Infineon Fourth-Quarter Loss Widens

BERLIN -- German semiconductor maker Infineon Technologies (IFX Quote) said Wednesday that a writedown on its stake in Qimonda(QI Quote) and lower chip prices on the global market combined to widen its fourth-quarter loss, the seventh such loss in a row.

Infineon said it lost 763 million euros ($968.8 million) in the fourth quarter that ended Sept. 30, compared with a 280 million euro loss a year earlier.

The company's quarterly sales, though, managed to rise 2% to nearly 1.2 billion euros.

The quarterly loss was hampered by a 1.3 million euro writedown on Qimonda, which like other computer memory chip makers has been hit hard by the economic slowdown and glut of inventory worldwide.

Infineon spun off Qimonda in 2006 and still holds a 77.5% stake, but is looking to sell it outright.

Qimonda said earlier this week it may face bankruptcy if it fails to find new investors or the cash needed to operate in the coming weeks.