Hanebeck was previously the Chief Manufacturing Officer at Infineon.
Neubiberg The chip manufacturer Infineon is bringing forward the planned change of boss: In April, the previous production director, Jochen Hanebeck, will be the new CEO. The Dax group announced this Thursday. Incumbent Reinhard Ploss is leaving nine months earlier than previously announced.
“Jochen Hanebeck has already made a significant contribution to Infineon’s profitable growth path in various management positions for many years,” said Chairman of the Supervisory Board Wolfgang Eder. The contract of the 53-year-old electrical engineer runs until March 31, 2027.
Hanebeck has spent his entire professional life at Germany’s largest chip manufacturer. Born in Dortmund, he started working as a development engineer for memory chips in 1994. He later headed the auto division, the largest and most important division for Munich, for several years. As Chief Operating Officer, he has been responsible for the plants since 2016.
Most recently, Hanebeck opened a new factory for power semiconductors in Villach in September – three months earlier than planned. Hanebeck sees good future opportunities for the group: “Our semiconductor solutions are central pillars for the major trends in electrification and digitization of the world.”
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The previous CEO, Ploss, has led the company since 2012. His tenure included the two billion-dollar acquisitions of US rivals International Rectifier and Cypress, with which Infineon entered the top ten in the semiconductor industry. During his tenure, the share price has increased almost tenfold to currently around 41 euros.
Ploss: “Proud that the future course will also be determined by a member of today’s management team”
Chief supervisor Eder thanked Ploss for the “extremely successful work”. Eder: “Thanks to his visionary power, as well as his personal prudence, Infineon is today excellently positioned as a technology leader in high-growth markets worldwide.”
Ploss and Hanebeck are very familiar with each other. “I have known Jochen Hanebeck for many years as a competent and reliable colleague,” Ploss emphasized. “He is very familiar with our industry and its challenges, and I am proud that Infineon’s course will also be determined in the coming years by a member of today’s management team.”
The 65-year-old is handing over Infineon in the middle of the industry’s biggest boom in recent years. The operating margin is expected to climb to 21 percent in the new financial year. The company has not been so profitable for a long time. Infineon benefits from tremendous demand and can therefore enforce higher prices.
“We are more powerful than ever,” said Ploss at the beginning of the month. “In view of the continuing high demand for semiconductors for the energy-efficient and connected world, we expect a strong financial year 2022.”
Sales will increase by around 15 percent to around 12.7 billion euros. At the same time, the group wants to invest significantly more. At the same time, the dividend is expected to climb from 22 to 27 cents.
In the financial year that ended on September 30th, revenues climbed by almost 30 percent to a good eleven billion euros, as forecast. The operating margin has reached 18 percent. The profit has tripled to just under 1.2 billion euros. “Without capacity restrictions, even higher growth would have been possible,” explained Ploss.
Infineon plans to spend 2.4 billion euros on machines and factories in the new fiscal year; that is 800 million more than in the past fiscal year. It corresponds to around a fifth of the expected sales and is well above the target of 13 percent. It is about taking advantage of growth opportunities, Ploss justified the high investments.
More: Boost for the share: Infineon wants to become more profitable with the concept of the virtual factory