Representatives of the media, dear audience members, colleagues, a wonderful good morning and a very warm welcome to today's annual press conference at Infineon Technologies AG. It's great to have you here this morning and I'm particularly happy to be joined by the entire Board of Management of Infineon AG, Jochen Hanebeck, CEO, Sven Schneider, Chief Financial Officer, Elke Reichert, Chief Digital and Sustainability Officer, Andreas Urschitz, Chief Marketing Officer, and Rutger Wijburg, our Chief Operating Officer. Very quickly on today's schedule, Mr. Hanebeck is going to give you an overview of the past financial year, as well as comment on the outlook on the fiscal year that just started. Afterwards, of course, the entire board will be available to take your questions so that around 9:00 A.M. German time, we will wrap up this conference today.
Ladies and gentlemen, one of the most important industry trade fairs, the Electronica Trade Fair, starts here in Munich. Therefore, we are particularly happy to see such a lot of interest from the media and journalists even there, and welcome to them at the Trade Fair as well. Welcome to everybody joining us, either here at the press center or of course also everybody at the Trade Fair, the Trade Fair Munich or whoever is joining us online, both at the Trade Fair center as well as here. You can of course ask your questions in person, either via raising your hand or otherwise we will come to you with the microphone and you can ask the question. Please also state your full name and your publication.
If you're following us via the live stream, there will be a tool on the right hand side of your screen where you can put your question in writing. Please again state your name and your publication and then I will read out the question for you here in the studio. And with that being said, without any further ado, we will hand over to Jochen Hanebeck, our CEO, over to you.
Thank you. Representatives of the press and the media viewers, welcome to Infineon's annual press conference. We're delighted at your interest. Infineon managed the 2024 fiscal year well and concluded in line with expectations. The cyclical weakness in the semiconductor market is continuing at the start of the new fiscal year. The recovery in many of our end markets is sluggish. In this context, we are preparing for a muted business trajectory in the 2025 fiscal year, but more on that later. In the current phase, we have three priorities. First of all, we are managing the semiconductor cycle by focusing on what we can control. Secondly, we are consistently driving structural measures to improve our competitiveness. Consistently. And thirdly, we are leveraging our innovative strength and turning innovations into customer benefits more quickly. In this way, we are ensuring that Infineon is optimally positioned for the next upswing.
I am very confident about Infineon's future. Our structural growth drivers remain undiminished and Infineon will benefit from them in the long term. Let's first take a look at last year's business development. In the fourth quarter of the past fiscal year, group revenues increased compared to the previous year by 6% to EUR 3.919 billion. As expected, the fourth quarter was therefore the strongest in the 2024 fiscal year. In terms of revenues, the segment result improved to EUR 832 million. The segment result margin was a robust 21.2% compared to 19.8% in the previous quarter. Quarter on quarter, the US dollar to euro exchange rate rose from 108 to 110, which means it was a weaker dollar, which had a negative impact on revenues and earnings.
The bottom line for the 2024 fiscal year is a revenue of EUR 14.955 billion which is a decline of 8% compared to the record fiscal year 2023. The segment result margin was 20.8% after 27%. In the 2023 fiscal year, free cash flow reached EUR 23 million. This includes investments in large front-end buildings and the acquisition of GaN Systems. Adjusted free cash flow, which excludes investments in large front-end buildings and large acquisitions, amounted to EUR 1.69 billion. All three figures, revenue, margin and free cash flow are fully in line with our long-term financial targets through the complete semiconductor cycle. This is a credit to Infineon's entire global team. I should like to express my special thanks to our approximately 58,000 employees worldwide. Colleagues, I'm always impressed by your expertise and your huge dedication.
With a great deal of ambition, good ideas, a sense of responsibility and perseverance, you ensured that we mastered a challenge year together in 2024. Again, on behalf of the entire management board, a big thank you to all of you. Together, we shall continue to achieve a great deal in the years ahead. After the completion of the 2024 fiscal year, we shall propose a stable dividend of EUR 0.35 per share to Infineon's shareholders at the upcoming Annual General Meeting. We want our shareholders to participate appropriately in Infineon's success and at the same time we want to maintain the financial room for maneuver to develop a company further. Viewers, in view of current developments in the automotive industry, allow me to make a few comments on our positioning in what is a key business field for us?
We were able to increase our automotive business by 2% in the past fiscal year. Our clear focus on structural growth fields, our broad portfolio and our leading market position once again enabled us to outperform our competitors. As you know, in recent years the general mood in the automotive industry has significantly deteriorated. We see that many customers are reducing their semiconductor inventories. We expect this trend to accelerate towards the end of the calendar year. The lessons learned from the past allocation phase appear to have been largely forgotten. At the same time, forecasts for global vehicle production are slightly down. Furthermore, the share of electric cars is stagnating in many regions and it is unlikely this will change in the first few months of 2025. China is the exception to this trend.
In every other new car sold is an electric vehicle and the trend is on the rise. In the long term, we saw structural growth drivers raising electromobility and software-defined vehicles fully intact. Compared to other suppliers of automotive semiconductors, Infineon has an unrivaled broad product portfolio and a globally diversified customer base. We are well positioned to benefit from the major automotive trends. This is also underpinned by our market share gains in microcontrollers and our leading position in China, viewers. Looking beyond the current semiconductor cycle, we can see great opportunities for Infineon which remain unchanged as semiconductor solutions are essential in driving decarbonization, digitalization. The demand for semiconductors will increase in the long term, especially in the structural growth areas that we are focusing on at Infineon.
These are electromobility, software-defined vehicles, renewable energies, data centers, especially for artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things. We are demonstrating the possibilities of our semiconductor solutions at Electronica, the world's leading trade fair for the electronics industry. It opens today at the Munich Exhibition Centre, but before the doors of the trade fair open, we want to give an exclusive insight. Now my colleague Michael Schinker will introduce some of our highlights to you.
Guten Morgen from Infineon Stand at the Electronica. Driving decarbonization and digitalization together. Under this motto of Infineon stands our trade fair appearance together with our partners and customers. Automotive. At Stellantis one of the world's largest car manufacturers with leading car brands. Radar and PSoC Microcontroller from Infineon all compact integrated on a circuit board the right here above built in. The setup from LG with a built-in sensor detects persons in the room and directs seated cold air flow in another direction. If no person remains in the room so it automatically switches to an eco fan mode a classic possibility how with the help of sensor technology and digitalization energy saving enables in.
80 kW Gleichspannung mit den sogenannten power supply units. Mehrere von sind in dem Server-Board hire eine Batteriespeicher-Einheit damit kann das Rechenzentrum auf ein mal in drei minut Stromausfal l weiterarbeiten dann der zweiter Wandlungsschritt mit dem sogenannten Intermediate bus converter von 48 Volt auf tupischerweise und danach dan auf der eigenliclichen KI-Beschleuniger-Karte von 12 auf null komma 0.7 Volt Kernspannung in AI systemen positioniert der Bedarf an solchen Lösungen and steigt enorm Energieeffizienz center Leistungswandlung . Das is eine Kompetenz von Infineon damit wir auf der electronica.
So, as you see, Infineon is providing solutions to help the AI servers. Thanks to our trade fair team. These are impressive examples on the spot. Ladies and colleagues, there's much more to see, so please drop by our stand if you're interested. Our colleagues will look forward to your visit and will be happy to talk to you. You've just seen at our stand the Citroën ë-C3 from Stellantis. As you will have seen from last week's press release, we are deepening our collaboration with Stellantis. Together we shall advance innovations in energy conversion and distribution for future vehicle architectures. We have signed a major supply and capacity agreements as a basis. These agreements include not only our silicon carbide solutions, but also our AURIX microcontrollers and our smart power components. We are supporting Stellantis in providing clean, safe and affordable mobility for all our solutions.
Ladies and gentlemen, decarbonization is a generational task and it can only be achieved with the most advanced semiconductor technologies. Many applications ranging from mobile chargers to electric vehicles, fast charging stations, solar energy systems and data centers require higher power density. In other words, more compact systems. This is where the physical properties of semiconductor materials, silicon carbide and gallium nitride come into play. We use them to increase power density and energy efficiency in various applications to reduce operating costs. I've got one example with me today. A newly developed CoolSiC XHP 2. This high performance module delivers more power and more efficiency for the energy transition. It reduces switching losses by 90% compared to previous state of the art. It can switch 10 times more current and its service life is 10 times as long.
The module is suitable for industrial power generation in solar parks and wind turbines, but also for use in trains where high power in the megawatt range is required. Using our modules, a single electric locomotive can save around 300 MW hours of electricity a year. That corresponds roughly to the annual energy requirements of 100 detached houses. We're delighted that the renowned team has been nominated for the Deutscher Zukunftspreis 2024 by an expert jury for this innovative solution. The Federal President will be presenting the prestigious prize for technology and innovation at the end of November to the selected prize winners. Of course, we're keeping our fingers crossed for our team. In addition to silicon carbide, we also have our sights firmly set on the still young but rapidly growing market for gallium nitride-based semiconductors.
Not only that, we shall shape the market with our innovative strength. We recently became the first company in the world to succeed in developing gallium nitride technology on 300-millimeter wafers. This technology will help us to exploit the full potential of gallium nitride. Why? Well, it's simple math. The larger diameter allows for 2.3 times more chips per wafer. And a larger wafer diameter means greater cost efficiency. Another big advantage is that since the manufacturing process of a gallium nitride and silicon are very similar except for what is called epitaxy. We can now use existing 300 mm silicon manufacturing equipment for 300 mm gallium nitride technology as well. Fully scaled 300 mm gallium nitride production will contribute to cost parity between comparable silicon and gallium nitride products. Leading technology, cost benefits and high flexibility.
These are the ideal prerequisites for quickly bringing gallium nitride based solutions to the market and to our customers. We can and will shape this growth market. We've been doing this with silicon for decades and we're not stopping. We became the first company to produce and process ultra thin silicon power semiconductor wafers and to process them only 20 microns thick. The wafers are only a quarter of the thickness of a human hair and only half as thick as the most advanced wafers currently available from the competition. What are the benefits? Well, cutting the wafer thickness in half reduces substrate resistance by 50%, which is a major step towards even more energy efficient power supply solutions. Specifically, it enables a reduction of more than 15% in power losses within power systems.
With this innovation, we shall achieve energy savings and it will increase energy efficiency and reliability of power supply solutions, and at the same time, we're strengthening a roadmap in the field of AI data centers. In addition consumer and motor-control applications, the advantage of thin-wafer technology can be used above all in power supplies for advanced AI server applications. As a leading provider of semiconductor solutions for our systems, we are setting the pace for our industry. We are consistently expanding our position as the industry's innovation leader in all three relevant power semiconductor technologies in silicon, silicon carbide and gallium nitride. Outstanding manufacturing expertise combined with a comprehensive technology and product portfolio for a wide range of applications. These are the key success factors in the market for power semiconductors, viewers. I now come to the outlook for the 2025 fiscal year.
As I mentioned at the beginning, the cyclical weakness in the semiconductor market is continuing. The recovery in many of our markets is sluggish. Customers are losing inventories, especially in the automotive sector. Overall, we are seeing short-term ordering behavior and a high proportion of what we call turns. These are orders that are turned around and delivered in the same quarter and therefore appear as revenue at short notice. These factors limit our view of demand trends beyond one or two quarters. Further developments are therefore currently difficult to predict. In the short term, we expect many of our customers significantly reduce the digestion of inventories by the end of the year and the company's year-end reporting. In the current first quarter we expect revenues of around EUR 3.2 billion.
This forecast, based on an exchange rate of $1.10 to the euro, the segment result margin will be in the mid-teens % range. In this case, we anticipate a slight decline in revenues year on year for the 2025 fiscal year as a whole. In other words, we expect the transition phase to drag on in most of our markets. As our forecast for the first quarter shows, our 2025 fiscal year will get off to a slow start, mainly due to inventory digestion by our customers. We assume that will only be a modest upturn overall in the later quarters. Our forecast for the fiscal year is based on the following basic assumptions. Global economic growth will barely pick up in 2025 and consumer spending on electronics will only increase slowly.
Automotive production will be flat compared to the previous year, with semiconductor inventory digestion presumably reaching into the second or third quarter of our fiscal year. Outside of China, the spread of electric vehicles will only progress comparatively slowly in China. However, the car market will continue to grow. On the positive side, Infineon is excellently positioned with the country's most important manufacturers. Industrial customers will continue to reduce their inventories and hold back on investments. In contrast, investments in AI data centers will remain high, which will significantly accelerate our business with suitable power supply solutions. Also, due to new design wins, we expect revenues to more than double to over EUR 500 million in the 2025 fiscal year. Within the next two years, we expect to cross the EUR 1 billion revenue line.
In view of the expected weak development of group revenues in the 2025 fiscal year, we shall make considerable efforts to support our profitability in the second year of the cyclical correction. We shall continue to work consistently on our productivity and maintain strict cost discipline. Our profitability will also benefit from the initial structural effects of our Step Up program and somewhat lower raw materials and energy prices. Our business model is resilient but unfavorable. Price conditions, negative currency effects and above all, intentionally underutilized production capacities represent a major burden on our profitability. All in all, for the 2025 fiscal year, we expect a segment result margin in the mid to high teens. As I mentioned earlier on, we are concentrating on the factors that we can control. This includes not only our operating costs but also our investments.
Compared to the previous year, we should reduce investments by around 10%. Investments of around EUR 2.5 billion are therefore planned for the 2025 fiscal year. In August, we opened the first manufacturing module of new silicon carbide factory in Kulim, Malaysia. We should be able to meet foreseeable customer demand with production from the first module and the switch to 200-millimeter technology. We shall therefore postpone further construction of clean room capacity. In Dresden, we are making progress as planned with the construction of the fourth production module. This is where we will manufacture smart power technologies, for example for application in the field of AI. Adjusted for investments in front-end buildings, free cash flow is expected to amount to around EUR 1.7 billion, which is within the corridor of 10%-15% of revenues defined in our target business model.
The reported free cash flow is expected around EUR 900 million. Finally, I should like to summarize. Firstly, Infineon managed the 2024 fiscal year well and concluded it in line with expectations. The cyclic recovery in many of our end markets is sluggish. We therefore expect revenue to decline slightly in the 2025 fiscal year. We are concentrating on the areas that we can control. We shall maintain strict cost discipline and continue to work consistently on our productivity. This will strengthen our profitability and competitiveness. Thirdly, Infineon is paving the way for the greener digital transformation. Our structural growth drivers are intact. We are consolidating our position as the industry's innovation leader with technological breakthroughs. With our combination of innovative strength and our Step Up program, we are optimally positioning Infineon for the future.
Thank you for your interest, and together with the Management Board team and I will now be happy to answer any questions you may have.
Right. Thank you very much, Jochen Hanebeck, for your comments. Ladies and gentlemen, as already mentioned at the very beginning, we will now move on to the Q and A session. Please raise your hand either here or at the Munich Trade Fair Center. Give your name and your publication, and if you would like to ask a question on the online tool, please also write your name and publication so we don't have to ask anonymous questions. With this we'll get started. Mr. Friedrich was the first one this morning, so I would like to say let's give him a microphone. He is from the F.A.Z.
Thank you very much. I would like to know more about the Step Up program. You've talked about the fact that you're going to reduce 1,400 positions and an additional 1,400 positions will be relocated. I would like to know how far along this is and what else could come because of course you would like to continue to produce your productivity and focus on cost discipline. Could other measures be initiated when it comes to job reductions or replacements?
We are fully on track with the Step Up program. This is indeed staffing measures we've described. Some of them are in the process of being implemented in some countries where it's possible and also in Germany we have agreed with the employees' side that we're making offers, for example, for early retirement and also for discontinuation of employment agreements and this will take the next weeks and months before it takes effect. Step Up goes much further. However, 75% of the savings have nothing to do with human resources but also in the areas of communication in the field of productivity, in the factories and also in the central and support functions. They've been identified and are being implemented consistently. It's not planned.
Right. I'm looking at the screen. Mr. Hofer from the Handelsblatt is not on site here, but still, of course, he's used the tool. Mr. Hofer is asking how high were the cost for vacancies and idle times this year and last year? What are we forecasting? And of course, he's also asking about the current Step Up program. Maybe you can ask the first question. Answer the first question. Thank you very much, Mr. Hofer. The second question about Step Up program we were just talking about then, of course, also idle time. In last year we had about EUR 800 million in idle time cost. This year we're expecting around about EUR 1 billion. This, if you break it down, is more than five percentage points. Thank you. I think. Next, Mr. Riemer from DPA. Mr. Riemer, over to you.
Right. Hello. Thank you. I would also like to know more about Step Up. Do you have a number in terms of how many jobs you've already made redundant or reallocated? Do you have that? And can you tell us how many of these jobs will be in Germany? When you're talking about partial retirement and settlement offers, do you have any numbers? I don't know any just yet. And then with all the energy topics you've mentioned, you know, especially also that's important for electric mobility, renewable energies, this, of course, has to do something with the election in the United States. That could be a challenge when it comes to your results. Can you comment on that or is it too early?
On your first question. These are the questions I mentioned. 1,400 jobs are going to be shared worldwide. 1,400 are to be shifted. But as we said this in the process of implementation in the individual countries, depending on the legal framework, how it's going to be broken down exactly in Germany with early retirement or with resettlement offers, we can't say at the moment. We'll be approaching the employees in the next few weeks and months. The answer is that's about 1,300 jobs, but about half of these will be shifting to other places, and your second question, this USA subject, it's difficult to predict.
Of course, there are public statements going the direction of more tariffs or increase in tariffs could be understood by what's been said or an even more strict attitude to China. Exactly what form this will take and what consequences would have for us. It's still too early to say. We need to know more precisely what tariffs will be imposed or increased on what products. The basic idea is that the manufacturing footprint is primarily in Europe and Southeast Asia, and therefore it is still too early, but we are also looking forward to see what will happen.
I think the United States is a good buzzword. We had two almost identical questions online. One was from Mr. Wiegand from Austria Innovativ and also Mr. Ersen from Thomson Reuters. They were both asking about America. So I would say we've now also tackled this. But there's a second partial question for Mr. Ersen to all of you. From when on do you expect a sped up recovery in demand overall, but especially in the automotive industry?
Our model has been presented. We are expecting inventory corrections above all in the first six months of our fiscal year. There are various customers who have a particular cash focus in this respect and are reducing inventories. There are clear indications of that, that will grow towards the second half of the year. A basic assumption for the second half of the year is that there won't be a major acceleration in the markets. Our assumption is that this, the final sales of cars will only develop slightly better, driven above all by China. These are assumptions, but as we see it, the best way in this dynamic environment, if we can call it that, is to provide a forecast for you because visibility, as I've said, is very difficult because of the inventory adjustments.
Thank you very much. Jochen, there is another question on our financial targets. It's an anonymous question, but I do believe we can still take it. Maybe this is for our CFO. Will you be able to hit your segment result margin target for the second half of fiscal 2025 with consideration of the market conditions?
Well, first off, the goal of the 25% is of course cycle driven. So we didn't say that we would hit this for every single fiscal year at any circumstance. Counterexample is for example, that in a record-breaking business year we were also above 27% and beyond. So this is just an introductory remark first off. Second off, the forecast from today's perspective is that we're going to be in the mid to high double digits or 10% range. So even if we're of course adding a couple of percentage points for the idle cost, we'll get closer. But from today's perspective, we will not achieve the 25% in this fiscal year.
And of course you have to say that if this idle leads to revenue, then the growth will be even greater in the future than the 5%. It's easy to calculate it. So typically with an upturn there is powerful dynamism, but that will have to be reflected in our order books before we can report on it.
Thank you very much. There is a last question, part of the question I think we've already discussed, but maybe we can still summarize it. It's once again about the geopolitical situation. Due to the geopolitical situation, all the prices are being increased probably rapidly. How does Infineon take the precautions to reduce the production cost by the means of whatever productivity increases, lower cost centers and maintain a healthy balance sheet?
Right. So of course Infineon is also taking all kinds of measures in order to reduce production costs annually. We do this with front end and back end measures. And of course we're also receiving lots of support from our procurement divisions. They're of course also speaking to our suppliers in this regard. Which means that on the one hand we have programs in place in order to reduce our costs on an annual basis.
On the flip side, we also have programs in order to further strengthen our manufacturing going forward. So that we are not only focused on the economies of scale where you basically can reduce costs via the increased volume, but I also think that the combined approach of a strategic footprint where we can optimize our global footprint while at the same time reducing costs on an annual basis, I believe we will be able to maintain a healthy balance sheet even in a year where it's not easy and, you know, have good numbers. Thank you very much. Rutger,
thank you for the update. There is actually another question from Austria. It's once again about the Step Up effects in Villach. Is there going to be a specific job reduction there? If yes. But will it look like
yes in Austria too? And not only in Villach, because there are other Infineon sites in Austria. A certain job reduction is planned. We're talking about 380 jobs, some of which are a case of shifting to other locations. Some cases are job shedding.
Thank you very much. At this point in time I see no further questions, neither online nor here. Oh no, actually no. There's our colleague from EE Times at the trade fair. Please go ahead.
Nitin Dahad with EE Times. Thank you for the presentation. A couple of questions or observations. So obviously the outlook is weaker for 2025. How do you see over previous downturns? How do you see this compares previous downturns in the industry. The second part is with the weakness in automotive and especially electric vehicles. Do you think the decline in other markets other than China of sales of electric vehicles means there should be a focus away from automotive for your business?
The second question, we see a trend towards electrically driven vehicles. We think this is unbroken. We mustn't make the mistake of seeing a stagnation phase, a little dip. And again, this refers to western markets. In China, every other car sold is now a new energy vehicle. And we are not. Or to put it another way, our conviction, and this is the conviction of the market as well, is that this trend is basically unbroken. That is correct, but it takes different forms. And in Europe and USA at present, other aspects are in the focus of attention where from my point of view, we can learn from China. If you look at China, there's not just the battery electric vehicles, but also these new energy vehicles which include long range hybrids.
And I think this would be good for us in Europe because with a long range plug in hybrid with a range of 580 km, the whole subject of charging infrastructure and range in general is basically different. So that market needs to sort itself out a bit. We need to get used to the fact that these megatrends are never a straight line. There are always. Ups and downs. It's not something that will prevent us from relying on this trend. And the first part of the question, I think concerns the downturn. You have to put it in perspective. The boom phase lasted about two and a half years, which was very long. And we must assume that, for example, in the automotive industry, during the allocation phase, semiconductors were ordered which were not immediately needed, but were simply put into stock.
These inventories are now being digested and then the critical question is to what extent are they being digested? Is it going to go so far as pre-Corona, pre-COVID? Or is the same risk that when we come to an upswing there will be a shortage of semiconductors? Or have the market participants learned and are they keeping larger inventories of critical components? The dynamism makes me a little bit pessimistic because with the reduction in stocks that we are seeing towards the end of the year, this is very pronounced and therefore I can only wait. Especially with products that take a long production time, such as microcontrollers. I think we should not reduce things to the pre-COVID levels.
Thank you very much, Nitin. Thank you very much. Jochen. There is another question around Step Up, probably for the CFO. This is on the effects. What is the Step Up program? P&L impact in Q4 2024 financial results.
Right. So let's start from the beginning. Step Up is a structural improvement program regarding our margin profile. Therefore we are striving for a high triple digit million amount which in the first half of 2027 will be reached. In 2024, we only have very low contributions. In 2025, we will see bigger chunks, but 50% will only be expected in 2026 and the full amount in the first half year of 2027. So the program will simply take some time to gain momentum.
Excellent. Thank you very much for the clarification. Should there be no further questions, I would like to end our call. Of course, our media relations team will not be always available for you even after today's call, so please do not hesitate to contact us. And with that being said, thank you very much for getting up so early in the morning with us. Have a great day at the Munich Trade Fair center at the Electronica Trade Fair and see you again soon right here at Camp. Thank you very much and goodbye.