Infineon Technologies Receives Award in the European Semiconductor Market for Passenger Cars

LONDON--Sept. 23, 2004--Frost & Sullivan has presented Infineon Technologies AG with its 2004 Market Leadership Award in the European semiconductor market for passenger cars -- Europe being the world's leading region with respect to vehicle innovation. Having firmly established itself in the automotive semiconductor market, Infineon has continuously strengthened its presence in this area by offering a broad portfolio of high-quality products comprising both standard and application-specific semiconductor solutions.

One of Infineon's key strengths is its superior technical expertise and automotive system know-how covering sensing the car's information, computing it through central or peripheral microcontrollers and actuate action. Infineon provides comprehensive semiconductor solutions covering virtually all automotive applications including car's powertrain (comprising engine and transmission control), body and convenience (incl. light control, body and seat), safety management (incl. anti-lock brake system, airbag, stability control, tire pressure monitoring) and infotainment (i.e. communication and telematics). Within the automotive area, Infineon's key products include advanced hall sensor ICs, pressure and temperature sensors, a broad portfolio of microcontrollers based on 8-bit, the leading XC16x 16-bit and the award-winning TriCore(TM) 32-bit architecture as well as power semiconductors comprising discretes, switches, bridges, supplies, transceivers and smart power integrated circuits.

To cater to the control area network (CAN) and local interconnect network (LIN) interface capabilities of the microcontrollers, Infineon offers a wide range of semiconductor solutions including CAN controllers and CAN transceivers. The company is now working on products for the next-generation bus standard FlexRay driving forward the standardization and implementation of an advanced automotive fault-tolerant communication system.

"Frost & Sullivan believes that Infineon's broad comprehension in automotive applications which is implemented at early stages of product development, its wide technology spectrum and product portfolio strengthened by complete semiconductor solutions, along with strict quality management and good customer relationships has enabled Infineon to gain an impressive reputation in the European semiconductor market for passenger cars," says Frost & Sullivan Program Manager Franck Leveque.

This award also recognizes Infineon's continuous innovation with new technologies that help in designing cost-effective semiconductor solutions for automotive applications. With its expertise in cost-performance optimized tire pressure sensors integrating the sensor cell together with microcontroller for signal conditioning in one package, Infineon is the worldwide market leader in this area. Infineon's 32-bit microcontrollers, for example acting as the computing brains of intelligent engine and transmission control systems, are based on Infineon's TriCore architecture that combines the strengths of a microcontroller, a microprocessor and a digital signal processor in a single core and is especially suited for real-time applications. Additionally, Infineon provides leading-edge power expertise. It offers a complete range from MOSFETs to complex system chips, using its SMART and SPT technology, as well as diverse package technologies thus enabling cost-optimized designs for powertrain, body and safety applications. Based on SPT technology, its system chips feature analog, digital and power functionality. SMART technology allows for protected switches offering the industry's best price-performance-ratio specifically in body applications.

Infineon has been able to successfully meet the challenges of maintaining its position in the demanding automotive industry. While high-quality requirements and mounting price pressures make this a difficult task for most semiconductor suppliers, Infineon has strategically positioned itself to continuously outperform the market, even during the economic downturn of 2001 and 2002. In the year 2003, Infineon succeeded in outperforming the market with a growth rate of more than 20 percent worldwide.

Infineon is strongly committed to developing partnerships with car manufacturers and system suppliers with the aim of gaining a better understanding of their needs. The company combines its technical expertise with the application level knowledge of system suppliers to design appropriate chipsets and semiconductor solutions for passenger cars.

"By retaining such a high degree of involvement -- from specification to defining the partitioning and design of products -- Infineon has been able to stay ahead of other semiconductor suppliers due to its strict `no compromise' quality policy combined with its system expertise resulting in optimized system costs," says Dr. Reinhard Ploss, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Automotive and Industrial business group at Infineon Technologies.

About Frost & Sullivan

Founded in 1961, Frost & Sullivan is recognized as a global leader in growth consulting. Frost & Sullivan Awards are presented to companies that demonstrate excellence in their industry, commending the diligence, commitment and innovative business strategies required to advance in the global marketplace. Frost & Sullivan rigorously analyzes specific criteria to determine award recipients in a vast variety of market industries and landscapes. For further information, visit www.frost.com.

About Infineon Technologies

Infineon Technologies AG, Munich, Germany, offers semiconductor and system solutions for the automotive and industrial sectors, for applications in the wired communications markets, secure mobile solutions as well as memory products. With a global presence, Infineon operates in the United States from San Jose, Calif., in the Asia-Pacific region from Singapore and in Japan from Tokyo. In fiscal year 2003 (ending September), the company achieved sales of Euro 6.15 billion with about 32,300 employees worldwide. Infineon is listed on the DAX index of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and on the New York Stock Exchange (ticker symbol:IFX). Further information is available at www.infineon.com.