The merger between Infineon Korea and Infineon Power Semitech has ended on a sour note.
The German semiconductor company, Infineon has restructured its domestic subsidiaries. Infineon Technologies Korea Co. Ltd. (Infineon Korea) and Infineon Technologies Power Semitech Co. Ltd. (Infineon Power Semitech) have canceled the establishment of joint corporation.
According to the industry on the 5th, the merger of Infineon Korea and Infineon Power Semitech was called off prematurely. Park Chan-gu, CEO of Infineon Power Semitech, has resigned, and restructuring has been carried out to move research and development (R&D) and marketing personnel to Infineon Korea. The new CEO is YeeVoon Hew, senior director of Infineon’s Malaysia subsidiary. Infineon Korea continues to be represented by CEO Lee Seung-soo.
The number of personnel in Infineon Korea increased from 150 to 180 people. It has strengthened its competitiveness from R&D to marketing and sales throughout the overall domestic semiconductor business. Infineon Power Semitech will be responsible solely for power semiconductor module production. The plant is located in Cheonan, Chungcheongnam-do and about 250 employees remain.
The merger plans between both companies were materialized earlier this year. The merger was anticipated to be completed by October, and CEO Lee Seung-soo would sit at the head of the joint corporation. However, Infineon headquarters has chosen to completely separate sales and production. The industry observes that it is better to devote individual attention to each expertise.
An insider of Infineon Korea said, "Although there were various internal discussions, it was decided that the corporation would be operated separately for the time being" and “it is unknown whether the merger will be pursued again.”
Infineon Power Semitech's flagship product is the power semiconductor modules for home and industrial use. The power semiconductors supplied by Infineon are produced in modular form suitable for the purpose. Fom the time it established a joint venture with LS Industrial Systems in 2009, Infineon failed to achieve significant results until 2014. As Infineon completely retained its stake twice in June 2014 and October 2015, its business performance has been improved. The company recorded sales of 83.3 bil. KRW and sales revenue of 17 bil. KRW, spiking up to each 34% and 398% YoY, respectively. This is due to the increased use of domestic power semiconductors.
Power semiconductors play a key role in household appliances as well as in renewable energy and environmentally-friendly vehicles. The energy can be used less with the increasing development of power-conversion efficiency. According to market researcher IHS Markit, Infineon has ranked No. 1 in the worldwide power semiconductor market with 12.5% market share last year.
