Written by Nurhanis Hazry
Infineon Technologies is a German semiconductor manufacturer company. It was founded 44 years ago, when the semiconductor operations of the parent company, Siemens were spun off to form a separate legal entity. Infineon Technologies, a name that draws inspiration from the combination of English word ‘infinity’ and the Greek word ‘eon’, or ‘eternity’. This giant established company had been listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange which had 36, 299 employees worldwide.
Transnational media and economic consolidation
Globally, Infineon has a 10.4% share of the automotive and semiconductor markets in the world most recent rankings. It supplies the Industrial Power Control (IPC), Power Management Multimarket (PMM), Chip Card and Security (CCS), to the well-known companies such as Bosch, BMW and Mercedes-Benz. Infineon operates through subsidiaries and runs its own Research & Development (R&D) in the USA, California, United Kingdom, France, Romania, Taiwan, India, Malaysia, Indonesia, China and also in the Asia Pacific region such as Singapore and Japan.
The deregulation paradox
According to the Managing Director (MD) of Infineon Technologies (Malaysia),
Dr. Lee Cheong Chee, Infineon had employed around 8,500 workers in Malaysia, roughly a quarter of the total workforce around the world. He has 250 strong IT team and 500 on-site R&D engineers. Lee firmly believes on the other four specific segments: automotive, power management and multimarket, industrial power control, and chip card and security that has been led and differentiate Infineon from other competitors. “We are actively focusing on automotive electronics in particular, as 40% of our revenue comes from here,” he says.
Marketplace of ideas
“We actually provide products for almost every electronic component for the car, Tyre Pressure Monitor System (TPMS) – a sensor that measures tyre pressure, which immediately sends a signal to alert the driver if there is a leak or other problem be detected. According to Lee, the TPMS is an Infineon Technologies new innovation found in every car tyre on the road today. As a person who is mainly focused on the Infineon’s future, he also discusses on the quality of products.
Global competition and the diffusion of authority
“There are lives involved and nothing is more valuable than that. At Infineon Technologies, we place utmost emphasis on quality of our products and ethical guideline of our manufacturing processes. Basically, our engineers design products from the customer perspective and a zero-defect culture permeates all aspects of the business here. It really shows that we are totally differentiates ourselves from the competitors.” he says.
TNMCs and the nation-states
“The future is powered by smart lights that will definitely looking bright at Infineon Technologies”, he says. As consumer appetite for automotive devices in semiconductor industry, Infineon had shown global sales revenue had increased per year. In 2017, the figure is climbed to US$346.1 billion as a drastic total of sales.