Infineon’s quarterly revenue, forecast beats on robust chip demand

German chipmaker Infineon reported on Wednesday a rise of 10% in fourth-quarter revenue, as a global shortage of semiconductors has driven up the prices of, and demand for, chips used in everything from cars to mobile telephones.

Infineon, which gets about 40% of sales from the automotive sector, also forecast first-quarter revenue of 3 billion euros, exceeding the 2.93 billion euros expected in a poll of 19 analysts by Vara Research.

“We are investing significantly more in order to take advantage of opportunities to grow,” Chief Executive Reinhard Ploss said in a statement.

“We are continuing to expand our manufacturing capacities – for silicon as well as for the compound semiconductors silicon carbide and gallium nitride.”

Last month, the Munich-based chipmaker said it would invest about 2.4 billion euros ($2.8 billion) in 2022, up from about 1.6 billion this year.

Infineon’s revenue grew to 3 billion euros ($3.47 billion) from 2.72 billion in the fourth quarter, ahead of expectations of 2.93 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

Rival chipmaker STMicroelectronics also reported bullish earnings in its latest quarterly report.

Infineon also forecast 2022 revenue of between 12.2 billion and 13.2 billion euros, in line with expectations.