Infineon tops the charts thanks to a record quarter and optimism about 2027

  (Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - Infineon Technologies is leading the way on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, thanks to record quarterly results and forecasts of strong growth in the 2027 financial year, driven in particular by the AI sector. The semiconductor manufacturer’s share is the top performer on both the DAX and the Stoxx Europe indices.

The recovery in demand enabled the German group to close 2026 with a record quarter and to forecast further growth in turnover and profitability for the 2027 financial year, which has just begun. In the fourth quarter, Infineon increased its turnover by 19 per cent to €4.71 billion, whilst segment profit jumped by 56 per cent to €1.12 billion, with a margin of 23.8 per cent. Net profit more than doubled to 532 million from 231 million in the fourth quarter of 2025. Analysts had forecast a net profit of 678 million euros, segment profit of 1.1 billion euros and a margin of 23.3 per cent. 2026 ended with revenue of 16.3 billion, up 12 per cent, an operating profit of 2.2 billion (up from 1.5 billion) and a net profit of 1.5 billion (up from 1.01 billion).

Infineon has also announced that, at its annual general meeting in February, it will propose a dividend of €0.38 per share for the 2026 financial year, which is higher than the €0.35 per share paid out in the 2025 financial year. For 2027, the group is targeting turnover of over 20 billion euros and a 5 percentage point increase in profitability. The group expects its data centre semiconductor business to contribute €4 billion towards the revenue target, compared with the previous forecast of €2.5 billion.

“Infineon closed the 2026 financial year with another record quarter and is entering the new year with strong momentum. Driven by the ongoing cyclical recovery and strong demand in our areas of structural growth, we expect a significant increase in revenue and profitability in 2027,” said CEO Jochen Hanebeck, as quoted in a press release. “Our semiconductor solutions for data centre power supplies, the development and modernisation of energy infrastructure, electric mobility and autonomous vehicles are among the key drivers of this growth,” added the CEO. As industry players point out, the company expects demand for semiconductors to remain high and for the roll-out of AI data centres to continue at a steady pace. This runs counter to the concerns of some investors that a Democratic victory in both houses of the US Congress could jeopardise the expansion of data centres.

Infineon, like other competitors that manufacture the chips needed to power data centres, has emerged as one of the beneficiaries of the billions of dollars of investment promised by the world’s leading technology companies for the development of AI infrastructure. The sector, incidentally, is making Infineon less reliant on the automotive sector, which in recent years had been a source of difficulty for the group and had resulted in several quarters of disappointing sales. Now, this end market is also recovering, as evidenced by the 8 per cent rise in revenue to 2.1 billion in the fourth quarter, with segment profit improving to 468 million.