Infineon Technologies declined to comment today on a report that it expected another deep operating loss in fiscal 2003.
The Financial Times, citing an internal company paper, said Europe's second-largest semiconductor maker expected a loss before interest and tax of €200 million, a weaker performance than many analysts are predicting.
"We have no comment on that," an Infineon spokeswoman said. Analysts polled by Multex Global Estimates are forecasting earnings before interest and tax of €73.50 million for Infineon's fiscal year to September 2003.
Industry sources said the company had drawn up several internal forecasts and the outcome would depend heavily on the highly volatile price of memory chips.