What business leaders are watching at CIIE: Part I

What are the highlights of your exhibits at the China International Import Expo? Are you launching any new products, technologies or solutions?

At the exhibition, Infineon showcases a vision for the life of tomorrow as our corporate slogan is "Part of your life. Part of tomorrow". We focus on the main topics "smart car", "smart city", "smart factory" and "smart home". We have live-action and interactive features at the booth, demonstrating how Infineon connects the real and digital world with advanced semiconductor technologies that make life easier, safer and greener. And I expect very fruitful meetings with customers at the CIIE.

To name a few things we exhibit: There is an award-winning smart lighting solution that will make our cities smarter. And we have a really smart car, the Audi A8. Infineon supplies key components. The Audi A8 is the world's first series production car featuring level 3 automated driving.

In terms of deals, what do you expect from the CIIE? Whom are you targeting?

CIIE is a great opportunity for Infineon to demonstrate our technology leadership to a broader audience. It also helps to enhance our communications with local government and strengthen our collaboration with Chinese partners. We are convinced that it can bring attractive business opportunities to all of us.

In the past few months, Infineon has been very active in participating CIIE related activities and that enabled us to yield fast and tangible results. I am very excited to tell you that we have already secured some business opportunities with local customers and I am quite looking forward to signing the deals at CIIE.

Do you think the CIIE could eventually help drive the development or upgrade of the industry your company is in, and your company's strategy in China?

Infineon is a world leader in semiconductors. The semiconductor industry requires heavy investments, and the making of a semiconductor usually involves several countries, tens of thousands of miles travelled and almost a few weeks' transit. So a fair trade and investment environment and an efficient global ecosystem would be essential.

CIIE underlines China's strong commitment to open its door wider for trade and investment, and its great efforts to enhance cross-industry collaboration and communications. I am convinced that will eventually help drive our industry development.

What's your view on China's pledge to further open up its markets to foreign companies? How would that benefit your business? Any specific examples?

China's reform and opening-up policy has led to an impressive economic development. Infineon has been honored to witness, contribute to, and benefit from this policy.

Since the establishment of the first entity in Wuxi in 1995, Infineon's business has been growing rapidly. With a turnover of 1,735 million euros, China accounted for about 25 percent of Infineon's revenue in the fiscal year of 2017. Infineon has established an entire value chain serving the Chinese market, covering R&D, manufacturing, sales, marketing and technical support.

Our commitment to China is strong. We've been expanding our investment, and collaborating with local partners to drive industry development and transformation. For instance, we built a second factory in Wuxi in 2015 to offer stronger support to the rapid-growing local market; and in 2018, we joined hands with SAIC Motor to establish a joint venture to accelerate the growth of electro-mobility. In addition, we collaborated with Alibaba Cloud and JD.com on the development of Internet of Things; and with Tsinghua University for talent development.

What is your forecast for China's economy in the next three years? What key issues will you be watching for?

China has made great progress on its attempt of transforming the economy since President Xi Jinping came up with the concept of "New Normal". Looking into the next three years, I think "high quality development" will continue to be the major focus.

As the economy develops, our society faces some challenges: the ever-growing population and the rising demand for energy. At the same time, the need to fight climate change calls for new solutions in our everyday life. How to connect the dots between economy and ecology will be the key issues that I will be watching for.

Infineon is committed to addressing such challenges and contributing to China "high quality development", with our technologies that make life easier, safer and greener.