeply into the red figures. However, at the present time the non-PC markets contribute to the majority of Qimonda's sales, said Loh. "The conclusion is that we have to re-engineer our partner networks, focusing more on partners that share our vision of innovation," he explained. "This refers not only to research partnerships, but to manufacturing as well."

Monday (April 21st), Qimonda had announced a license agreement with Winbond that allows the latter to use Qimonda's 65nm Buried-Wordline technology. "Like us, Winbond has a very significant exposure to the non-PC market segments", Lo explained.

With regard to the ongoing negotiations with Nanya over the future of the Inotera manufacturing joint venture, no decisions are made. The Winbond agreement would not affect the talks wit Nanya, Loh affirmed. "We are holding very friendly discussions," he said.

The announced job cuts are part of a "comprehensive program," said CFO Michael Majerus. The measure aims at lowering the company's break-even point and comprises all activities and locations, he explained. While he declined to specify which locations will be hit most by the measure, it seems that the Dresden manufacturing site could get off relatively likely, given the high utilization of that site. According to COO Thomas Seifert, the Dresden facilities are despite the present market weakness "fully utilized."

By: DocMemory
Copyright © 2023 CST, Inc. All Rights Reserved