From Solid-State Electronics to the Fascination of Semiconductor Technology

It was a sensation. The Süddeutsche Zeitung wrote of good news for Germany and the FAZ spoke of a double whammy. Infineon set itself a new, ambitious target business model in November and announced plans for a new facility in Dresden – at five billion euros, it would be the largest single investment in the company's history. "With the planned investment in a new facility, we are broadening the basis for our accelerated profitable growth course," said CEO Jochen Hanebeck, explaining the move.

The Dortmund native has been a member of the Management Board since 2016 and has held various management positions at Infineon for 28 years. Directly after graduating with a degree in electrical engineering from RWTH Aachen University, Hanebeck began his professional career there in 1994. At that time, the firm was still part of the Siemens Group.

Mr. Hanebeck, you have been a member of the Management Board of Infineon Technologies AG for a number of years and you have now been in your new function as CEO for just over half a year. How does it all feel?
It goes without saying that it makes me proud to lead this very successful company. The Management Board may be the ones who decide upon the strategic direction, but Infineon is made up of a total of around 55,000 employees who make the company successful. Together, we are driving forward the issues of decarbonization and digitalization. There is still a lot of growth potential for the semiconductor industry in these areas, and this is especially the case for Infineon.

Have your daily challenges become different in any way?
This is something that still fascinates me today. It is very important that we stay right at the forefront of innovation. We have more than 12,000 developers working in-house and we have invested around 1.8 billion euros in research and development in the past fiscal year. In the meantime, however, I am also involved with many other things. The semiconductor industry, for example, has been very much in the political spotlight due to the geopolitical conflicts.

In November, you gave Infineon a more ambitious target business model and presented the prospect of building a €5 billion semiconductor factory in Dresden. What is the background to this?
Our company is fully aligned with the two defining trends of our time: Decarbonization and digitalization. We supply the essential building blocks for a climate-neutral and digitalized world. Applications, especially in the areas of electromobility, renewable energies, automated driving, power supply for data centers, and the Internet of Things, will grow permanently and strongly in the coming years. The demand for structural semiconductors is increasing. Infineon will benefit more than most from this development due to our strategic orientation.

Why do you need to build a new facility for that?
With the additional capacities, we intend to meet the increasing demand from our customers in the second half of the decade and expand our position as a leading global supplier in the field of power systems. The new "Smart Power Fab" can therefore make a significant contribution to driving the green and digital transformation in Europe and beyond.

You just mentioned the geopolitical importance of the semiconductor industry. Infineon has a development center in Lviv in western Ukraine. What is the situation there?
When the war in Ukraine became a reality, we immediately set up a task force. Our greatest concern was our branch in Lviv with more than 200 employees. The task force also addressed other aspects such as the supply situation. Ukraine supplies some gases for the world market. However, we are covered in this respect by "second sourcing".

The next flashpoint in the public debate is the China/Taiwan situation. How do you assess the situation in East Asia?
China is a very large sales market for the semiconductor industry. We also sell around 30 percent of our products in China. Of this, in turn, around half – i.e. 15 percent of sales – is re-exported in the form of finished products. Some customers are currently expanding production facilities in other East Asian countries. As a domestic market, however, China remains very important. On the subject of Taiwan, I can only say: A scenario in which contract manufacturers there can no longer deliver would have catastrophic consequences for the global economy. Efforts are currently being made to set up production facilities elsewhere. But that can take five to ten years.

Infineon has been in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index since 2010, which means Infineon is one of the most sustainable companies in the world. What is the significance of sustainability for companies?
This is a factor that is not to be underestimated. As I already said: Decarbonization and digitalization are our key growth drivers. We look at the issue in two ways. On the one hand, we are pursuing the goal of reducing our own CO₂ emissions to zero by 2030. In addition, our products also enable significant CO₂ savings, for example in the areas of renewable energies and e-mobility. The ratio between the amount of CO₂ released in chip production and what is saved by the subsequent applications in which our chips are installed is 1:33.

So Infineon is earning money from climate protection?
Electric power generation needs semiconductors. Take a wind turbine, for example. Per megawatt, you have to reckon with a semiconductor share of 2,000 to 5,000 euros. Similar values apply to solar installations. Our chips are also used in the further chain, i.e. the transmission, use, and storage of electrical power. This is a key growth trend for Infineon. What’s more, we are proud to be able to contribute to CO₂ reduction and to stabilizing the world's climate.

Has corporate awareness of sustainability also had an impact on your personal behavior?
I sometimes say: If I were 15 years old today, I would also take to the streets with the Fridays for Future movement. Climate protection is a matter which is close to my heart. That’s not just because I represent a company that enables climate neutrality. I also try to live in a climate-conscious manner in my personal life, for example by switching to non-fossil fuels or by taking the train where possible – although there is certainly still a lot of potential when it comes to rail transport in Germany.

Today, sustainability is also of great importance for RWTH on many levels. Let's move on to your student days at RWTH. What memories of it are still alive with you today?
It was a very nice time after school and military service, a place where you learned to stand on your own two feet. I have always felt very at home in Aachen. One thing I remember very well today is the tutorials with freshmen and experienced students. I still have friends from that phase who I cherish. It was only two years ago that I met up with them in Aachen. Then, of course, there are some personalities among the professors who probably mean nothing to anyone today, like Walter Ameling or Walter Engl. These professors were well-known personalities. On the other hand, not every subject and not every exam preparation was always fun. Hard work was very much the order of the day. But it was probably the best education in electrical engineering you could get at a German-speaking university.

I have heard that the name Engl is still known in a rather "notorious" way by many graduates of electrical engineering due to the high failure rates.

It was interesting in the sense that Professor Engl brought you right to your intellectual limits with his theoretical electrical engineering course.

You just mentioned the meeting in Aachen with former fellow students. What other contacts do you have with RWTH?

There’s the personal level, on the one hand. On the other hand, there are also some points of contact between RWTH and Infineon. These are collaborations that we value very much. From my point of view, RWTH is still one of the best universities for electrical engineering in the German-speaking world and it is therefore a natural partner for us. What saddens me, however, are the declining student numbers in electrical engineering and information technology. Having said that, I do suspect that this is probably a general trend. I would like to see more joint advertising. Educating people in these disciplines is enormously important for the future. We also want to continue investing in Germany, in research and development and in factories. This being so, we would like to continue our partnership with RWTH.

Do you have specific areas in mind in which you would like to expand cooperation?

For us, the field of materials science is of particular interest. In principle, cooperation in the pre-industrialization phase makes sense.

You have now been with Infineon for 28 years and in that time, you have occupied a wide variety of positions. Did you ever think about a career change?

Ultimately, not really. In my career, of course, I've run into situations from time to time where I felt like my learning curve was plateauing on the job. But then there were always new challenges in other areas within the Group. In this respect, looking back, I can't imagine a more exciting job than the one I have at Infineon. It started right after graduation when Siemens gave me the opportunity to go to East Fishkill in the U.S., which was the Mecca of the semiconductor industry at the time. Looking back, I would definitely call that a stroke of luck; you can't plan something like that. It was a "jump start" to be able to work with such experienced colleagues in such a renowned research and development unit with IBM, Toshiba, and Siemens. It actually went on like that the whole time. At Infineon, I was initially in research and development, soon moved to operations, then I took on responsibility for the automotive business and finally I landed a board role.

When you look back on your professional career in this way, can you identify certain success factors such as skills, key encounters, moments, etc.?
There are several things that come together here. Back at university, I settled on solid-state electronics. That was considered rather exotic at the time. Of the 800 total freshmen who started with me, maybe 20 or 30 ended up in solid-state electronics. At the time, this probably had something to do with the fact that the semiconductor industry in Germany was highly underdeveloped. It was precisely the time between Siemens' DRAM megaproject coming to an end and before the decision was made to invest in a new factory in Dresden. I was fascinated by semiconductor technology, but I didn't know whether I would be able to find a job in Germany. So I can only give everyone the following piece of advice: Do what you enjoy. What you enjoy leads to motivation, and motivation leads to good results. That was definitely a success factor for me.

Are there other factors?
I already mentioned the little bit of luck that I had. Then it's also a matter of seeking out new topics and jobs, and considering how to continue to grow personally – for example, by immersing yourself in different functions and, most importantly, by gaining leadership experience. It also helps a lot if you have good supervisors who can give you good feedback for personal development. This is not always the case, but it is an essential element for getting ahead. It also helps to be curious and to try new things. When I took my diploma in Aachen back then, I never thought I’d be doing an interview like the one I did with you today. No, I always had my eye on the next one or two stations and I was more driven by doing something new again and making discoveries. I always had the opportunity to do this at Siemens and later at Infineon.

Would you give that advice to students as well?
My advice for the younger generation would be: learn from experienced colleagues, offer to take responsibility, take calculated risks. My wish for RWTH would, of course, be that they continue to educate at the highest level and, gladly with the support of Infineon, to convince more young people that electrical engineering is a highly attractive and meaningful course of study – especially in light of the decarbonization and digitalization trends that I have described.

Mr. Hanebeck, thank you so much for your time!

– Dietrich Hunold