According to Reuters, Infineon said on October 5 that it plans to increase its investment by 50% to approximately 2.4 billion euros (US$2.8 billion) in 2022, hoping to benefit from the soaring semiconductor demand and global chip shortage.

“We are initially investing in existing plants,” finance chief Sven Schneider told Reuters. He said Infineon was considering whether it needed to add more capacity, but added it was too early to decide on that yet.

“The main part of the sales growth will come from capacity building, but also a decent part from higher prices, some of which we will pass on to customers,” Schneider said.

The company has blamed a lack of investment in new capacity by its manufacturing partners for tightness in semiconductor markets as demand rebounded after coronavirus lockdowns, disrupting chip supplies especially in the car industry.

The report pointed out that contract chip manufacturers mainly invest in the production of higher-margin processors for smartphones and other devices, making existing factories unable to meet the demand for old chips used in cars.