Infineon Technologies CEO Peter Bauer will resign due to health issues when the company's fiscal year ends in September, the company said this week.
Bauer will be replaced by Reinhard Ploss, a member of Infineon's management board. Infineon will report its fourth quarter results on Nov. 14.
Bauer is resigning due to difficulties related to osteoporosis, and his condition has worsened recently, Infineon said in a statement. Bauer, who was appointed CEO in 2008, said he could no longer give the undivided attention to the office of CEO and decided to resign.
Ploss is a 27-year veteran of Infineon. In 1985 he originally joined Siemens Semiconductor -- which was then spun off into Infineon -- and is currently a member of the company's management board, responsible for production, development, technology and human resources. He has held management positions within the company automotive, industrial and microcontroller groups.
Infineon makes semiconductors for a number of automotive and industrial products. The company is based in Germany, and was the world's 14th largest chip maker by semiconductor sales in the first quarter this year, according to an IC Insights study released on Monday. The company's semiconductor sales totaled US$1.3 billion during the first calendar quarter of 2012, falling by 5 percent compared to sales in the first quarter last year. The company's estimated semiconductor sales in 2011 were $5.6 billion, according to IC Insights.
Infineon's baseband chips were being used in Apple's older iPhones, but Intel completed the purchase of Infineon's wireless unit last year for $1.4 billion. Apple's latest iPhone 4S smartphones now use Qualcomm baseband chips.
Agam Shah covers PCs, tablets, servers, chips and semiconductors for IDG News Service. Follow Agam on Twitter at @agamsh. Agam's e-mail address is agam_shah@idg.com
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