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Infineon Technologies manufactures semiconductors and system solutions for consumer electronics, communication devices, automotive electronics and memory products, microcontrollers and chip card ICs. The company focuses on three business groups: automotive, industrial and multimarket, and communication and memory products. It has a significant operation in North America with more than 3,000 employees. The Richmond, VA site employs over 2,000 people in the biggest Infineon manufacturing facility in the U.S., and runs twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.
Infineon was formerly part of German high-tech giant Siemens, but spun off in April 1999 and went public in March 2000. About 15 percent of its business is still done with Siemens.
According to Don O'Grady, vice president of human resources for Infineon Technologies North America, most of the job opportunities in the U.S. fall into two categories: design engineering and sales/marketing. Electrical, mechanical, industrial and chemical engineers are all welcome at Infineon.
"We expect quite a bit of growth in the automotive electronics sector next year, because manufacturers are putting more and more electronic content in their cars. I would expect us to continue to hire to support that sector of the business," says O'Grady. "And we're pretty consistent with our hiring. We're not one of those companies that hire, lay off, hire, lay off."
Infineon is projecting more early-career hires next year than it had in the past two years. The company requires job applicants to have three or more years of semiconductor experience.
"Since we have such a diverse customer set, it's important to hire people in the industries we serve. For example, if we're going to hire somebody in Detroit for our automotive electronics business, we certainly want him or her to have experience with automotive companies," O'Grady stresses.
Infineon's engineers have opportunities to travel and be part of international projects. The company offers a global international graduate program, in which a recent graduate (bachelors, masters or PhD) who is a new hire spends eighteen months in rotations, with at least one six-month rotation at an international location.
"We support bringing employees from our other sites worldwide here to the U.S. for temporary assignments. And we send U.S. people to our locations in Singapore, China and Germany. It's very interesting for them, and I think it gives our corporate culture a different flavor when they relay their international experiences," says Kathy Larson, staffing and international assignment manager.
O'Grady spent two years working for Infineon in Germany and believes that his global perspective is an asset to the company. "We are a German company and a significant number of our opportunities are in Europe or even Asia. You can certainly enhance your career in North America if you're willing to take an assignment abroad," he remarks.
There's diversity in the U.S. as well. "Just in North America we have employees from over twenty-five countries, and that's very representative of our overall workforce. When you walk into our cafeteria, you never know what language you'll hear," says O'Grady. "I think there are a lot of people who are attracted to an organization where diversity is very evident."
Infineon has sites in both Raleigh, NC and San Jose, CA, so neighboring colleges like North Carolina State, Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, Stanford and San Jose State can take advantage of the company's participation in minority career fairs and conferences like NSBE and SHPE. According to Larson, Infineon plans to continue building relationships with colleges by finding ways to support their engineering and technical programs, such as funding projects or donating equipment.
Infineon also has two diversity councils, one in Richmond and one in Raleigh. "The issues we have in Raleigh are different from those in Richmond, but at the same time the councils can share ideas. We're expanding both of them to be more like outreach programs and may even look at ways that they can coordinate and integrate with one another," says O'Grady.
Mentoring programs are in development at Infineon. They're especially important, O'Grady says, for women in the company who would benefit from one-on-one contact with other women who can help them negotiate career paths.
A company training program called "Managing Diversity" is popular with employees, O'Grady adds. "Because we are so diverse, it's really important that we spend a lot of time making people aware of the many subtle differences that may require a certain style of leadership."
Community involvement at Infineon is big. The company participates in Habitat for Humanity and other charitable organizations, and through the Infineon Foundation employees can request funding to sponsor events or community activities.
"As a result of an employee inquiry last spring, we put together a program to provide summer jobs for high-school students," says Larson. "The idea was to introduce high-school students to high-tech fields and spur their interest in what's out there for high-tech jobs."
Infineon has a very flexible time-off policy. The company doesn't have a structured holiday schedule; each employee receives a pool of hours to use any way he or she wants. Infineon is also flexible about telecommuting.
D/C
Infineon Technologies
www.infineon.com
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Headquarters: |
Munich, Germany (world HQ) San Jose, CA (U.S. HQ) |
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Employees: |
35,600 WW including 7,000 engineers |
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Revenues: |
$8.93 billion in 2004 |
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Business: |
Semiconductors and systems |
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