Gartner Dataquest Report Shows Infineon Technologies Gains Market Share for Security and Chip Card I

Munich, Germany – April 25, 2002 – Gartner Dataquest’s 2001 chip card integrated circuit market study reports that Infineon Technologies increased its share of the worldwide market by four percent, with total unit shipments surpassing 51 percent of all chips sold. In terms of revenue, the company increased its share of industry revenues from 34 percent in 2000 up to 38 percent of the US$1.17 billion calendar year 2001 market, which shrank by four percent from the previous year.

This marks the fourth consecutive year that Infineon has achieved the number one ranking in share of the worldwide chip card ICs, which includes secure memory chips and smart card microcontrollers. Growth in the company’s microcontroller shipments was particularly strong, as the company achieved market share leadership with 36 percent of unit volume, compared to its 28 percent share one year earlier.

“It is especially satisfying to achieve market share gains in both unit volume and percentage of revenue during a year of moderate demand and significant price decline in the chip card industry,” said Dr. Hermann Eul, chief executive officer of the Security & Chip Card ICs group at Infineon. “We attribute our success to the strong strategic relationships with our customers, which we have built by providing a broad product platform that allows rapid, efficient deployment of applications and helps our customers to achieve their strategic goals.”

“It is also gratifying to gain share in a number of key application categories for security microcontrollers, including Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards for mobile hand which are, according to Dataquest, once again determining the overall revenues for silicon suppliers in 2001. We have strengthened our position at payment cards, which Dataquest named the key growth area for smart cards over the next few years, and in new identification card projects,” said Eul.

During the calendar year, Infineon’s chip card group began shipments for the largest card-based identification project in the United States, the Department of Defense Common Access Card. To address another fast growing market, the company also announced in 2001 its cooperation with Sony to develop dual interface (contact and contactless) microcontrollers supporting Sony’s FeLica system, which complements Infineon’s leading technology for high-end multifunction smart card controllers.