(Adds revenue potential)
FRANKFURT (Thomson Financial) - Qimonda AG., a subsidiary of Infineon
Technologies AG., and German solar company Centrosolar Group AG. said they have
formed a joint venture to produce solar cells based on silicon and plan to
invest 70 million euros by Sept. 2009.
Centrosolar will hold 49 percent in the joint venture, while Qimonda will
own the remaining 51 percent.
The new company will be based at Qimonda's existing site in Portugal.
"By entering the solar industry, we are addressing an attractive market with
stable and high growth rates," chief executive Kin Wah Loh said in a press
statement. "We will leverage our core competencies in silicon-based,
high-quality mass production to generate a new revenue stream for Qimonda."
Qimonda is expecting annual revenue of about 200 million euros to come from
the joint venture from 2010 onwards, a company spokesman told Thomson Financial
News partner dpa-AFX.
Qimonda, which is owned 77.47 percent by Infineon, has been hurt by a
massive decrease in memory chip prices that led to a second-quarter net loss of
482 million euros.
Qimonda in April said it signed a memorandum of understanding to develop
memory chips jointly with Japan's Elpida Memory Inc.
christoph.steitz@thomsonreuters.com
cs1/ak/cs1/kf1/cs1/ms1
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